Lloyd Biddell co-ordinated this year's team's:

"For those who have not done it before, we need a team of at least four runners to be competitive (no limit on numbers) and best of all its FREE and excellent training! All ages and abilities welcome. I hope we see a few new faces this year!"
The season is over for another year - back again next October..........

2007 Race Reports:

Race 4 - 8th December Westwood High School, Leek
The fourth and final cross country race of the North Staffs League was held at Leek on Sat 8^th December. The conditions were frankly awful with heavy rain in the days leading up to the event making the ground saturated and foot conditions very heavy, with the course well churned by the time of the ladies and men’s race. As a result, all of the downhill stretches were very slippery whilst the rest of the course was extremely boggy with calf deep mud most of the way round. There was also heavy rain during the event itself making for horrible conditions. The course was the usual hilly fare and is by far the hardest race of the season containing several significant climbs, but thankfully the laps tend to be a bit shorter than normal because of this.
In the Under 17 Girls race Liz Hollis finished a very creditable 7^th place. The Senior Ladies race was next off and Beth Clayton was first home in a season best 20^th. A series of very strong performances over the season was good enough for Beth to win 3^rd place trophy in the 40-44 category. Well done to Beth! Sue Lynch was the other Chaser coming home in 82^nd. Unfortunately the team were unplaced this season due to not being able to field a full team.
In the men’s race Lloyd Biddell had a season and career best performance coming home in 17^th. Mikey Hopkins making his debut on the cross country circuit finished a very strong 38^th. Next in was Ian Turner who also had a solid result in 88^th. The final counter was Steve Clarke, also making his cross country debut finished strongly in 95^th. David Thomas was the final Chaser who finished 122^nd and was very pleased with his performance. Overall the team score was 238 which was good enough for 3^rd position on the day, only a few points down on our best score of the season.
Before this race Walton Chasers were lying fourth in the second division out of 13 teams, 24 points adrift of Telford Harriers in third, but just two points ahead of fifth so everything was to play for.
In the end some solid performances resulted in us snatching third place trophies, however on seeing the results subsequently published on the web we are shown as being fourth - I think what happened was that the organisers saw that we beat the team who were ahead of us without realising the team who were fifth leapfrogged both of us. None the less its still the best result for Walton Chasers who managed to beat some notable running / athletics clubs in the process. Not bad at all for an orienteering club.
Well done to all who participated over the course of the season.
 Lloyd Biddell
Cross Country Captain

Race 3 - 10th November Stafford Common
On Saturday 10^th November the third race of the North Staffs XC was held at Stafford Common.  The weather was dry (but began raining just after the final race had finished) but with a cool breeze.  Under foot the course was quite sticky in places after the recent heavy rain.
In the Under 17’s girls race honorary Walton Chaser, Liz Hollis came home in a very creditable 7^th and is now placed 5^th overall after three races.  What makes this even better is that she still has a further year in this age group.
In the Ladies race only Beth Clayton ran for Walton Chasers coming home in 33^rd.  Beth is now placed 14^th overall and third in the Over 40’s category.  Assuming all goes to plan in the final race a bronze medal is looking likely.
In the men’s race a few people were unavailable for a variety of reasons but still just about had enough people for a competitive team.  Lloyd Biddell led the team home in a disappointing 51^st and commenting that his legs felt dead throughout; hopefully normal service will resume at the next race.  Iain Stamp was next home in 89^th and David Thomas in 146^th.  David is now 11^th overall in the Over 45’s category.  Ray Collins completed the team in 159^th.
Due to the loss of a couple of key runners Walton Chasers were 7^th out of the 9 remaining competitive teams on the day.  After three races the team have now slipped a place to 4^th, just 24 points from the bronze medal position but only 2 points ahead of 5^th.  It’s all to play for in the final race of the season at Leek on 8^th December.

Race 2 - 13th October Park Hall, Stoke
First and foremost a slight amendment to last weeks report.  It turns out that Walton Chasers men’s team finished second on the day (not third as reported) – it would appear that one of the team’s ahead of us had their score amended downwards.  As a result it places Walton Chasers in one of the promotion spots ahead of the second race.
Today was the second race of the cross country season held at Park Hall Country Park in Stoke.  The course is very up and down all the way round with a few extended climbs in various places making it a tough course.  It was relatively warm for this time of the year, no breeze and firm on foot.  Most of the lap is on hard stony ground and grassy areas with some calf sapping sandy sections thrown in for good measure!  The route was amended slightly this year by extending the lap so the women only had to do one circuit and the men two.
As per the first race of the season the ladies were one member short to make a full team.  However this still did not prevent Beth Clayton improving one place when compared to the week before in 28^th.  Beth commented that she felt she had a good run and was pleased with her position.  Cath Williams finished 80^th in her first race of the season and Sue Lynch completed the line up in a creditable 94^th.
The men’s team was led home by Lloyd Biddell in another career best performance in 25^th gaining 10 positions on his previous best performance a week earlier.  Not far behind Mike Barnby, Iain Stamp and Ian Turner were having another battle royale.  Mike managed to gain revenge on Iain by beating him by 8 seconds coming home in 79^th place.  Iain followed in 81^st and Ian Turner just 5 second’s further back in 82^nd.  Apparently their race within a race was a close fought battle all the way round with the distances between them constantly changing.  After 1hr 23mins 15secs of racing Mike leads Iain by just 7 seconds!
David Thomas felt he had a better run this week coming home in 145^th and John Batchelor ran two minutes quicker than the previous week finishing 181^st.  Overall the team total was 267 points which is another cracking performance in what was a larger field.  On the day this placed the team 3^rd out of 10.  After two races completed the team slipped one place to a clear third place being 120 points from a promotion spot but 59 points clear of fourth.

Race 1 - 6th October Lyme Valley, Newcastle-under-Lyme
The first race of the 2007 season was held at a new venue in Newcastle.  The course is mainly flat for the most part except for two very steep short hills and fast descents about 2/3rds of the way around the lap.  The temperature was a perfect 15 degrees with no wind and ground conditions being firm resulted in fast conditions out on the course.
In the ladies race Beth Clayton finished a very creditable 29^th with Christine Collins in 84^th and Sue Lynch in 94^th.  Unfortunately the team was unplaced as four runners are required.
In the men’s race Walton Chasers managed to field 7 runners with Lloyd Biddell leading home in a career best 35^th, with a battle royale just behind between Iain Stamp and Mike Barnby.  Iain just about managed to hold off a late surge by Mike to finish ahead by 1 second in 61^st and 62^nd respectively.  Ian Turner finished not far behind in 72^nd.  Dave Thomas had one of his best runs in 119^th and John Batchelor finished 161^st on his debut.  Ray Collins retired after the second lap deciding to save his legs for the Warwick Park Race the following day.
Overall the men’s team finished with 230 points which was good enough for 3^rd place out of 10 and not far behind the two leading teams with 209 & 210 points respectively.  If Walton Chasers can hold this form then there is every chance of getting at least the bronze medal at the end of the season

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