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National Cross Country Championships

29/2/2016

This year's National Cross Country Championships were held on a farmland course between Donington Park Motor Racing Circuit and East Midlands Airport.
Injuries and illnesses meant that we did not have the turnout that we had hoped for, but several athletes made the journey and performed well.
Top performance went to Xav O'Hare who finished 27th in a field of 367 in the U15 Boys race. Last year Xav finished 299th, so this shows how much he has improved this year. He was followed home by Jack Wilkinson in a solid 74th place.
Joe Bentall ran well to come home 45th in a massive field of 420 runners in the U13 Boys event. Joe dislocated his shoulder in the week before and showed great courage to even start the race. Younger brother Tom had a good race to finish 81st, only 17 seconds behind Joe. Alex Bailey had a steady run in 219th place.
The only age group in which Trafford completed a full team was the U17 Men. They finished a fine 13th out of all the teams in the country. They were led home admirably by Colin Daly (62nd), backed up by Mac O'Malley (102nd), Seamus Bradbury (134th) and Abel Ashby (185th).
Next week, many of our athletes will travel to Nottingham to take part in the English Schools Cross Country Championships hoping for more good performances.

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Manchester Area Cross Country League

16/2/2016

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The final League fixture of the winter was held on a muddy course in Wythenshawe Park. The original courses had to be changed due to flooding, but there were still plenty of puddles to negotiate!
Several of Trafford's young athletes preferred to miss this event in order to prepare for the upcoming National, English Schools and Inter Counties races.
However, we were still represented in several of the races. Louie McCormack was unable to contest his final U11 League race due to injury, but he still won the League title having won all 3 of the previous events.
Sadie Mannion had one of her best races to finish in the top half of the U13 Girls field in 21st position.
The Under 13 Boys continued their great season and were unlucky to lose the team race by one point. Led home by the ever-improving Joe Bentall in 3rd place, they had brother Tom in 7th, Oliver Choi 16th, Alex Bailey 21st and Max Clay 24th. This also gained the team runners up spot in the League and Joe was runner up for the individual title.
Lauren Howley (27th) and Emily Wolstencroft (29th) had solid runs in the U13 Girls race.
For the first time this season, we were able to finish a Girls team in the Under 15 race. Ellie Cole ran impressively to finish 15th, followed by Anna Baker 22nd and Marnie Mannion 26th.
Cynog Williams in 15th place was Trafford's only runner in the U15 Boys race.
The next event on the cross country calendar is the National Championships at Donington Park, Leicester on 27th February.

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Greater Manchester Schools Cross Country Championships 2016

11/2/2016

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Last Saturday saw over 400 athletes take part in the Greater Manchester Schools Cross Country Championships on a waterlogged and incredibly muddy course in Longford Park. The weather was atrocious, but many Trafford AC members braved the conditions and gained coveted places in the county team for the English Schools Cross Country Championships in Nottingham next month.
The only Trafford girl on the County team will be Beth Donnelly who finished 4th in the Senior Girls (Years 12/13) race and will now have ran at the English Schools at all 3 age groups.
Making their debuts for the Senior Boys (Years 12/13) County Team are Matt Sutton (5th) and Mac O'Malley (8th) who were rewarded for their hard training throughout the winter months.
Trafford's best performances came in the Inter Boys (Years 10/11) race where Colin Daly reached his third English Schools Championships with an excellent 2nd place. He was closely followed by Xav O'Hare (3rd) and Jack Wilkinson (5th) who both make the team a year under age.
In the Junior Boys (Years8/9) race, Joe Bentall continued his recent excellent form to finish 4th and gain his first County vest.
Running the Minor Boys (Year 7) race, Tom Bentall (2nd) and Oliver Choi (4th) showed that even though there is no county team for this age group, their performances promise well for future years.

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Naomi's new All Time Record

3/2/2016

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Congratulations to Naomi Ogbeta on achieving her first full England cap on Sunday when she competed at the Elan Indoor Competition in Bratislava.
Naomi finished in 4th place overall with a new PB and a New UK Indoor u20 Triple Jump record of 12.99m

Coach Tom commented, "This has been a great experience for Naomi following her participation for GB at the World Youth games in Columbia last season. Obviously the focus is on what she will achieve in the summer, but it's good to see her putting in place what she's been working on in training. She is still competing off a short winter approach, which makes these performances even more impressive. Her biggest test will be at the Great Britain Indoor Championships at the end of February, where she will be competing against the best of the UK’s senior Triple Jumpers.

This weekend see’s Naomi competing in Cardiff, again in England kit, for the U20 Home International competition. She will have a familiar face close to hand, as her coach, Tom Cullen, makes his England debut as Team Coach for the Horizontal Jump squad.

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Northern Cross Country Championships 2016

1/2/2016

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The Northern Cross Country Championships, which were first held in 1883, were this year held on one of the toughest and muddiest courses in the country at Witton Park, Blackburn in some of the most gruelling weather conditions imaginable.
In the Under 20 Mens race we only had 2 finishers. Matt Sutton finished in an excellent 23rd place, in his first year in this age group. Ben Jackson, having missed the start of the race, managed to work his way through to 61st place.
Trafford had 5 finishers in the Under 17 Mens race. in a field of 105 finishers, Colin Daly had a solid run in 38th place, followed home by Mac O'Malley (44th), Seamus Bradbury (66th), Mikey Kingston (81st) and Abel Ashby (90th). The team finished 7th.
168 athletes completed the Under 15 Boys race and Trafford's 2 competitors both ran great races, with Xav O'Hare 10th and Jack Wilkinson 26th.
However, Trafford's highest individual and team positions came in the Under 13 race. In a massive field of 213 athletes, Joe Bentall had the best race of his life to finish in 9th place, the first athlete home from Greater Manchester. Close packing by Seb Patrick (39th), Tom Bentall (63rd), Alex Bailey (69th) and Oliver Choi (71st), all finishing in the top third of the race, gave us 4th place in the team race.
Trafford also had 2 girls taking part who coped admirably with the conditions. Anna Baker was 128th in the Under 15 race and Lauren Howley 175th in Under 13 Girls.
This coming Saturday sees most of the above athletes (and about 500 more) taking part in the Greater Manchester Schools Cross Country Championships at Longford Park. The races are on from 11am until 2pm and any offers of help for marshalling etc will be greatly appreciated.

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National Cross Country Championships

Manchester Area Cross Country League

Greater Manchester Schools Cross Country Championships 2016

Naomi's new All Time Record﻿

Northern Cross Country Championships 2016

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Naomi's new All Time Record