Junior XC – County Champs
Now, I may not win many prizes, but the award for the most waffle filled write-up goes to…. I am writing this short report from my perspective as the BRAT junior team manager/coordinator/head coach….or whatever my role is! For me personally, it was the first time in attending a cross-country county championships in….well…decades! Back when I was a junior, up in Lancashire, I remember doing the county champs and it felt like such a step up in quality as compared to the rest of the league races. This felt the same in the race last Saturday. Smaller fields across all age groups battled a challenging course; traversing narrow sections on energy sapped legs from earlier hills. Add to that the sub-zero temperatures and icy patches and you have a recipe for some tired junior legs! I interviewed one of the junior athletes (also known as a chat with my son,…
Warley Woods – Junior XC
The third fixture of the league was held at Warley Woods on a hilly course and again the club produced some great performances. Although we had 57 athletes finishing, we had a number of athletes unable to compete due to illness which affected a number of teams. The U11s bucked that trend with a superb 3rd place in the girls and 5th in the boys. The other teams in the top 10 were U17M 3rd, U13B 4th, U15G 7th and U13G 9th. Overall, we finished 6th on the day but with two teams very close in front. We still retain our 4th position overall after the third fixture so plenty of time to consolidate this over the final two fixtures. Thank you to the team managers, Jort for bringing the tent and the parents and not forgetting the athletes for doing all the hard work! Looking forward to seeing you…
Another strong XC performance for the BRAT Junior Team!
Another excellent turn out with 59 BRATs competing on the fast grassland course at Newbold Revel. After our excellent 4th place at the first match at Walsall, we again finished 4th on the day which consolidated our overall position in the league. The standout performance on the day was Nya 5th in U11 Girls, and she has two more years in this age group, a massive improvement by Josh finishing 6th in U13 Boys and Jack 9th U15 Boys and Amira 10th in U13 Girls. But remember this is a team effort and all the athletes contribute to the overall score! If you finish 50th you score 151 points, so it all adds to the performance of the club. it was great seeing so many athletes out enjoying themselves and especially the support of the parents and team managers! The next match in the league is at Warley Woods on…
A great start to the XC season for BRAT juniors!
Taking a step back from standout individual and team performances, it’s worth mentioning how the scoring works for the cross-country league. Each race has 5 scoring athletes apart from the u17 categories that have 3 scoring athletes. Typically, each athlete will obtain between 100-200 points depending on their finishing position. If we don’t field a full team of scorers in each race, we will lose at least 100 points (but typically more- 1st 200pts 50th 151pts) per athlete missing, because our team is not complete. So, what was particularly pleasing yesterday, was that we fielded a FULL TEAM in each and every age category, for perhaps the first time ever. Yes, that means that all of you that turned up yesterday played a part in what was a very good start to the cross-country season. My memories of doing cross-country as a junior were those cold and rainy days when…