Chiltern Harriers athletes from Years 7-10 had their first cross country outing of the season running for their schools as the English Schools Cup competition got underway.
In the Buckinghamshire races, held at John Colet School in Wendover there were some excellent performances to enjoy despite the cool temperatures and persistent drizzle.
In the Junior Girls event, Dr Challoners High School are defending national champions but are not as strong this year. There was a very close contest between the three best schools with Aylesbury High School on 36 points just pipping Dr Challoners on 38 and Beaconsfield High on 39. There were Chiltern Harriers in all three teams with Connie Lewis, second for Dr Challoners, Rosalind Firth, fifth for Dr Challoners, Hannah Morton, sixth for Aylesbury High, and Katie Bench, seventh for Beaconsfield High, being the pick of the Chiltern runners on show. Also running well were Maria Slade, 15th, and Robyn Lisle, 16th, from the field of 40 runners.
In the Junior Boys race, there was complete domination by Dr Challoners Grammar School team (pictured), who took an unprecedented first five places. Chiltern's Joe Cochrane won the race, followed by James McCarthy and Joe Aherne in fourth. This bodes very well for the rest of the competition.
The Intermediate Girls from Dr Challoners were only four strong but these four, all Chiltern members, ran great races to finish third and so qualify for the next Regional round in November. Amy Harris finished strongly to be sixth and Beth Cotterell confirmed her recent good form to be eighth. Carrie Holloway and Sophie Hart both ran very gutsy races to be 12th and 13th respectively from the 35 finishers.
In the Intermediate Boys, Dan Barraclough of RGS High Wycombe and George Gillingwater of Dr Challoners Grammar were part of a leading quartet for most of the race and finished well to be second and third respectively. The other Chiltern interest in the race, Jack Walker of RGS, ran well to be seventh. Dr Challoners were second team but RGS were fourth so eliminated at this stage.
At Barnet Copthall in the Hertfordshire county round, Chiltern's Ellie Jones had a great run to be fourth, running for Tring School, in the Intermediate Girls race, and Berkhamsted Collegiate made it through to the next round thanks to contributions from Chiltern Harriers Chloe Allen, ninth, and Catherine Haigh, 14th.