Race Report – Lotto Cross Cup, Hannut Jan ’23, Junior Men

Lotto CrossCup – Hannut 22/01/2023
England Junior Men – Team Report

The team met early on Saturday morning for the first stage on the journey to Hannut. Leaving the bright sunshine of London far behind us we arrived in Leuven, Belgium to be greeted by slate grey skies. After a good night’s rest the athletes boarded the coach for the 35-minute drive to the course in Hannut.

The skies were leaden, and the threat of snow hung heavy over the tight, twisty, muddy 6 km course that awaited the junior men. The icy wind blowing in from the north meant that exposed skin chilled quickly, warming up and keeping warm was challenging which meant the athletes left it to the very last minute to expose the cross of St George they all wore so proudly on their chests.

The gun was fired at five minutes past two and the game was on. The race had a lot more riding on it than just who won; a good performance had the potential to catch the eye of the World Cross Country section team who meet on 30th January to finalize the team for Bathurst, Australia.

The course had a short steep drop off after just 100m, so the athletes stormed away from the start to get to the front and in doing so have a clear view of the first of several obstacles. First to show was Luke Birdseye closely followed by Jacob Deacon, James Dargan and Daniel Maydew. The Irishman, Jonas Stafford, was not going to let the Englishmen have it all their own way and as the first of the shorter 1000m lap ended Safford was looking like he could challenge for a podium spot. The second and third lap sore little change at the front with Birdseye, Deacon and Stafford taking turns to lead. James Dargan was hanging on doggedly just a few meters off the pack and looked determined to make the most of his chance to represent England. Further back Daniel Maydew was equally determined to do well and to put the bad memories of his Home Countries International experience behind him.

With 3000m meters remaining the likely outcome was difficult to call but with the longer lap included a series of hurdles there was a sneaky feeling amongst those who knew him that the latter half of the race would suite steeplechaser Luke Birdseye. This proved to be the case with first Deacon and then Birdseye breaking the brave challenge of the Irishman, Jonas Stafford.

The bell rang loudly and as Luke negotiated the tight turn at the start of the final 1500m lap he made his move. The gap between him and fellow Englishman Jacob Deacon opened very quickly. Luke said afterwards that he had planned to take the tight bend into the final lap quickly and then just keep his foot down for the whole of the final 1500m. The tactic worked like a dream as he ran out a clear winner. Jacob chased hard and in doing so he broke clear of the tenacious Irishman (Jonas Stafford) and in doing so he also sent out a strong message to the selectors for Bathurst that he is back in good shape.

The gaps had opened over the challenging final 1500m with a resurgent James Dargan taking a clear and very respectable 4th place behind Ireland’s Jonas Stafford. Further down the field a much happier Daniel Maydew held 12th place. Daniel had been forced to drop out earlier this season when making his English debut in Milton Keynes.

All in all, it was a good day in the office. Despite the challenging conditions the Englishmen to a man acquitted themselves very well. Well done team!

Keith Holt
Team Manager

Results

1st Luke Birdseye – England
2nd Jacob Deacon – England
3rd Jonas Stafford – Ireland 33rd Euros
4th James Dargan – England
5th Regis Thibert – Belgium
6th Simon Jeukenne – Belgium 50th Euros
7th Kasper Lievens – Belgium
8th Benjamin Peck – South of England
12th Daniel Maydew – England