News

20th January 2025

Frozen Bullwell Hall Park for last North Mids League Race

Sixteen Burton Athletics club runners made their way to a frozen Bullwell Hall Park, Nottingham for the last North Midlands League race. First to run for Burton was Darwin Shaw and Ernest Allen in the under 11 boys race over 1500 metres. Shaw has had the edge this season and so it proved as he took 14th and Allen 28th. They have taken part in all 4 league races and this result meant their league ranking was 10th for Shaw and equal 11th for Allen. With English School county championships coming, this was a good chance for some practice for the other age groups. The under 13,girls 3 kilometres race saw Zola Signori and Amelie Cawson in action. On the first lap they were having their own battle, with Signori having the edge. On the second lap Signori pulled clear for 19th while Cawson was 21st. Cawson had done all 4 races and finished around 10th in the league. The next race over 3.5 Kilometres was the under 13 boys and under 15 girls race. Jacob Harmon after winning the last race was in a confident mood and he was joined by Riccardo Ferrero on his league debut. With Sian Gower Burton’s only runner in the Under 15 girls race. Harmon started well and was leading half way through the race until he was passed by the league winner and another runner. He held on well for third and can be pleased with his season. Ferrero, a year younger, ran well to come home in 22nd. Gower in her race moved strongly through the field on the second lap to take 12th.Burton’s strongest age group is the under 15 boys, they lead the team rankings and had six running. Ewan Withnall’s tactic for the race was to sit in and kick at the end of 4.5K race. However after a slow start he decided to take the lead and ran a controlled race to keep a 30 metre gap and take another win, his 10th league race win. Lewis Boyce went into the race joint 4th in the rankings and knew one of the top three was missing. If he could beat the Wreake runner he could get a trophy. He ran a controlled race to do that, taking sixth. Myles Christopher was guesting again for Burton and he showed his potential with 10th. In the team race Burton went in with a 18 point lead and knew they just had to have a third scoring finisher in the top 20 to be sure of the win. Lincoln Shaw had been a scorer in all the previous races but he had arrived without his spikes and on a slippery icy course it was going to be a hard race for him. Aleksander Tutt took the responsibility to try and be the third scorer. On the first lap he had Shaw 2 places behind and Oliver James 2 places further back. Recent knee problems hampered Tutt as the race went on and James came through running strongly for 16th. Shaw without his spikes ran a great race for 18th and Tutt took 20th. When the final results came through Boyce was 4th again for the second year. Withnall had missed one match to take part in the Cardiff Cross Challenge so wasn’t eligible for an Individual league award. He did lead the team to the Under 15 team championship with his 3 wins and it was a great team effort as they won by 16 points. With team points from James and Tutt in one race, Shaw and Withnall in three races and Boyce in all 4 races. The overall rankings saw Boyce 4th, Shaw 10th Tutt 14th and James 16th.Isobel Harmon was in the under 17 girls race and she ran a consistent race coming home 8th.It was a senior debut for Vet 40 Jonathan Shum as he ran with Vet 50 Antony Allen in the senior men’s race. Shum started strongly on the first lap with a sub 5.30 mile. The hard ground though was hurting his Achilles but he kept going finishing a fine 33rd against much younger opposition. It was the fourth fixture for Allen as he battled round all good preparation for the London Marathon where he has the Burton AC place. He finished 52nd in the league and 8th in the m45 age group. Now attention switches to the Derbyshire Schools championships at Moorways on Saturday, with selection for the English Schools championships at stake.