Tamworth Athletic Club

Warley Woods, Sunday 9th November 2025

Report by Ben Evans

Tamworth AC’s junior athletes were at Warley Woods for their second fixture in the West Midland Young Athletes Cross Country League. The idyllic backdrop of the Smethwick parkland masks a gruelling hilly course and returned to the schedule this year after the venue was unavailable last season. A small mercy for athletes, the weather on the day was forgiving and conditions firm underfoot.

Annie Mulvey made the sensible decision to pull out of the Under-17 Women’s race with a niggling injury, leaving teammate Savannah Short to run well for 38th place.

In a very large Under-11 Boys field, Oliver Eaton finished in 125th place followed by debutant Lucas Beggs in 127th.

William Upton was first back for Tamworth, taking 41st place in the Under-17 Men’s race. He was closely followed by Anthony Tolley in 45th and then Olivier Ciszecki in 57th place.

For the Under-11 Girls, Summar Bisel did well to take 43rd place. Zlata Pavliuchenko running her first race for Tamworth, crossed the line in 59th place and Pepi-Rose Sweet finished in 72nd.

Alex Haywood had a very strong race to break into the top 10, with 9th place in the Under-15 Boys event.

Charlotte Brian also put in a very good performance for 11th place in the Under-13 Girls race, followed by Daisy Morsy in 27th and Lacey Eaton in 57th place.

For the Under-13 Boys, debutant Felix Hixman was sadly forced to withdraw midrace with injury, but Freddy Shoesmith made the finish for 55th place.

Finally, Freya Armitage and Robyn Edwards both improved on their previous league outings with 20th and 25th places respectively. Annabelle Hill followed in 40th place to end the day for Tamworth.

Despite some very good individual performances on the day, Tamworth AC dropped two places to 17th in the overall club standings after two fixtures and will go again at Newbold Revel on Sunday 7th December.

Team Manager, Ben Evans said: “Again, we’ve been a little short on numbers and that’s the only reason we’ve taking a hit in the points. Every athlete has played their part today and most of them have pushed up the placings from last time out. This is the toughest course they’ll face in the league and they’ve all come out on top”.