The 2nd round of the Oxfordshire Cross Country League took place recently at Horspath. Rather unusually the event was held on a Saturday and not on the first Sunday in a month. This was because Horspath had stepped in to host at short notice as the original plan was to hold the event in Swindon. Despite the short notice, Bicester AC had a healthy complement of runners (28) although some of the races were impacted number wise.
Horspath always represents a tough test. Bicester’s Owen Stocker had made a strong start in the first round finishing 7th in the senior men’s race and 4th in the under 20 men’s event, which is incorporated into the senior men’s race. Stocker had been in a rich vein of form leading up to the event having won the Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire under 20 men’s title and achieved his best ever senior men’s placing in the Chiltern League. Stocker was running in 8th place in the early stages of the senior men’s race run over an approximate 8k course. His strength then started to show through. Whilst the two leaders from Swindon had broken away, Stocker had moved up into a four way battle for 3rd place which involved the winner of the under 20 race, Jonathan Davies, from the first round. In the event it was Davies who emerged as the front runner as they entered the final stages but he was pursued all the way to the line by Stocker who was just three seconds behind clocking 28mins 10secs. This was good enough for 4th in the senior men’s race and 2nd in the under 20 men’s race with Stocker finishing less than a minute behind the winner. There was a good battle between Bicesters’ Robson Matthews and Igor Slawik for 156th. When these two last ran at Horpsath it was Slawik who came out on top. Although both were tightly matched as they headed towards the finishing line it was Matthews who edged it on this occasion placing 156th (39mins 50secs) with Slawik just 2 seconds behind in 157th (39mins 52secs). Ever improving Joshua Bradley was 7 minutes behind these two runners in the first race but he was closer in this race finishing in 189th and his time of 43mins 58secs was 4 minutes slower than Matthews and Slawik. Bicester’s finishers were completed by Paul Jones who finished in 200th (46mins 51secs).
Alexander Collins has made a fine start to cross country running and achieved his highest Oxfordshire League to date finishing 3rd in the under 15 boy’s race run over an approximate 4.5km distance. Collins was not far away from first and his time of 16mins 28secs was only 12 seconds behind the winning effort from James Mayneord who was also the leading finisher in race 1. Next in was Theodore Cogan who ran a decent race for 19th (19mins 51secs) with the team finishers completed by Emeras Mohandes in 20th (25mins 22secs). Bicester finished 5th in the team race.
Bicester’s Thomas Richards was 12 places ahead of his first round finish as he placed 9th in the under 11 boy’s race in a 38 strong field. Richards clocked 5mins 33sevcs for the approximate 1.5km distance. Archie Joiner was Bicester’s other finisher in 35th (6mins 37secs).
There was a good team effort from Bicester’s under 17 men as they finished 3rd in the team race. This was underpinned by some strong individual performances. George Hart led the team home holding his form together well over the two lap circuit measuring approximately 6km. Hart eventually finished 8th clocking 23mins 40secs. Jago Newton made a welcome return to cross country action running his first competitive race as an under 17. Newton last ran cross country for Bicester AC as an under 13. He maintained his pace well to finish 10th in 25 mins 20secs. The team scorers were completed well by Max Finnegan who was 16th in 26 mins 47secs.
There was a good turnout of 5 Bicester runners in the under 13 boy’s race contested over an approximate 3km distance. Charlie Simpson ran strongly to lead the team home in 15th clocking 12mins 35secs. He was followed home by Charlie Joiner, who was only a place outside the top half of finishers in 18th (13mins 08secs). The team scorers were completed by Ralf Sprogis in 20th (13mins 20secs) with the team placing 6th. Other Bicester finishers were Lucius Mohandes in 30th (14mins 47secs) and Ivan Stocker in 31st (15mins 30secs).
Bicester’s under 15 girls team also finished in 6th. They were led home by Megan Surman, who continues to maintain a good level of consistency. She finished 14th clocking 21mins 05secs for the approximate 4,5km course. Emelie Stocker again ran well to place 18th (23mins 56secs) and Madison Joiner showed good determination to finish in 24th (28mins 27secs).
Ivy Balch did well to make the top half of finishers in the under 11 girl’s race contested over approximately 1.5km. Balch finished 17th in 6mins 11secs. Bicester’s other finisher was Eva Brunt who was 24th (6mins 31secs).
Bicester AC had two finishers in the senior ladies which was run over the same distance as the men’s event (8km). Leanne Stocker finished in 79th (45mins 45secs) with Bicester’s other finisher Emily Benfield 112th (50mins 42secs). Bicester had two competitors in the under 9’s race run over an approximate 1.2km course. In the boy’s race Eisa Tyrell was making his debut and he did well to finish 12th with 6mins 28secs. In the girl’s race Sienna Scott Haynes was Bicester’s sole representative and she finished in 13th (7mins 30secs).