Action women: Bristol & West AC with Westbury Harriers senior women at Blaise Castle. Photos courtesy of Jack Longstaff
IN the long, illustrious history of the Gwent Cross Country League has any senior team dominated the to the extent of Bristol & West AC’s women in recent years?
Heading into the fifth and final fixture at Blaise Castle on Saturday but there was little doubt that the B&W squad would retain the team title for a seventh consecutive year and it was mission accomplished as they edged out local rivals Westbury Harriers by 34 points on the day.
That gave them the title with a total of 6,785pts, 313 clear of Westbury in second with B&W’s B team taking third on 6,242 from Avon Valley Runners on 6185.
“It was yet another stellar performance from the women’s A team,” purred team manager Chris Elson.
“(In addition) the B team was 4th on the day and 3rd overall. The C was first C team and D first D team.
“In the age groups the over 45s were 1st and 6th teams, the over 55 team 1st on the day and second overall.
“Ditto from the men! The men completed their 5th win in the last 7 years with 2nd in the other two years. On the day the A team were first, retaining their overall title by 103 points, the B team 3rd , C team 12th & D team 17th & E team 21st out of 84 teams.
“The B team topped the B division by a massive 954 points, whilst in the reserve division the C, D, E & F teams produced an astonishing performance taking the top four slots!”