The third race of the winter primary schools cross country series took place at Chesham High School on Saturday with many local schools represented. Chiltern Harriers athletes are underlined.
On a cool but sunny morning, the children coped well with muddy conditions on the fairly flat multi-terrain course.
The Year 3 boys were off first and individual winner was Freddie Bowcock of The Beacon, early success for the school new to this series of events. Second was H Smart of Gayhurst and third was his schoolmate, H Wise. Team winners were Gayhurst with C Spittal completing the team. The Year 3 girls race was won by Orla Fawcett of Our Lady's with a strong finish. Chalfont St Peter's Georgina Cooper was second and Nadine Eliason of Heatherton House third. In a close team race Elangeni were pipped by Chalfont St Peter, Zara Smith and Lauryn Jones joining Georgina as team counters, Heatherton House coming third.
The Year 4 boys race was won convincingly by Elangeni's Will Perkin, Edward Mundy of The Beacon second, Jamie Franks of Gateway third. First place was shared between Gateway and Chesham Prep with The Beacon in third spot. Another dominant performance came from Claire Buttivant of Chalfont St Peter's, winning the Year 4 girls race by a big margin. Sophia Lingley of Elangeni was second and team mate Rachel Padwick third. Team winners were Elangeni with Jessica Empson as third counter. Chalfont St Peter were second and Heatherton House third.
Bill Hughes from Elangeni ran from the front to win the Year 5 boys event, Oliver Porter of The Beacon was second and James Kingston of Gayhurst third. The Beacon were team winners with James Michaels and Michael Ferguson joining Oliver as their team. Gayhurst were second and Chesham Prep third. The Year 5 girls victor was Claudia Jones of Chesham Prep, Elangeni's Katie Pawlyn second and Chesham Prep's KJ Cecile-Pritchard third. Sammy Bousfield was third member of Chesham Prep's winning team, with Elangeni second and Godstowe third.
Continuing his recent strong form Robert Hughes from Elangeni took the Year 6 boys race, chased home strongly by Chalfont St Peter's Sam Butcher and Toby Jones. Nick Thomas joined them to be the winning Chalfont St Peter team, Gayhurst were second and Chesham Prep third. Coming back to something like her best form was Claudia McInerney of Chalfont St Peter, winner of the Year 6 girls race. Next finishers were Connie Lewis, Rosalind Firth and Emma Barraclough, the winning Elangeni team. Second placed team were Chalfont St Peter and host school for the day's event, Ley Hill were third.
Several of the older participants will be representing the successful Chiltern Harriers Under 11 teams at the final cross country league race of the season at Wing on February 9th.