Barton Cross Country Open Meeting

Baysgarth Park Barton – Sunday 4th March 2018

The 38th annual Barton & District AC cross country open meeting took place in Baysgarth park Barton on Sunday the 4th of March. The atrocious weather during the week leading up to the race thankfully abated and the ice and snow went away but left behind a wet muddy and slippery course for the runners to contend with. Twelve of Kingston’s junior athletes made the journey across the Humber for the competition and there were some good performances from them in awful conditions.

Under 11’s Races

There were three Kingston athletes in the under11 boy’s race, Noah Sibary who was having his first run out of 2018 has been with the club for two years and made his debut at the Kingston Spring Open meeting in April of 2016. He is the reigning County champion over the 80 metre and 150 metre sprints as well as the 600 metres. Training partner Max Wright made his club debut in June of last year at the Pontefract open meeting and also saw action in the Humber track league fixtures, this was Max’s first outing of 2018. Charlie Goodman on the other hand was making his club debut in the under 11’s race. Noah Sibary is a talented and promising young runner who ran the Baysgarth Park course in a time of 08:05 sec crossing the finish line in 2nd place to take the individual silver medal. Max Wright crossed the line in 4th place running the course in 08:31 sec whilst Charlie Goodman on his debut ensured that the trio collected the under 11boys team bronze medal. The under11 girls race saw Lydia Greenwood flying the flag for the club, she has been training at Costello since December of last year and this event marked her club debut, she put in a good performance running the course in 10:10 sec to take a 6th place finish.

Under 13’s Races

Two Kingston athletes were in competition in the under 13 boy’s race. Finlay Southcoat is in his third year as a Kingston athlete, he was the silver medallist at the 2017 County cross country championships and was the bronze medallist in the 100 and 200 metre sprints and long jump at the County track & field championships. He won his first County vest at last September’s Inter County championships at Nuneaton, where he ran in both the 100 and 200 metre sprint races. Finlay was in action at Barton in the under 13 boy’s race which saw him covering the course in a time of 13:10 sec taking a 7th place finish. William Fairburn is in his fourth year with the club, he competes indoors and in track & field but above all he is a prolific park runner he was an 11th place finisher in the under 13 boy’s race and he ran the course in 14:01 sec.

Amy Rotherey, Georgina North and Aimee Campbell have been training with the club since the summer of 2017, all three made their debut appearances together in the under 13 girl’s race where they ran in a field of 30 athletes. Amy Rotherey was the first of the trio to cross the finishing line taking 11th place and running the course in a time of 14:10 sec, Georgina North was the next girl home crossing the finish line in 12th place and recording a time of 14:26 sec and Aimee Campbell’s run of 14:30 sec saw her cross the finish line in 14th position.

Under 15 Boy’s Race

Harry Hudson, Thomas Smales and Harvey Southcoat were the Kingston representatives in the under 15 boy’s race, they are part of a middle distance training group which contains some promising young athletes. Harry Hudson debuted for the club at a UK YDL fixture at York last May, he is the County Schools 800 metre champion and won his first County vest at Nuneaton last summer, this meeting was his first competition of 2018. This was Thomas Smales’ fifth competitive outing this year, he was the silver medallist at January’s County cross country championships and put in a good performance at the Northern Counties championships later the same month. This event was Harvey Southcoat’s second outing of 2018, his previous run had been at the County cross country championships. Harry Hudson was the winner of the under 15’s race crossing the finish line in a time of 15:06 sec, with Thomas Smales taking 3rd place running the course in 16:26 sec and Harvey Southcoat finished 8th and ran the course in 20:32 sec. The three boys won the team silver medal and  their coach Gregan Clarkson got in on the act as well, he was the winner of the senior men’s race.