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Chiltern Harriers had an excellent start to the Chiltern Cross Country League series of races at Cassiobury Park, Watford on Saturday. The Division 1 results saw the club coming overall 4th from the 14 in the division, 3rd in the male section, 11th in the female section.
The afternoon was mild and became quite warm in the autumn sunshine and conditions in the park were firm allowing some fast times to be posted.
In the main Senior men's event over 9k, the Harriers were a strong 4th, packing all ten counters into the top 100. Eddie O'Gorman was first finisher in 15th place in 30.09, Matt Bennett was 19th and 3rd Under 20 in 30.19, and Derek Brown was 24th and 3rd Vet 40 in 30.33. The first four veteran counters placed 5th in that team category. Also running strongly to place in the top 40 were Stuart Ellerby, 27th in 30.47 and Kingsley Nanton, 33rd in 31.09.
The Senior ladies also did well in their 6k event, finishing 4th with Laura Butt 10th in 25.27, Sandra Reynolds 14th in 25.38, and Debbie Wenman 16th in 25.58, all in the top 20. The veteran ladies won their team age group race, Sandra and Debbie joined by Cath Holloway, 24th in 27.11, and Barbara Ralph, 33rd in 28.07, as counters.
The younger members of the club also had some excellent performances. Alex Shelley and Allan Stewart were 13th and 27th as first years in the Under 17 men, Alex Watson was 5th in the Under 15 boys and the Under 13 boys were 2nd in the team race with Michael Goddard 3rd, Dan Barraclough 6th and Jack Dutton 7th all having great runs.
However, the Under 11 boys went one better winning their race with Andrew Stenning in 1st place (the club's sole individual winner on the day - middle picture on the top row), James McCarthy 5th and Bill Hughes 11th. Club runners also filled 12th, 13th and 14th positions to show great strength in depth at this age group.
The Under 17, 15 and 13 girls had a tougher time in some very competitive races with high quality athletes up against them. A notable run came from Ellie Jones, running as a first year and coming 22nd from a large and high standard field of 87. The Under 11s, however, had a splendid race, matching the boys and being the victorious team, comprising Emma Barraclough 5th, Connie Lewis 7th and Rosalind Firth 9th. Claudia Jones was close behind in 10th.
The second race is at Oxford Horspath on November 10th and team managers are hoping for more strong performances to build on this great start to the season.