Thirty CAC athletes made their way up to Exeter Arena on a beautiful day, though the rain of the last week made the course very muddy.

We were very strong in some areas, turning out two Senior Men’s, one Under 17 Men, one Under 15 Boys teams and three Senior Ladies/Under 17 Girls teams but unfortunately had no Under 13 Boys, only one Under 13 Girl (the winner though, so well done Melissa!) and two U15 girls.  The lack of Under 13 teams is particularly worrying, as these are our stars of the future.  Let’s see if we can get some more runners out later in the series (next race is at Bideford on 4th January 2009).

First off were the Senior Ladies and Under 17 Boys and Girls and from the start James Waldie laid down the gauntlet to the rest with a storming front-running performance.  He bravely took on and nearly beat a runner who had beaten him by two minutes at Bicton, this time losing out by a mere four seconds after leading all the way, finishing a fabulous 2nd.  In the absence of Sam Harry, it was great to see another Cleave step forward, with Cori making his club debut and looking pretty good in 24th position, just ahead of club stalwart Dan Drew (26th), no doubt still aching from his usual Saturday rugby match.  The boys finished 3rd team to keep themselves in with a chance of an overall team position.

Bethany Alston also went off like a rocket and was leading the Ladies race for a while, before suffering a little and fading to 4th in the last half mile, still a great run.  Emma Stallard worked her way through the field, nicking 9th place with a spirited sprint and Sam Herridge had a fine run, considering a foot injury meant she had to run (or skate!) in trainers, finishing 27th.  Heidi Cottam suffering from stomach pains, had to drop out, but our four first year Under 17’s coped well with the long distance.  Amy Rundle finished 33rd overall and 4th Under 17, Kate Parry was 46th (8th Under 17), Olivia Ballard 53rd (11th Under 17) and Ellie Parkin finished 61st (13th Under 17), with Jenny Almey splitting them and gradually getting fitter, in 58th.  The ‘A’ team finished 2nd on the day but still lead the league overall.

Next up were the Under 13 Girls and Melissa continued her fine form with a dominant victory by 30 seconds in only an eleven minute race.  Now we just need some back up for her!

Our Men’s ‘A’ team finished 3rd on the day, like the Ladies but have now fallen just behind Tavistock in the overall standings.  However, with Redruth the last league race this season, it’s probably not going to be decided until then.  The Devon clubs were stronger than usual throughout the day, with their County Championships being incorporated into the races.  Dave Buzza was 7th, with Matt Cleave going well in 11th and brother Ryan less than 20 seconds down in 14th.  Chris Dobson didn’t look like he enjoyed the mud but hung in well for 20th, just seven seconds and two places ahead of Nathan Gosling, home from Naval duties and rapidly improving again.

Jordon West got around without injury, which was a bonus as he hadn’t run since Bicton, finishing 62nd in conditions not to his liking and was followed in by an inspired Ian Wright, who likes the mud, in 74th.  John Waldie went well in 77th position and Martin Cleave eventually got a gap on Adrian Mutsaers, finishing 100th, one place and 32 seconds ahead of Adrian in a large field of 125 runners.

Freya Glover was soon to the fore in the Under 15 Girls event and hung on well to take 4th position.  Her sister Helen, a former CAC runner, was watching and recently won the novice trials for Olympic rowing squads, giving her a decent chance of rowing in the London Olympics.  Anna Ashbridge ran well in the deep mud of the penultimate race of the day finishing 16th  If only we could field a few more Under 15 Girls to support Freya and Anna.

CAC were well-represented in the last race, with six athletes toeing the line.  Conor Robinson didn’t have things all his own way in his Under 15 race, only beating Dan Nash of East Cornwall Harriers by a second.  Superb back-up by the other team members led to the team winning on the day and maintaining their stranglehold on the race for the league title.  Callum Jones had a great last half-mile to place 6th, with Tom Rawet hanging on for well for 10th.  Aaron Jose had a great 2nd lap to move up to 21st, eight  seconds behind Ed Alston’s time and Rob Glading held on well for 29th position top ensure we finished 2 teams.

Well done to everyone and....

Well done Olllie

He's slowing getting back to form.  Running in the Victory 5 mile road race in Portsmouth last weekend, Ollie Shilston finished an excellent 13th in the swift time of 24 minutes 49 seconds and there's plenty more to come yet!