Telford race their way to safety
Telford Athletic Club’s senior men saved their best until last to win their survival battle.
The team recorded their finest display of the season on their home course at Lilleshall National Sports Centre in the final Birmingham & District Cross Country League Division Two meeting.
They had their largest team on show and raced home to finish fifth out of the 14 clubs taking part – their best result of the campaign – with their six scoring runners accumulating 203 points.
Gloucester took the honours on the day, with Birmingham Running & Triathlon Club second and Newcastle third.
Telford had looked to be heading towards relegation after finding themselves 400 points from safety following the first two league races.
But much-improved performances in the last two meetings saw them turn things around and end the season in 11th – 73 points above the bottom three.
Dylan Gillett, from Wellington, again led the Telford squad home at Lilleshall. Fresh from representing his university at the British Students Championships in Edinburgh last week, he finished sixth. Paul Ward was the next best Telford runner as he came home in 11th.
Christian Evans followed in 35th, securing an overall placing of 29th – the leading Telford finisher in the league based on his three best performances. Evans was just one place ahead of Paul O’Brien. Chris Bagshaw was 48th, with Dean Gapper completing the scoring six in 67th.
The other Telford finishers were Matt Cox (90th), Joel Reed (97th), Rob Norman (109th), Dale Wilkinson (111th), Martin Turnock (128th), Peter Doran (134th), Luke Moses (154th) and Ian Hopkins (184th).
