A first season for HPAC in the North Midlands Cross Country League has seen some very good performances in the first two fixtures. The first meeting was at Markeaton Park in Derby on Saturday 10^th October. Good conditions and first up were our under 11 girls, in a 1.5km race with good performances from Matlida Anderson, Alice Tolley, Freya Hatcher and Annie Townsend. Matilda led for much of the race, and ended up in 3^rd place, with Alice in 6^th, Freya in 36^th and Annie in 39^th.  In the girls under 13 race over 3km Megan Harris-Wood and Bella Anderson were flying the HPAC flag, with Megan coming in 5^th and Bella 43^rd. In the under 15 girls race over 3km Sosseh Badjie showing her usual consistency coming in 9^th, with Charlotte Sweetmore and Sasha Scragg doing very well in 33^rd, and 39^th respectively.  For the boys, HPAC had a good showing in the under 11 boys race, with Xavier Morgan and Samuel McGill coming in in 27^th and 29^th place respectively. Gregor McGill was the only other boy running today, coming in 43^rd in the boys under 13 race over 3km.

The second meeting was a long distant for us to travel, at Wicksteed Park, Kettering. The drive there was over 2 hours with constant rain all the way. It looked like it was going to be a very wet conditions on the courses, but at least the rain relented when we got there, which made it a bit more pleasant for our athletes. The courses were undulating and challenging so a good test for our kids, but they all rose to the challenge and did exceedingly well. Alice Tolley was 4^th in the under 11 girls race over 2km .  Freya Hatcher ran a fine race coming in 32^nd. Under 13 girls just had Jamie Lee Taylor for HPAC running who had to wait almost 3 hours to run on a churned up course, but came in a very good 13^th over the 3km distance.  In the Under 15 girls over 3km, our three girls, Sosseh Badjie, Charlotte Sweetmore and Sasha Scragg ran together again showing further consistency to come in 11^th, 26^th and 28^th respectively. Finally, the boys team did us proud with Xavier Morgan and Samuel McGill once again the HPAC under 11 boys representatives, finishing 33^rd and 43^rd respectively over 2km. Samuel managed a remarkable downhill sprint in the final section of the race. In the 3km under 13 boys race Samuels brother Gregor offered no such similar sprint, but finished 25^th, a credible performance.

Overall, both our girls and boys put in some really good performances in their first two North Midlands events. Twelve clubs were represented over the two meetings, and the quality of competition was high – so a step up for our young athletes! Well done to all who competed.

There are two more North Midlands meetings to come on the 3^rd Dec (Heaner) and 14^th Jan (Nottingham), so hope to see some more HPAC runners at these.