At the weekend it was time for the County Cross Country Championships for 2024, at Bulwell Hall Park in Nottingham. Held only once a year, it gives club runners the chance to compete with the best in Derbyshire & Nottinghamshire. Depending on which side of the border you’re from, you run for the relevant County (both counties in the same races though). If you’re really good, and finish in the top 8, you qualify to represent your County at the prestigious Inter-Counties XC! (Something Pascale Holden has managed to do before!).
Here’s a summary of our Striders results, I’ve also included Martin Kerr who has been a Strider for many years & his first claim is now Derby AC, and Charlie Pearch who we all know and has done absolutely brilliantly in the 8 months or so he’s been with Derby AC!
Our first race up (4th race on the schedule) saw Pascale Holden in action and she beat the challenging mud to get the Bronze medal for her Age Cat, fantastic running Pas! She also came 13th overall so is on the reserve list for the qualifying!
For our second race (5th of the day) it was time for Charlie to battle his way through the mud, and he had a brilliant run and managed to get the Silver medal place for Derbyshire, and therefore qualified! Derby AC also won the team prize for the Under 13 Boys, brilliant work Charlie and team!
Then it was our 3rd race (6th of the day), where Martin Kerr, Sam Pearch, Patrick Munro, Tim Bentley & myself all had our turn at the mud. Tim had bought some brand new XC shoes from the Derby Runner stall before we started, and was very keen to break them in in the lovely mud, which was shin-height in places!
We all had a really great day and Martin got the Silver medal for his Age Cat and also came 14th overall so is also on the reserve list for qualifying! Well done Martin, great run as ever!
These (and the League Cross Country) events really are fantastic – a great team atmosphere, great fun, very cheap (this County XC was £9, League ones are about £6!) and loads of mud/muddy water! So if any of you would like to learn more and maybe take part, please ask any of us listed here and we’ll give you the details, and lots of encouragement. We have our next League fixture on 28th January! and the Nationals XC on 24th February (now that IS a big one!!) ;)
RACE 4 – Senior/Vet Women 8000m | ||||||
| Pos | Age Pos | No. | Name | Club | Time | Team Pos |
| 13 | W453 | 729 | Pascale Holden | Shelton Striders | 36.28 | VetW6 |
RACE 5 – Under 13 Boys 3000m | ||||||
| Pos | No. | Name | Club | Time | ||
| 2 | 964 | Charlie Pearch | Derby Athletic Club | 11.27 | ||
RACE 6 – Senior/Vet/U20 Men 10000m | ||||||
| Pos | Age Pos | No. | Name | Club | Time | Team Pos |
| 14 | M352 | 622 | Martin Kerr | Derby Athletic Club | 39.53 | VetM2 |
| 28 | M358 | 637 | Sam Pearch | Shelton Striders | 45.20 | VetM13 |
| 43 | M4511 | 660 | Patrick Munro | Shelton Striders | 48.21 | VetM23 |
| 50 | M4514 | 661 | Richard Tissington | Shelton Striders | 50.40 | VetM29 |
| 70 | M5510 | 681 | Tim Bentley | Shelton Striders | 83.25 | VetM46 |