Graves Park, Sheffield was the venue for the annual Northern Cross Country Relays. The courses are short but quite hilly and test the athletes stamina and speed.
The Trafford Under 17 Mens team got off to a good start with Xav O'Hare bringing them home in an excellent 3rd place. Solid runs from Mikey Kingston and Jack Wilkinson meant that the team finished 9th out of 29 teams.
The Under 15 Boys team of Cynog Williams, Joe Bentall and Theo Symons Treacher (all from Chorlton High School), managed 15th out of 38 teams in their race.
44 teams started in the Under 13 Boys race. A weakened Trafford team of Oliver Choi, Tom Bentall and Max Rarity ran well to finish in 23rd place.
We had no complete teams in the girls races, although Cleo Bentall and Alex Sinclair in the Under 11 race, as well as Lauren Howley and Imogen Short in the Under 13s, ran well on a tough course.
The final relays event of the season is the National Championships at Mansfield on November 5th, where Trafford will hope to field strong teams in most age groups.

A warm, sunny day greeted the 900 athletes who arrived at Wythenshawe Park for the first fixture in the Manchester Area Cross Country League. The flat course was firm underfoot which led to some very fast running. 
106 runners started the combined Under 13 Boys & Girls race. Tom Bentall had probably his best ever race in finishing in 3rd place, closely followed by Oliver Choi 7th and Louie McCormack 8th. This was good enough to give Trafford a convincing team victory. Charlie Massey finished in 33rd in his debut for the club and Emily Wolstencroft was 42nd in the girl's section.
Trafford had 6 boys in the Under 15 race and they were unlucky to only finish in 4th place. They were led home by a great run from Cynog Williams in 5th place, closely followed by Joe Bentall in 9th. The other 4 Trafford athletes had their own private battle with Theo Symons Treacher coming home first in 17th position, Matthew Torkington 18th, Alex Bailey 20th and Ed Rushton 26th.
Our Under 17 Mens team is decimated with illnesses and injuries at the moment, but the 3 athletes who ran managed to achieve a 3rd team spot. They were led home by Kieran Morrissey in an excellent 6th place in his first race for Trafford. He was followed by Mikey Kingston in 15th and Abel Ashby 25th. Trafford also had 2 girls in this age group, with Anna Baker 14th and Ellie Cole 17th both running well on a long 6k course.
Next Saturday will see selected teams travel to Sheffield for the Northern Cross Country Relays.

Match 1 in this season's Sportshall league took place at Sportcity on 9th October.
A slightly smaller team than normal, but as ever, lots of fun for all and some outstanding performances.
Thanks to Nicole and Lucy for helping sort the teams and to Gavin for officiating. 
The team is a good mixture of the experienced and new. Full results are below.

Results and highlights
u11b - All 3 lads on debut finished 8th.

u11g - With 4 girls on debut a credible 5th place finish

u13b - Only 2 lads available, so a 7th place finish no great surprise. Thremanye 3rd in Vertical Jump (VJ). Louis 4th in 2 Lap, and second in both Standing Long Jump (SLJ) and Shot.

u13g - shaping up to be a very competitive league, our girls finished a very close 2nd. Emily was 3rd in Shot, Halle 2nd in SLJ and Standing Triple Jump (STJ); Ellina 3rd in 4 Lap and 1st in Speed Bounce (SB); Trezeguet 3 firsts in 2 Lap, SLJ and VJ. The relay team of Grace, Halle, Ellina and Trezeguet where just pipped at the line to finish second.

u15b - Just Ayoola and Laurie available due to rugby and injury, but a second place finish none the less. Ayoola was 3rd in SLJ and 2 lap, Laurie 1st in SB; the lads combined for a second place finish in the Parlouf. Hopefully we'll have Cian and Demarco available for the next match.

u15g - A second place finish. Issi 3rd STJ, Tasmin 2nd in 4 Lap; Esther 1st in Shot; Charlie 1st in 2 Lap and 3rd in both SLJ and Shot; Tiffany 1st in 4 Lap and 2nd SB. Charlie and Tasmin combined for a second place finish in Parlouf.

Next round is Sunday 13th November

Boys Results
Girls Results

Sutton Park in Birmingham was the venue for the annual National Road Relays. All age groups contest a 3.9k hilly circuit of the park.
Out of the 63 teams starting in the Under 13 race, the Trafford team of Tom Bentall, Oliver Choi and Louie McCormack finished in a promising 23rd place, with Louie running our fastest leg.
The Under 15 team also ran well to finish in 28th place out of 62 starters. The team of Joe Bentall, Theo Symons Treacher and Alex Bailey all have another year in this age group. 
The same applies to our Under 17 Mens team of Xav O'Hare, Connor Fazakerley and Jack Wilkinson, who even though they are all at the bottom end of the age group, finished 27th place out of 59 starting teams. The top performance was from Xav who completed the hilly course at a pace of sub 5 minute miling and was 10th fastest of the nearly 200 runners in his race.
On the girls side, Trafford's only competitor was Anna Baker who finished 45th on the 1st leg of the Under 17 Woman's race.