‘It is so good to be back racing’
Max Davis marked his first appearance representing the Midland Counties with a determined performance in the British Cross Challenge fixture at Milton Keynes.
The match at Teardrop Lakes also incorporated a Home Counties International, so the quality of the field was a big step up from the opening Cross Challenge fixture at Cardiff last month.
On that occasion Davis, a former winner of the Running Bath/chron performance of the month competition, finished 21st while on Saturday he managed 33rd but was very encouraged by the result.
“It was a much tougher field than at Cardiff and the course was brutal too with two short, sharp climbs every lap,” said Davis.
“The last 3k was very hard but I did finish strong in the final mile and got a few people back.
“I was about 11/12th in the under 23 age group and I reckon I am around 20 seconds off where I would ideally like to be at the moment but it is going well.”
But the bottom line is that the 21-year-old from Combe Down, who is currently studying at Bath University, is in a much better place than at this stage last year.
“At this point last year it seemed like I was getting injury after injury so it is a lot better,” he added.
“It is so good to be back racing; I’m loving it.”
Next up for Davis will be the third British Cross Challenge fixture, which will also incorporate the trials for the European Cross Country Championships, in Liverpool at the end of this month.
Team Bath took the senior men’s team prize at the Tenth Trionium Bath Hilly Half Marathon on Sunday.
Cameron Mcgarry (fifth), Mike Dooley (seventh) and Martin Archbold (tenth) were too strong for their rivals, with Dooley also finishing second veteran over-50.
In the women’s race, Rachael Moon ran strongly to finish runner-up, while in the 10k ultra event there was a fine win for clubmate Kate Derbyshire.
Top club runner in the 10k was Alex Copping in fourth while club endurance coach Paul King finished 12th and first veteran over-65.
It was also confirmed that Team Bath is in discussions to take over the organisation of this event from next year, in conjunction with the Rotary Club of Bathavon.
Team Bath AC had a presence at the Gwent Cross Country League at Blaise Castle, Bristol, on Saturday and the trio of Cath Dale, Jo Thompson and
Phillipa Spruit finished first female team over-55.
In the under-20 women’s race, Team Bath’s Freya Spruit, now racing in the colours of Cardiff Met University and competing over cross country for the first time this winter, finished runner-up.
In America, Team Bath’s Robert Howorth, who is studying at Charleston University, finished 84th in the NCAA D1 Southeast Region Cross Country Championships.
The athletics coverage in the Bath Chronicle is sponsored by Running Bath.