A trio of Buxton AC runners were selected to represent the Midlands in the Home International Cross Country Championships held in Stirling, Scotland last weekend.
Will Tighe, Stu Diamond and Ed Diamond travelled to Scotland to represent their region in this prestigious event and had a fantastic experience racing against the best cross country runners from England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales.
Junior men’s Team Manager Keith Brackstone was delighted that in keeping with the Area’s policy to try and introduce new talent to representative races as well as give established athletes a high class race against strong competition fourteen of the sixteen Midland athletes were competing for the Midlands for the first time.
The forecast was for a wet and windy day and driving to Stirling past Yellow warnings for wind and rain on the motorways set the tone for what was to come. Fourteen of the team travelled to Scotland by road with 12 on the team minibus: this meant that the area could fund accommodating the team with the international teams in the Dunblane Double Trees Hilton – we think the athletes felt that the long road journey was worth it to spend the whole event rubbing shoulders with the international teams. Despite the atrocious conditions the feedback from the athletes was very positive and all the Buxton athletes thoroughly enjoyed the experience.
The first race featuring the Midlands was the Under-20 Men’s race. This was run under IAAF rules so included many athletes who had only just turned 17, as was the case for the Diamond brothers, over a 3.5 lap 7k course. First home for the Midlands was Will Tighe, watched by his Dad who had driven up especially. Will finished twenty-eighth in 25:38 followed by twins Ed and Stuart Diamond; Stu was forty-first in 28:00 to earn family bragging rights as Ed finished forty-second in 28:01. Dan Kimber (Kidderminster & Stourport) finished forty-fifth in 29:01 the complete the Midlands team. Will has represented England Athletics in the past and is on his way back after a series of setbacks for the other three it was their first experience of this type of event and will stand them in good stead as they progress through this age group.