THE cross country season is up and running again (literally) and following a strong first season back in the North Wales League Aberystwyth Athletic Club is keen to strengthen its position again this year.

Following the first event at Colwyn Bay, Aber AC’s 2nd division men’s team is already in bronze position.

The way the scoring works, there needs to be four in a team and first home across the line in 16th position was Owain Schiavone in a time of 30:13 followed by Edd Land in 29th position in 31:59. Third scorer was Julien Brun in 94th and Neil Gamble just outside the top 100 in 101st position with a time of 37:35.

The Male Masters team made up of Richard Anthony, Damian Sidnell and Iain Barber currently sit in 8th position overall in a very strong field.

The ladies team which included Line Macaire and Ceri Evans is currently in 18th position in the team standings.

This is a key event to develop the junior side of the club and following the first event the U11 boys are currently in first place in the league with under 11 girls currently sitting mid table but there is still plenty of time to go.

Club captain Edd Land was very happy with the positive start: “We came back to cross country last year and made a good impact and now we want to build on that this year.

“This was an excellent start and with one of the races being held in Aberystwyth this year it promises to be a fruitful season for all involved.”

It had been a while since Aberystwyth Athletic Club entered a team for the cross country leagues but due to the increase in interest in running locally, last year Aber AC decided to once again take part in the North Wales League for the first time in a decade.

At the time Edd Land said: “Aber AC has been on the up for the past few years with an increase in member numbers, in the adult and junior section, and people have different running interests and we try and cater for them all.”

Closer to home and the annual Twin Peaks race was slightly different this year.

Because of scheduled work along Aberystwyth promenade the route was redrawn to take in two loops of Constitution Hill.

On a perfect autumnal day over 65 runners took on the challenge of climbing an descending one of Aberystwyth’s favourite viewpoints.

The winning time over the 6km route was an incredible 23.17 by Finlay Fridersdorff of Leicester Coritanian AC but there were strong performances by Aber AC’s Llyr ab Einion cming in 4th overall in a time of 26.04 and Caryl Wyn Davies the first lady home in a time of 30.31.

There were also category wins for Anita Saycell and Peter Barber of Aber AC.

Organiser Louise Barker said: “We had to do something different this year but we are fortunate in that there are different routes going up Constitution Hill so at least there was some variety for the runners.

“In all honesty I think this route is tougher than the usual Twin Peaks route so suspect the athletes will be glad to return to the traditional route next year.

“It was great again to see so many youngsters take part with over 30 juniors taking part in their own Consti challenge, that certainly bodes well for the future.”

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