English Schools Cross Country Championships 2026 – Sefton Park
The English Schools Cross Country Championships is widely regarded as the most prestigious schools race in the cross country calendar, with all athletes required to qualify through their county championships to earn a place on the start line. The event has a proud history of showcasing future stars, with Olympic champions such as Keely Hodgkinson, who finished 3rd as a student, and Mo Farah, a former winner, both having competed in this elite competition. On Saturday 14th March, athletes travelled to Sefton Park for the English Schools Cross Country Championships. With glorious weather and a firm course underfoot, aside from a few wet patches, conditions were ideal for fast running against the very best athletes in England. There was strong representation, with athletes competing for West Midlands Schools. Our sole female athlete, Amira E, produced a solid performance in the Intermediate Girls race, finishing 278th in 16:07. In the Junior…
Club Athletes Shine on the National Stage at Inter-Counties XC Championships
The winter cross-country season culminated in one of the most prestigious events on the domestic calendar this past weekend: the UKCAU Inter-Counties Cross Country Championships in Nottingham. Just being selected to wear the county vest is a massive honour, and we were incredibly proud to see several of our athletes stepping up to compete against the very best in the UK. The Inter-Counties is notorious for its huge, fiercely competitive fields, gathering the top runners from every region across the country to battle it out over gruelling, muddy terrain. Our athletes represented their county with absolute distinction, digging deep in challenging conditions to produce some fantastic results. 🌟 Dawlatly Cracks the Top 50 The standout performance of the day came in the U17 Men’s race from Elliot Dawlatly. In a field packed with elite national talent, Elliot ran a phenomenal race to cross the line in 50th place. To finish…
BRAT Juniors Power to Historic Best-Ever League Finish!
History was made last Sunday as the West Midlands Young Athletes Cross Country League concluded its 2025/26 season. After five gruelling fixtures, the BRAT junior squad secured a magnificent 4th place overall—the highest league finish in the club’s history! Breaking into the “Top 4” is a massive achievement and a testament to the depth and dedication of our young athletes. We finished the season with a massive 26,940 points, holding off fierce competition to set a new club standard. 🏆 Team Glory: A Hat-Trick of Podiums It wasn’t just the overall table where we shone. Three of our boys’ teams produced outstanding campaigns to bring home league medals, showing the strength of our packing in these age groups. Our U17 Men also put in a strong shift, finishing just outside the medals in 4th place, while the U11 Girls secured a solid 6th place finish in a very competitive league.…
Match 3 Report: BRAT Athletes Surge into Podium Contention at Newbold Revell 🚀
Date: 7th December 2025 Location: Newbold Revell (Hosted by Rugby & Northampton AC) The BRAT squad arrived at Newbold Revell yesterday determined to make a mark as we crossed the halfway point of the West Midlands Young Athletes Cross Country League. On a true cross-country course hosted by Rugby & Northampton AC, our young athletes delivered exceptional performances, cementing the club’s position as a serious contender for the league podium. With three races down and two to go, BRAT sits in a fantastic 3rd position in the Overall League Standings with 16,424 points 🥉 after our FIRST EVER 2nd PLACE FINISH! We have successfully leapfrogged fierce local rivals Birchfield Harriers and are now firmly chasing the top two spots. It was a day defined not just by raw speed, but by intelligent pack running, impressive debuts, and remarkable individual progress. Here are the highlights from a brilliant day of racing…
Warwickshire & Worcestershire County XC Champs- Solihull Riding Club Saturday 14th December
Write-up by: Nick Price (Junior XC Team Manager & Endurance Lead Coach) Some excellent performances by the juniors at the County XC Champs at the new testing course at the Solihull Riding Club. It was good for the juniors to experience racing on pasture / farm land rather than parks! The Champs is one of the qualifying races for the Inter Counties XC Champs at Nottingham on 8th March with 8 athletes from Warwickshire and Worcestershire being selected! Overall we achieved 4 podium medals and 3 team medals during the day which was a great team effort! U11G – Nya ran away with the race and looked comfortable winning her 2nd County XC Champs in a row! Isabelle 21, Veronica 25. Team 4th U11B- Another excellent performance by the U11s with a great 2nd team place again!! George 5, Thomas 11, Zachary 13, Jeevan 19, William 20, Walter 21, Sebastian…
Junior Cross-Country League Is Back!
Write-up by: Andy Knight If the colours are starting to change at Walsall Arboretum, that can only mean one thing: the cross country season is about to begin! The first race in the prestigious West Midlands Young Athletes Cross Country League is always one of the many highlights of the BRAT year, and this was no different. I’m sure it’s not just me, but with every passing year there is a greater buzz around the BRAT tent, more athletes and parents staying for the entire programme to cheer on teammates and more under 11s than ever! There were countless standout performances, including many by athletes who have never run in a cross country race or even represented BRAT before; the hard work of athletes and coaches is paying off! Well done all! There was great drama in the under 11 girls’ race, with Nya Williams involved in a titanic tussle…
A Warley Warwickshire XC Championships to remember
Saturday 16th December can only be seen as a major triumph and remembered as such. The infamous Warley Woods course, fields with athletes from both Warwickshire and Worcestershire, a dry mild day – were the melting pot for what was a masterclass from juniors-masters athletes competing for BRAT, with medals for both team and individuals. Going into the weekend, selection for the upcoming Intercounties in Loughborough next year would have been at the forefront of many minds. Each race had its favourites, underdogs and stakes for the athletes involved. Many BRATs who raced in the WMYACCL aimed to showcase their form in the championship. Prepared by the weeks of Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday sessions set by their respective coaches, the stage was set. Proceedings began at 10:45 with the U11 boys’ race and set the tone for the day to come. The boys took Warwickshire Gold with our three scorers…
West Mids Junior Cross Country League – Walsall – 22nd October 2023
A great start to the season with the club in 4th place overall with 49 athletes competing across the age groups. Star team of the day was the U11 Boys in 3rd place with the U17W 7th, U17M 6th, U11G 6th, U15B 8th, U13G 8th, U13B 4th, U15G 7th so excellent results across the age groups. Individually we had some great performances with U11G Nya 5th, U13B Ollie 6th, U11B Charlie 9th with top ten finishers. But it does not show the true picture of the performance with lots of athletes moving up an age group and still achieving high placings. Then there is the individual improvements of athletes which all adds up towards that 4th overall team on the day! Remember that if you finish in 50th that is still 151 points for the club so all your efforts add to the overall total. Thank you again for the…
Good luck to BRAT juniors in upcoming national XC champs!
The junior cross-country league season was completed in February, but the biggest events of the XC season are yet to come. There were a number of county/regional races that took place over December and January, attracting the best athletes from Birmingham and the surrounding area. As a result of outstanding performances in these regional championships, we have had a number of athletes selected for the inter-counties XC championships and the English Schools XC championships. In both of these events, athletes will represent their county in a national level competition. Make no mistake about it, attaining county selection is a major achievements, so we’d like to congratulate the following athletes on their selection and give them a big “good luck” ahead of their upcoming races: Inter Counties XC Champs – Saturday March 11th – Prestwold Hall: U13G: Amira Emery U15B: Jack Price U15G: Alba Smith-Pena U17M: Dylan Teasdale, George Astbury, Morgan…
Junior Cross-Country Season Summary
For the second year in a row we have finished 5th overall team out of 21 teams in total, so a lot to feel positive about. We went into the last race in fourth position but narrowly lost that position. Looking back over the previous few years we have finished: 21/22 – 5th 19/20 – 12th 18/19 – 15th 17/18 – 19th It’s pleasing to see that we have consolidated our improvement from last season. During the XC series we had 63, 58 ,57, 51 and 56 athletes competing across the five races. So there has been a massive improvement in the number of athletes that are turning out to compete which has made the difference. We can’t emphasise enough the importance that you all make to the overall team position so you all contribute to the success of the club if you win or finish further down the field! …
Men’s XC – Warley Woods
Warley Woods was the place to be……
Men’s Cross Country – mid season update
Amazingly we are already half way through the Cross Country season and a lot has been happening, with loads of BRATs turning out for the team (46 so far). The Midland XC relays at Wolverhampton were the opener to the season. We arrived with 4 senior teams and a Masters team trying to better last year’s Bronze medal at this event. James Drakeford ran the first and notoriously competitive first leg and gave us a solid start handing over in 9th place to Adam Peacock whose storming run brought us up to 3rd place. Dan Robinson held us in 3rd and opened the gap over 4th place Tipton by a few more seconds. JP Stolberg started the final leg 58 seconds behind 2nd place Rugby & Northampton and closed to within 8 seconds at the finish, just running out of time to overtake. So in the end we had to…