Tom and Sarah lead way for MAC
Top 10 finishes for pair in Thames Valley Cross Country meet
The latest round of the Thames Valley Cross Country series took place at Lord Wandsworth College this weekend, with Maidenhead Athletic Club's Tom Easten leading the team home in fifth place.
His wasn’t the only impressive performance on this varied and undulating course, with Laurence Miles finishing not too far behind him in 18th, Craig West crossing the finish in 19th and James Fickling finishing 29th.
Josh Pope also scored points for the first time this season, finishing 46th, while Colin Symons was just outside the top 50 in 54th place.
In the women’s event, Sarah Leach ran brilliantly to finish sixth, with Fran Sille a hairsbreath behind her in eighth. Dawn Goodwin came just inside the top 10 in ninth place while Sarah Simms was 17th. Despite not feeling well, Nicola Davies carried on like a warrior to complete the tough, muddy course.
The men’s team finished fourth overall and the women's team were second. As a team, MAC were third and demonstrated the strength in depth of their team, with depleted numbers travelling for Race 4, hosted by Sandhurst Joggers.
Race 5 in the series takes place in Marlow with the team still pushing to reach the top of the table at the halfway stage.
Neil Muir and six fellow MAC members (above) took on the Eynsham 10k on Sunday, a characterful run around the ancient market town of Eynsham in the Cotswolds. The race route doesn't provide much time for competitors to take in the history, however, as it's one of the fastest in the region and attracts runners of all abilities for that reason.
This year's winner clocked an impressive 31.01, with more than 500 runners trailing in his wake. Neil’s former club-mate Sophie won the women's event in 38 minutes, and, although no one in a MAC vest went that fast, there was good representation from the club at the event.
Laura Loveridge was the first MAC member to finish in 53.20, with Neil Muir just a few seconds behind in 53.25. The next bunch of finishers saw Sue McEwan finish in 54.41 with Simon Goldfinch just behind in 54.43. Steve Overbury completed the course in 61.41, Richard Pink in 61.42 and Marika Karavan in 63.00.
MAC took a nine-strong team of u13s girls for the SportsHall challenge at the Thames Valley Athletic Centre. Polina, Elif, Norah, Lily, Inaya, Jude, Mia, Sharvi and Katherine all showed the skills they have been practicing over the past few weeks. Polina, Norah, Lilly and Jude all made the top five in at least one event.
Seven u13s boys also competed, some for the first time, however, their performances showed they were not fazed by it.
Some notable performances included Caden Lawson finishing third in the two-lap event in 22.20 and Ritvik Ganta coming fourth in the standing long jump with 1.80m. William Oliver was fifth with a jump of 1.78m. Atharva Nippani came fourth in speed bounce while Jacob Donnelly produced some outstanding jumps to finish third in the long jump.
Six u15s boys also competed with Gabriele finishing third on the two-lap race, and Callum taking the victory in the four-lap race. Callum also won the long jump, standing triple jump and speed bounce events.