Young Athletes Medal Winners Back Row - Rosalind Firth, Connie Lewis Front Row - David Willcox, Bill Hughes, Will Perkin |
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Click on photo to enlarge - use browser back button to return Pictures by Steve Perkin |
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Young Athletes Medal Winners Back Row - Rosalind Firth, Connie Lewis Front Row - David Willcox, Bill Hughes, Will Perkin |
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Click on photo to enlarge - use browser back button to return Pictures by Steve Perkin |
The fifth and final match of the winter series took place at Wing on Saturday with Chiltern Harriers confirming their overall third place.
Amongst many highlights for the season were overall wins for the Under 11 boys, Under 13 boys, Under 13 girls and Veteran women, and individual wins for Connie Lewis in the Under 13 girls, Will Perkin in the Under 11 boys, and Barbara Ralph in the Vet 55 women. Other medallists were David Willcox (3rd Under 11 boys), Rosalind Firth (3rd Under 13 girls), Bill Hughes (3rd Under 13 boys), Ali Young (3rd Vet 35 women), Brenda King (2nd Vet 55 women), and Eddie O'Gorman (3rd Senior men).
On the day, in cool but dry conditions on the traditionally tough and muddy Wing courses, there was another fine turnout of 86 Chiltern athletes. Through the season a total of 150 athletes have taken part for the club, a record by a large margin.
The first race saw the Under11 girls make second place, confirming overall second for the season. Claire Buttivant was sixth on the day and sixth overall for the season. Hannah Thear was overall seventh and Lizzie Barraclough eighth. Also featuring in the top 20 were Sophie Morton (10th), Sandie Pohlman (15th), Orla Fawcett (16th), and Rhiannon Ward (20th).
With the league title already won, Will Perkin ran in the Under13 race, leaving Sam Henning to be highest Under 11 boy with a great second place, despite losing a shoe in the mud. Angus Denison-Smith was fifth, David Willcox seventh, Robert Hall eighth, Jonny Stenning tenth and Tommy Taylor 11th. Overall Will Perkin was first, David Willcox third, Robert Hall fourth, Sam Henning fifth, Angus Denison-Smith sixth, Jonny Stenning 13th, Josh Hughes 17th, Kieran Taylor 18th, and Richard Slade 20th. The boys won the team title by well over 100 points.
The Under 13 girls were led home by Connie Lewis, her fourth win in four races, ahead of a high class field. Rosalind Firth was fifth, Emma Barraclough eighth, Hannah Morton 14th, and Georgia Bingham 18th. Overall Connie was first, Rosalind third, Emma sixth and Katie Bench 20th. The team won by 32 points from Windsor to take team gold.
Despite missing key runners James McCarthy and Sam Butcher, the Under 13 boys won on the day to confirm league gold. Bill Hughes was sixth, Will Perkin eighth, Andrew Stenning ninth, Callum Neal 12th, Joe Aherne 13th, and Joe Cochrane 17th. Overall Bill was third, Joe Cochrane eighth, Sam Butcher ninth, Joe Aherne 11th, and Callum Neal 12th.
The Under 15 girls were fifth on the day and seventh overall, the best result for several years. Phoebe Cutter was 14th, Ellie Jones 23rd, Chloe Allen 24th, Alice Heinel 27th and Hannah Wardley 32nd. For the season Alice was 23rd, Hannah 30th.
The Under 15 boys placed second on the day to confirm silver medals for the season. Michael Goddard was eighth, Jack Dutton ninth, Dan Barraclough 16th, Jack Walker 18th. For the season Jack Dutton was fourth, Michael was fifth, George Gillingwater 13th, Jack Walker 16th, Liam McDonald 18th, Alex Johnson 24th.
For the Under 17 men, Dan Loach was 12th and Will Fletcher 14th, with Dan 19th and Will 21st for the season.
In the senior men Eddie O'Gorman had to retire with injury but still held on to third place overall in the league. Overall Kingsley Nanton was 12th, Julius Fawcett 26th and John Taylor 30th. In the vet 40s, Steve Perkin was 19th, Michael Turney 25th and Ade McCormack 31st. Phillip Owens was 11th Vet 50, Mel Folkard 14th, Steve Field 15th; Trevor Brawn was 7th vet 60, Martyn Cartwright 9th.
The senior women saw another great run from Sian Thomas to be eighth and in an amazing return after a long lay-off from cross country Sandra Reynolds ran superbly to be tenth. Ali Young was 15th and Cath Holloway 23rd to complete the scoring. Overall Sian was sixth Senior woman. Ali Young took bronze in the Vet 35 age group with Judith Orr fourth. Kate Loach was fifth in the Vet 45 category and Barbara Ralph and Brenda King were 1-2 in the Vet 55s.
The women were third on the day and fourth for the season with the veteran team winning gold by a huge margin.
The club can look back on a great league season but forward to several more big races before the end of the season starting with the County Championships on Feb 20th at Luton.