Track and field meetings in 30-plus degree heat were a distant memory on Sunday as the 2018/19 West Midlands Young Athletes Cross-Country season got under way in a continuous stream of rain. The first meeting of the season at Hatton Country World saw a good turnout for Tamworth AC, with girls and boys competing from Under-11 to Under-17 age groups.

First up were the Under-17 Women with sisters Charlotte and Sophie Perry impressing with strong performances in the green and white for Tamworth. Charlotte completed the 4km course in 33^rd place with a time 18:14, shortly followed by Sophie in 36^th with 18:18.

Next were the Under-11 Boys with some very welcome new faces making their cross-country debuts for the club. First home for Tamworth was Adam Stokes in 34^th place with 6:38 over the 1.6km distance. Braeden Walsh-O’Neill followed closely behind in 41^st place with 6:44. A flurry of Tamworth athletes then crossed the line in quick succession with Daniel Windridge finishing in 7:42 followed by Arthur Letendart and Tommy Deeming both clocking 7:45, and then Samuel Williams with 7:51.

Max Kent was the sole Tamworth athlete in the Under-17 Men’s event. The promising endurance runner clocked an excellent 17:20 to finish the 4.8km distance in 25^th place.

The Under-11 Girls team again saw more debutant young athletes and showed great promise for the future over the 1.6km race. Freya Cole led the line with an incredible 8^th place finish in a time of 6:36. Elizabeth Fleming was hot on her heels with impressive performance of 6:47 and 16^th place. Chloe Purkis did extremely well on her first race for the club, coming home in 28^th with 7:06. Sofia Farmer and Ella Moss were separated by just two seconds and four places apart with 7:54 and 7:56 respectively. Robyn Lee crossed the line with a time of 8:13 and Charlotte Evans completed the line-up for Tamworth with 8:34.

Over to the U15 Boys 3.2km race, and by this time the wet course had started to churn up in places. James Stretton made a really encouraging start and despite dropping a few places in the strong field, finished with an inspired 24^th place finish and a time of 11:30. Ben Edwards also did extremely well, crossing the line on 11:57 and in 41^st place.

As the rain started to ease a little, the Under-13 Girls team lined up for their 2.5km race. Lottie McLaren ran a brilliant race to finish in 16^th place with a time of 10:40. Kirsten McLaren also did really well to finish next for Tamworth in 26^th place with 10:56. Phoebe O’Connor wasn’t far behind running another great race to finish in 32^nd place with 11:06, and Annie Boonham crossed the line with 11:38. Natasha Lee and Daisy Smith rounded off a pleasing performance for the team with 11:47 and 11:49 respectively.

The Under-13 Boys team was led home by Toby Wooton, who notched a superb 13^th place finish with a time of 9:45. Aedan Mason crossed the line with a time of 10:33, followed by Oliver Goldsworthy in 11:08. Next was Jacob Williams with 11:29, Joseph Gorst with 11:54, and Ben Lamplugh with 12:14. Ben Godber finished his first race for Tamworth with a time of 12:54.

The Under-15 Girls finished off with the last race of the day, racing over 3.2km. Libbie Price crossed the line first for Tamworth with a time of 13:55. Ellie Gauntlett was next with 14:27, followed by Tegan Vickery with 14:38.

All the young athletes did extremely well against very tough competition from some of the top clubs in the West Midlands. They were a credit to Tamworth AC and will be back in action for the second WMYACCL meeting at Warley Woods on Saturday 18^th November.