Welsh Masters Athletics has been invited to enter a team for the England Inter-Area Cross Country Challenge next year (in addition to the other nations). This is similar to the track and field Inter-Area competitions in that this is a team selected by the Masters club, which will pay a contribution to travel expenses, together with the selected athletes’ entry fee. Subject to any Covid restrictions in force at the time, the event is scheduled for Saturday 5th February 2022 and is to take place on the Rising Sun Sports Ground, Wallsend, NE28 9JJ. All athletes must be members of a Masters club and hold a current UKA registration. Athletes wanting to represent Wales for this event must apply by email to their WMAL team manager – Brett Davis for the men’s and Daphne Marler for the women’s teams
(brett-davis1@sky.com, dmmarler@virginmedia.com) by Friday 21 January. Each team will consist of six scorers, so WMAL will take a minimum of eight and a maximum of ten athletes of each gender. We won’t be able to take a team if there are insufficient volunteers. All competitors will be ranked by their age-graded percentage, rounded to one decimal place, based on the distance run and their age on the day of competition. The team score will be calculated as the average of the team’s age graded performances, rounded to 1 decimal place. The winning team will be the one with the highest average of their men’s and women’s scores. There will be prize certificates for scoring athletes of the winning Area club, and prizes for the best men’s and women’s age graded performance. This event will be part of the North East Masters Athletics Association Open Cross Country Championships. Athletes wishing to take part in this should apply directly via the BMAF website by 28 January (£5) – one week after the team application close date. This gives us time to make the Welsh team selections and let people know what is happening so they do not miss out. WMAL will not pay travel expenses or entry fees for any athletes beyond the maximum teams of ten selected. There are two races (1) 12 noon, all women and men age 65+; ( c 3.5 miles; 2 laps), (2) 13.15 M35-M64 (c 5.25 miles, 3 laps). We are told the courses are “good cross-country, varied terrain, gently undulating ground;, and an interesting reclaimed land surface.
