Slide show of Craig Buttivant's, Martyn Loach's & Gary Walford's pictures
Chiltern Harriers had another very successful county championships at Shuttleworth College in Bedfordshire on Saturday. On a hard, frozen course that involved three climbs on each 3K lap, and in bitterly cold temperatures, conditions were tough for the veteran, senior and junior athletes who turned out.
The senior men retained the county team title that they had won for the first time last year. On a gruelling four lap 12K course, the six counters were Eddie O'Gorman, 4th in 43.23, Matt Bennett, 6th in 44.16, Fabian Downs, 7th in 44.51, Tom Beedell, 10th in 46.11, Kingsley Nanton, 12th in 47.37, and John Taylor, 13th in 48.37. This was a great result. The veteran men finished in fourth place. The sole individual Chiltern winner was Martyn Cartwright in the Vet 60 category, completing the 6K course in 34.52.
The senior women were missing several key runners and had to settle for team silver behind a strong Vale of Aylesbury contingent. The four Chiltern scorers on the two lap 6K course were Laura Butt, 4th in 25.48 (1st Vet 35), Debbie Wenman, 6th in 26.31 (2nd Vet 35), Kate Loach, 13th in 28.53 (2nd Vet 45), and Barbara Ralph 14th in 29.10 (3rd Vet 45). The four were first in the Vet Women team category. Brenda King completed the veteran success with gold in the Vet 55 age group in 35.44.
Earlier in the day the Under 13 teams had also brought home team gold. The first of the day's races saw the Under 13 girls put on a great performance to have six of the top ten. Connie Lewis was the individual county winner in 12.38 on the one lap 3K circuit, with Jessica Franks second in 13.10, and Ellie Jones fifth in 13.38 completing the team. Amy Harris was sixth in 13.40, Bethan Cotterell ninth in 13.54, and Rosalind Firth tenth in 13.58.
On the boys side Michael Goddard continued his dominant winter form, winning the county title in 11.10. Also scoring in the winning Under 13 team were James McCarthy, 6th in 12.12, Andrew Stenning, 7th in 12.14, and Alex Johnson, 9th in 12.30.
In the older age groups, Phoebe Cutter ran well to be ninth in the Under 15 girls event in 19.27 on the 4.5K course. In the boys Under 15 race, the team achieved third place behind strong teams from Milton Keynes and Aylesbury. George Gillingwater had possibly his run of the season to be fifth in 16.24 on the same 4.5k loop as the girls. Dan Barraclough was tenth in 16.49, Jack Dutton was 13th in 17.28, and Liam McDonald was 15th in 17.40 to complete the scoring team.
Both Allan Stewart and Alex Shelley had to pull out of the Under 17 men's race after recent lay-offs, leaving Alex Watson to be fifth in 22.54 on the 6K route with Dan Loach seventh in 24.37.
Several senior and junior athletes have been invited on the basis of the event's results to compete for Buckinghamshire in the Inter-Counties race in Nottingham on March 7th, with several others under consideration. This gives plenty of confidence to the club as the championship season gets under way in earnest.