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Click on photos to enlarge - use browser back button to return Pictures by Steve Perkin |
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Click on photos to enlarge - use browser back button to return Pictures by Steve Perkin |
Chiltern Harriers continued their steady progress in the Chiltern League with another good performance at the third of five matches - this one at the flat but muddy Upton Court Park in Slough.
With sixteen young athletes away at the English Schools Cup Final in Cornwall, the junior teams did a great job in remaining competitive.
The Under 11s, not affected by the schools event, had their best ever turnout with 11 girls and 18 boys swelling the starting line-ups. The girls were off first and had their best results of the season so far. Claire Buttivant in fifth, Hannah Thear eighth and Lizzie Barraclough ninth were the scoring three. Also having good runs were Nadine Eliasson in 13th, Orla Fawcett in 14th, Sandie Pohlman in 15th and Harriet Church in 20th.
The boys completely dominated their race with six of the top nine places. Will Perkin made it a hat-trick of wins despite suffering from a stitch. Sam Henning was fourth, Charles Page fifth, David Willcox seventh, Angus Denison-Smith eighth, and Tommy Taylor had a great debut to be ninth. Also in the top 20 were Robert Hall (12th), Kieran Taylor (14th) and Tom Dore (18th).
The Under 13 girls were particularly badly affected by the schools race, with seven key runners missing. The remaining girls did a superb job to finish third on the day and narrowly maintain the girls' lead at the head of their league. Alice Hall had her best run of the season to finish a fantastic fifth. Emma Barraclough was ninth, Katie Bench, 24th and Claudia Jones 39th. The girls' lead has now shrunk to eight points ahead of Windsor who won on Saturday on home soil.
The Under 13 boys were led home by Bill Hughes who was fourth. Sam Butcher was tenth, Callum Neal 15th and Callum Reid-Jones 21st to finish a very creditable second on the day. Overall the boys lead their league with a gap of eleven points.
In the Under 15 girls race Ellie Jones (18th), Alice Heinel (29th), and Hannah Wardley (30th) scored useful points in reaching seventh place and maintaining seventh overall for the season.
The Under 15 boys were weakened due to injuries. Michael Goddard was seventh, George Gillingwater 13th, Ben Whitney 19th and Liam McDonald 22nd to achieve fourth place on the day and maintain third overall.
Under 17s Dan Loach in 19th, Will Fletcher 24th and Ben Hall 29th reached sixth place on the day and are ninth overall.
The senior women were led home by Sian Thomas in tenth, with Judith Orr 22nd, Caroline Holden 30th and Jess Gray 31st to reach fifth place and they are fourth overall. The foursome of Judith, Caroline, Barbara Ralph (32nd) and Kate Loach (41st) won the ladies veteran's race and the Chiltern team again head that league by a good margin going into the last two matches.
The senior men had big scorers Tom Beedell (6th), Eddie O'Gorman (10th), and Fabian Downs (13th) in action, and Kingsley Nanton (42nd), Steve Perkin (78th), Julius Fawcett (80th), and Michael Turney (90th) also featured in the top 100.
With home club Windsor scoring highly, Chiltern slipped a place to fourth overall, but with two remaining matches hopes are high that the club is still in with a good chance of an overall medal this year. The next match is at Shuttleworth in Bedfordshire on January 16th.