Blackheath & Bromley's Senior men enjoyed their best result for some years when they finished second in the National Cross Country Relays at Mansfield. To add to the celebrations Michael Skinner and Scott Overall ran the first and second fastest times of the day while there was a good performance from the Senior women, a fine run from Alex Bruce Littlewood in the under 20s race and more good efforts in the younger age groups.

There was a late call up for Alex Gibbins, who ran the ultra competitive first leg. He closed in 44th on the 5km course in a useful 16.21, but significantly the Club were just 80 seconds down on the leaders with firepower to come.

From here Skinner tore through the field moving up to 9th place. His 14.47 was the fastest time of the day.

He handed to Andy Rayner, who arguably had the best run of the day, as, not only did he hold off the challenges of Internationals Phil Nicholls (Tipton) and Andy Vernon (Aldershot), he moved the team up to 7th place with a time of 15.28.45.

Things were nicely lined up for Overall and he didn’t disappoint. Amid great encouragement from the Club supporters, he moved the team up to 2nd. His time of 14.58.30 was the second quickest of the day but it was not enough to overhaul a strong Bedford & County team who retained the title they ran last year. 151 teams finished.

Both Michael and Scott will now prepare for the European Cross Country Trials race, which takes place in Liverpool at the end of the month, where they aim to qualify for the Great Britain that competes in Dublin in December.

Joining them on Merseyside will be Alex Bruce Littlewood who is targeting a place in the GB Junior team. He did his cause no harm as he was the first athlete home in the under 20 mens race on the opening leg at Mansfield. Unfortunately the Club didn't have any further runners. However, his time of 9.00 was the fourth quickest of the day overall and he was pleased to take some scalps.

The Senior Women also had a good result as the trio of Elaine Murty, Bryony Proctor and Jennie Butler finished in 17th place. Elaine was the quickest of the three as she finished 22nd on the opening stage in 10.49.40. Bryony moved through to 17th with 10.58.60 with Jennie anchoring the team home in 11.45.20, a useful run considering she has spent most of the year injured.

One of the most pleasing aspects of the Senior teams’ silver medals was the fact that three of the quartet have been competing for the Club from a very early age. In fact Michael Skinner has been a Club member for 19 years and hasn’t yet turned 30, (November 21st if you want to send him a card!) It was, therefore, a worry that the Club were only able to complete a team in one of the six youngsters age groups.

The Under 17 men performed admirably with the A team of Phil Sesemann, Sam Jackson and Will Mercer placing 18th, a fine result against some of the best in the country. Phil’s time of 9.24.25 on the opening stage was the 8th fastest of the day as he brought the team in 6th. Encouragingly a B team was also in action with Greg Proctor, Robert Yates and Andrew Booth finishing 51st.

Adevekan Lipede was undaunted at making his Club debut for the under 15s and performed well, but was the only athlete. Sean Sturrock and Thomas Desborough flew the flag for the Club in the under 13s race. Unfortunately there were no girls teams in action.

All four members of the Senior team will be visiting the Clubhouse in Hayes this Wednesday evening.

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