Barton & District Athletic Club
‘Open Cross Country Meeting’ – Sunday 5th March 2017
The 37th annual Barton & District AC Open cross country meeting was staged in Baysgarth Park Barton on Humber on Sunday the 5th of March. It was a cold day and the course was muddy and difficult in parts. A total of 325 athletes took part in the races and there were some great performances from the runners.
Two of the clubs senior athletes Oliver Newton and Simon Downs were in action in the senior men’s race and five of our young middle distance runners were also in competition in the junior races.
Senior Men’s – 6 Mile Race
Oliver Newton who is in his second year in the senior ranks is an under 23 athlete who competes for his home town club and also for Loughborough University where he is currently studying. This was his second trip to Barton this year having run at the County Championships this January where he was placed 5th. He covered the 6 miles at this event in a time of 38:20 sec and crossed the finishing line in 2nd place.
Simon Downs is a veteran athlete classed as V40 (over 40 but under 45) he has been with Kingston for about 12 months and prior to that was primarily a road runner he has since added cross country to his resume and has also ventured on to the track where he runs the steeplechase for the club in the Northern senior league. He put a good run together in Baysgarth Park which saw him cross the finish line in 43:59 sec for a commendable 15th place.
Under 13 Boy’s – 2 Mile race
Thomas Smales had made his debut appearance at this competition at last year’s meeting where he finished in 6th and he was looking to improve on his 2016 performance. 2017 has already seen Tom finish 6th at the County Championships which were staged over this course and he then finished 9th at the County Schools Championships.
The Barton Open saw him cover the two miles in a time of 10:44 sec to cross the finishing line in the bronze medal position.
His training partner Adam Fox was also making his second appearance at the Barton Open he was the silver medallist here at this year’s County Championship event and placed 7th at the County Schools competition.
Adam finished in 5th place in the race and his recorded time for the run was 10:52 sec.
Finlay Southcoat also made his debut appearance at the 2016 event where he ran in the under 11’s race. He had his 11th birthday this January and has consequently moved up into the under 13 boy’s age category. He was competing in this race against some boys who were almost two years older than him. His last race in the under 11’s was at January’s County Championship meeting where he was the silver medallist.
In this race he covered this course in a time of 12:35 sec which saw him finish in 14th place.
The Three boy’s Thomas, Adam and Finlay won the Team silver medal in the under 13 Boys category.
Under 15 Boy’s – 2.5 mile Race
Harvey Roberts joined Kingston in the summer of 2016 and had his first run under the Kingston banner at last Septembers Inter County Championship meeting in Nuneaton where he ran in the 1500 metres race. This year has seen him a 5th place finish at the County Schools Championships.
The Barton Open saw Harvey running the course in a time of 19.03 sec and he crossed the finishing line in 9th position.
Under 11 Girl’s – 1.25 Mile Race
10 year old Emma Hoggard has been training with Kingston since the Spring of 2016 and she made her club debut at last May’s County track & field Championships this year has seen debut at the County cross country Championships where she was a 5th place finisher and in February she debuted at the Northern Indoor Championships in Sheffield where she put in some encouraging performances.
Across the river in Barton she found herself among a field of 43 runners but Emma was undaunted and produced a very good effort which saw her complete the course in a time of 08:32 sec to take 4th place missing out on the bronze medal by just 10 seconds.
