PECO XC – Race 4 & 5 and League Results

Race 4 – Bodington Fields

Race 4 took place at Bodington Fields on the 8th Feb. This was the day after Rombald’s Stride so many of the usual faces were either recovering from that or had more important European drinking commitments, so we were a few runners short. It simply wouldn’t be a true P&B showing if we took it too seriously though, eh?

Scott Alder (55th 27:35) and Steve Woods (256th 35:42) singlehandedly carried the Men’s Team through with enough points to retain our 2nd place position in 2nd Division. Would we have enough numbers for a good Team push at the final race?

No available runners for the ladies as other commitments took priority. For the Juniors however, we once again had Natasha Robinson proudly flying the flag for the young ‘uns with a 45th place finish in a time of 8:33 in the 1 mile race.

Race 5 – Roundhay Park

The final race took place on a very blustery but otherwise bright March 1st morning in Roundhay Park.

Drawn by promises of after-race cake, this time we had a full Men’s Team plus 1 more to spare. The addition of a nice little hill near the end of the course meant it was possibly the most enjoyable route of the League, and consequently all our runners seemed in good spirits and put in a good effort.

 

Following on from some hugely impressive runs at the previous races, Joe Baxter led the team home in 4th place (25:42). Strong finishes from the rest of the gang followed:

John Navis 22nd 27:36. Alex Jones 31st 28:08. Charlie McIntosh 36th 28:20. Niall Bourke 50th 28:54. Scott Alder 61st 29:18. Ed Barber 66th 29:37. Graham Pilling 77th 29:53. Steve Woods 115th 31:12.

The Men’s Team score put them straight to the top of their Division, and was 2nd best score on the whole day. I believe this results in promotion up to Division 1 for next Peco Season.

For the ladies, Peco Captain herself Rach Pilling finished in 9th 31:46.  And for the Juniors great to see Natasha Robinson in the 1 mile race once again in 49th (10:03).

Thanks to Stevie for his support on the day and in taking a few photos which you can see here.  Afterwards, much cake was consumed.

Final Scores on the Doors

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[/one_half]In the Men’s individual standings, Joe Baxter is number one in the league! Absolutely fastastic debut XC season from Joe, and I’m sure he’ll be carrying his strong form over from XC to the Fells. Here he is showing us the JB Victory Dance which is now all the rage in the European hardcore clubbing scene.

Rachel Pilling finished 6th lady overall which is also a cracking result! Even though she is likely to dismiss this as ‘not good enough’, having previously won overall, it’s still an outstanding result, particularly in an increasingly competitive field.

Natasha Robinson‘s hard work in the Junior standing also paid off with a fantastic 11th place finish.

Well done to all runners who turned out to represent the club at any of the Peco races, and thanks to Rachel for doing the wrankling and the admin. The naysayers claimed we’d not even manage to field a full team this year but we managed it (hangovers an’all) and were rewarded with some top results, so well done and we hope to see you all back when the 2015-16 Peco Season kicks off at the end of the year.

Full Results and Standings available over at pecoxc.co.uk