Two weekends ago saw many Buxton athletes compete in a mixture of competitions including cross country, road and fell running. On Saturday, the weather looked promising with the sun finally making an appearance for round two of the Manchester Area Cross Country League (MACCL) held at Wythenshawe. The courses were flat and over the day, became muddier.
In the early races, Oliver Ball led the Buxton U11 team by finishing 16th overall with Nola Colebrook in 74th (33rd girl) and Georgia Cudahy in 100th (47th girl).
Up next were the U13s. Buxton were represented by four runners with Freddie Creswell in 37th, Katherine Bennett (111th overall, 39th girl), George Cottrell (146th) and Hannah Cudahy (159th, 72nd girl).
Buxton U15s had a fantastic turnout with some great results at this prestigious set of races. Joel Tidmarsh finished in 52nd whilst Jonty Brown and William Aspinall closely followed behind in 59th and 63rd respectively. Erin Colebrook also had a strong race to finish 83rd overall and 17th girl with teammate Flo Brown finishing 127th overall, 53rd girl.
Buxton duo Connie Jennesson and Rebecca Cudahy were out in force in the U17 race with Connie finishing an excellent 9th place (42nd overall) with Rebecca also having a good race to finish 20th girl (61st overall).
After all the juniors had raced it was time for the senior races.
Four Buxton ladies took on the 8km course. Leading them home was Rebecca Corbett in 135th (50th in senior age cat), followed by Joanne Cudahy in 151st (24th in age cat). Shelia Bradley finished 239th overall claiming the silver medal in her age category. Tracy Gregory finished 317th overall placing her 25th in her age category.
The final race of the day was the Senior Men’s race. Buxton had a strong team with nine runners from the club. Rob White finished 171st overall and 30th in his age category. Callum D’Souza finished 227th, 115th in age category, Andrew Stokes (232nd, 9th in age cat), Jonathan Sewell (242nd, 16th in age cat), Andy Lidstone (332nd, 20th in age cat), Duncan Campbell (448th, 72nd in age cat), Paul Markall (455th, 46th in age cat), William McDonald (516th,192nd in age cat) and Duncan Bryant (526th, 61st in age cat).
On Sunday, some Buxton runners tackled the Alton Towers races whilst Jonty Brown was the soul representative of the club at the Lathkill 3k junior race. Two Buxton seniors raced in the senior Lathkill race with Bill McDonald finishing in 167th and Pete Bailey in 179th.
Over near Uttoxeter, the Alton Towers races were being held. Competitors could chose to do the 5km, 10km or half marathon. In the 5k race, Rob White finished an impressive 10th place with Matt Rolfe hot on his heels in 14th. Tim Rolfe and Elizabeth Nocton finished 431st and 1108th respectively.
In the half marathon, Katie Rolfe was first Buxton across the line in 298th. This result placed her an excellent 5th in her age category. Duncan Campbell was 514th, Thomas Tredwell (547th), Paul Markall (564th), Gemma Tredwell (599th) and Rebecca Day in 600th.
Last weekend, round three of the North Staffordshire Cross Country League (NSCCL) was held at Parkhall. The day started off strong with both Georgia and Hannah Cudahy both finishing 19th in the U11s and U13s. Next was Joel Tidmarsh who placed 21st in the U15 race. Connie Jenneson continued her excellent season with a silver medal position in the U17s with Rebecca Cudahy also having a good race to finish 11th.
The Buxton ladies were out in force with Jo Cudahy leading them home in 76th. Shelia Bradley was next to finish in 99th, Heather Fryer-Winder placed 108th with Rachel Dowle and Nichola Sargeant finishing 148th and 149th.
Three Buxton men competed in the men’s race with Rob White continuing good form from last weekend to finish 50th with teammates Andrew Stokes and Paul Markall completing Buxton’s great day out in 77th and 191st.
It has been a very busy couple of weeks for Buxton but with the cross country season in full swing, I’m sure we are going to be seeing a lot more fantastic results!
This coming weekend, coach Sam will be undertaking a great challenge by running 75 miles around every street in Buxton to raise money for The Christie. We wish her the very best of luck on this amazing, inspirational challenge!