Mallory Park in Leicestershire was the setting for the annual area championship on January 25 as the event avoided the much-publicised storm sweeping the country

Kadar Omar and Olivia Mathias took the two senior titles at a venue bathed in glorious winter sunshine and held at a new location for cross-country running that provided a testing course with artificial mounds and some mud although some races did seem to run shorter than the advertised distances.

Men

Omar took the initiative right from the start and his Birchfield clubmate Omar Ahmed was never able to get on terms and had his own battle for second spot with Rugeley’s Lee Gratton before securing silver.

The start of all races was downhill, something that made for some kamikaze running especially off of the several mounds that are a permanent feature of the park. After the first small lap, Omar was ahead but, running off one of those mounds literally careered down the hill almost losing balance.

Thereafter all went well and a winning margin of 22 seconds was the end result. Ahmed was headed for some of the race by Gratton before securing second, albeit by only a few seconds. Birchfield might have hoped for success in the team stakes with their one-two but it was Newark who, led home by fourth placed Elliott Smith Rasmusson, packed their scoring six in the top 23.

The two Birchfield men have often taken it in turns to be ahead but winner Omar said that he has moved his home from Birmingham to Rugeley so that he can train on Cannock Chase and is now pleased with the rewards of that move. “I had a rough year before that move, but here I decided to put my foot down,” said Omar.

The Midland Masters title went to M35 Gratton, the International Masters silver medallist, but M45 International Masters winner Alistair Watson was sixth overall. Multiple winner in that competition Tim Hartley was top M55.

Men: 1 K Omar (Bir) 36:38; 2 O Ahmed (Bir) 37:00; 3 L Gratton (Ruge) 37:05; 4 E Smith-Rasmusson (Newark) 37:21; 5 F McGrath (B&W) 37:37; 6 A Watson (Notts, M45) 37:48

M50: 1 M Makin (Herm) 45:00

M55: 1 T Hartley (Notts) 43:30

M60: 1 B Nock (Hales) 55:19

TEAM:1 Newark 79; 2 Notts 149; 3 Birchfield 318

M65+ (short 8km, ran with women): 1 K Spare (N’brook) 33;08

M75: 1 A Daley (Glouc) 36:27

Women

With boyfriend and Olympic triathlon champion Alex Yee on hand, it was Commonwealth triathlon team silver medallist Olivia Mathias who pushed hard from the start. The Newark runner pulled three more women away from the rest of the field as Hannah Seager, Rosie Hamilton-Jones and defending champion Gemma Steel followed in her wake.

Matthias’ victory was never really in doubt despite losing to Steel in the Leicestershire County championship. It was an off-colour Steel who fought herself up from fourth to take silver and comfortably lead her Charnwood club to a team victory.

Over the last five years, the Mathias had only ever raced once in straight running events, a year but chose to have a second outing when realising that the championship was being held at Mallory Park. “I’ve spent many years doing Triathlons here,” said the 26-year-old.

Although Mathias victory seemed assured, the Welsh international said that she “thought to myself: have I gone too early?” There was no need to worry, as victory was hers by well over 150 metres.

Steel, who admitted that she “didn’t have the legs,” took the Midland Masters W35 title and clubmate Juliet Potter, the top W40 was in sixth spot.

Women: 1 O Matthias (Newark) 24:42; 2 G Steel (Charm, W35) 25:23; 3 R Hamilton-Jones (W’bury) 25:43; 4 H Seager (Charn) 26:05; 5 S Hurst (Cov G) 26:30; 6 Juliet Potter (Charn, W40) 26:52

W45: 1 D Sherwin (Stoke) 28:28

W50: 1 M Vernon (Stoke) 29:50

W55: 1 K Ramsey (Charn) 30:12

W65: 1 J Kidd (Kenil) 35:55

W75: 1 A Copson (R&N) 41:35

TEAM:1 Charnwood 19; 2 Bristol & W 94; 3 Coventry G 139

Young Athletes

The Wreake & Soar Valley club can be relied upon to put out quite a few medallists and their Daniel Van Aardt comfortably took the junior men’s title, despite a dogged race-long chase by Birchfield’s Ash Burgess.

Nevertheless, it was Birchfield who took team honours, but only two clubs managed to finish a scoring quartet.

It was better in the under-17 men’s event where four squads finished a race in which last year’s under-15 champion Archie Lane graduated to take the higher age group.

“It started so quickly, then you had the wind and the hills, said the Leamington runner.

Favourite Ewan Withnall, the English Schools 1500m champion, took the under-15 boys’ event, although his winning margin was just eight seconds despite leading all of the way. “The tactic was to sit in but I always want to get a bit of a lead,” said the Burton runner, who added that he could always use his finishing sprint if needed.

It was close in the under-13 boys’ event before Zak Rush won for Solihull & Small Heath by a couple of ticks in a race where, again, only two clubs fielded a scoring team.

Missing from the results were the strong boys age group club Wolverhampton & Bilston, despite having a series of athletes who would have been thought to figure in the medal chases.

The biggest win of the day came from junior women’s race first home Hannah Blundy, who had a 66-second winning margin.

Under-17 women’s race winner Grace Burge also led her City of Stoke club to team medals although she noted that “it was quite difficult in the mud and up the steep banks”

No one could doubt the domination of Wreake & Soar Valley in the under-15 girls’ event where they packed their scoring four in the first nine.

It was Phoebe Langlands who led throughout with Maisie Mullet vainly chasing for a club one-two and this was despite having a fall on the second lap.

Stroud also produced a champion as Joselyn Hathway won the youngest girls’ group race, the under-13s.

U20 Men: 1 D Van Aardt (Wreake) 22;18; 2 A Burgess (Bir) 22:37; 3 A Savage-Swaine (W’bury) 23:26

TEAM:1 Birchfield 62; 2 BRAT 99

U17: 1 A Lane (Leam) 16:40; 2 S Lambert (Strat) 17:04; 3 S Collins (Wreake) 17:07

TEAM:1 Stratford 34; 2 Charnwood 64; 3 Wreake & Soar Valley 81

U15: 1 E Withnall (Burt) 11:21; 2 J Pares (Mansf) 11:29; 3 F McAllister (R’cliffe) 11:37

TEAM:1 R Sutton Coldfield 58; 2 Wreake & S V 87; 3 Mansfield 90(

U13: 1 Z Rush &S&SH) 9:01; 2 F Stanton (C&S) 9:03; 3 O Adams (Shrews) 9:33

TEAM:1 Charnwood 70; 2 Stroud 112

U20 Women: 1 H Blundy (Wells) 18:55; 2 B Horner (Wreake) 20:01; 3 S Duvl (RSC) 20:14

TEAM:1 Stratford 34

U17: 1 G Burge (Stoke) 16:43; 2 L Barker (S&SH) 17:06; 3 F Collins (Hales) 17:16

TEAM:1 Stoke 21; 2 Halesowen 22; 3 Stroud 71

U15: 1 P Langlands (Wreake) 12:36; 2 M Mullett (Wreake) 12:49; 3 H Turner (Stoke) 12:56

TEAM:1 Wreake & SV 19; 2 Stoke 35; 3 Charnwood 73

U13: 1 J Hathway (Stroud) 9:57; 2 A Kemp (Wreake) 10:00; 3 B Brinza (Dav) 10:07

TEAM:1 Stratford 59; 2 Wreake & SV 81; 3 Stroud 92

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