A strong High Peak AC team competed in the 2nd Derby mini-league cross country meeting at Rutland Sports Park in Ilkeston at the weekend (Sat 26th Nov), hosted by Amber Valley AC. The weather conditions were good (bright, cool, no rain), the course looked in good condition and we were ready to go!
First up were the under 11 girls in the 1km race. In this we had Freya Hatcher, Matilda Anderson and Alice Tolley. A very competitive race saw Alice Tolley and Matilda Anderson engaging in a very exciting finish, with Alice sprinting the last 75metres in an effort to catch up and narrowly coming 2nd and Matilda 3rd, not far behind the winning girl Olivia Allen from Matlock AC. It was good to see Matilda back in x country action after a brief time out. Freya was our third HPAC athlete in this event putting in a very solid performance coming in 23rd.
The under 11 boys race over 1.5km saw Samuel McGill taking an early lead in this race. He couldn’t quite keep that pace up, and soon was head to head with his team mate Xavier Morgan. Eventually the long stride of Xavier took him through to 14th position with Samuel coming in 15th. Great run from both boys.
The under 13 girls was run over 2km, and as expected a solid performance from the very versatile Megan Harris Wood of HPAC, coming in 2nd to Derby AC’s Valentino Costa. Jamie lee Taylor once again ran exceedingly well to come 11th, and Nell Tolley, although not a natural distance runner, put in a tremendous effort for the team coming in 21st.
In the under 15 girls race, Sosseh Badjie of HPAC ran strongly to get a very credible 2nd position, with Sasha Scragg of HPAC coming in 10th. Sasha is more noted for her short distance running but always puts in a good performance for the X country team. Charlotte Sweetmore had an incredible start to the race, leading in the opening stages and was still in a very good position when unfortunately she had to retire with a knee injury. Better luck next time Charlotte.
The team spirit, enthusiasm and effort of the HPAC kids was once again so evident in this mini league event. They are a credit to Buxton and surrounding High Peak area.
Next Saturday (3rd December) the x country team will be back in action in the 3rd North Midlands X country league event at Shipley Park with the next Derbyshire mini-league event coming up on 17th December at Tupton School, Chesterfield.