The truncated 2025-26 cross country League season came to a close at Ipsley Meadows in Redditch with both the men’s Birmingham League and women’s Midland League Division One fixtures taking place in #some of the wettest and muddiest conditions ever seen in League history!
Both teams faced a battle to retain their top flight status with the season reduced to three races following the cancellation of January’s races.
The ladies team ran over 3.8 miles and finished eighth on the day with 179 points.
That sealed a fifteenth place finish in the table but due to City of Stoke AC failing to field a team for two out of the three races (Ollie Wright, where are you? 😊), Halesowen are safe in Division One for another year.
The masters team finished fourth on the day and 146 runners took part in the race in total.
The full Midland League results are on the link below:
https://www.racetecresults.com/results.aspx?CId=16418&RId=985&EId=4
WOMEN’S MIDLAND LEAGUE RESULTS (Photos by Jenny Taylor)
27 Phoebe Dodd 27:06
39 Louise Collins 27:59
44 Jessica Dale 28:10
69 Sarah Gill 29:40
80 Michelle Dale 30:37
81 Milly Allen 30:43
86 Mel Hepke 30:59
115 Rachel Webster 34:41
134 Bettina Wolf 40:03
A huge party of 29 runners from the club lined up for the men’s race over 5.6 miles, by far the largest team on the day.
Halesowen placed fourteenth on the day with 446 points but unfortunately that wasn’t enough to move away from the relegation zone.
The fourteenth place finish in the league table means that Halesowen’s men will be competing in Division Two next season.
The masters team placed ninth in the final series table.
Speaking to Radio Halesowen Town, men’s captain Mark Hadley said: “We had some excellent runners putting themselves on the line but unfortunately we’ve just come short.”
“It’s not for the lack of trying and everyone represented the club brilliantly.
“I truly believe that the Birmingham League is the toughest cross country league in the country and the three race season made it very hard as we were chasing points to stay in the division.
“The club’s in a great place at the moment and the men will push on from strength to strength and we’ll fight hard for promotion next season I’m sure.”
Here are the full Birmingham League Division One results which includes the final series standings
MEN’S BIRMINGHAM LEAGUE RESULTS (Photos by Jenny Taylor)
21st Joe Donkin 34:17
33 Joe Rogers 35:10
59 Alex Taylor 36:48
101 Dan Tsagay 38:41
112 Matt Wilkinson (Jr) 39:11
120 James Hoult 39:38
124 Ethan Jordan 40:22
127 Adam Cross 40:30
139 Peter Dear 41:41
145 Ollie Dodd 42:11
146 Rob McWilliams 42:13
147 Ben Russell 42:13
166 Nick Hazelwood 44:07
168 Ben Dunlop 44:19
179 Mark Hadley 45:07
180 Phill Scarr 45:09
182 David Lewis 45:37
186 Gareth Blount 46:17
188 Alex Morgan 46:45
193 Bill Nock 47:43
196 Roger Mallard 48:38
197 James Ludlow 48:58
202 RIck Cudworth 50:46
207 Andy Nock 52:54
213 Steve Horton 54:30
214 Keith Taylor 54:51
215 Dave Jackson 56:11
219 Matt Allen 59:13
220 Adrian Dale 66:17
220 runners finished the race although Ali Grant’s eager eyes counted 224 athletes who finished the first lap.
Whether the missing four were swallowed up by the mud or drowned is yet to be determined …
Thanks go to team managers Mark Hadley and Mel Hepke and all the marshals, volunteers and supporters for all their hard work throughout the season.
More photos, videos and audio follow below.
And if you’re already missing the excitement of the cross country leagues, fear not!
They will be BACK in November!
MEN’S RACE VIDEOS (Phoebe Dodd)
WOMEN’S RACE PHOTO GALLERY (Alex Morgan)
WOMEN’S RACE VIDEO
MEN’S RACE PHOTO GALLERY (Paul Allen)
MEN’S RACE GALLERY 2 (Phoebe Dodd)
RADIO HALESOWEN TOWN INTERVIEW with MARK HADLEY
Main cover photo courtesy of Birchfield Harriers
Leave a Reply