Silver medal-winning Under 13 boys team - Bill Hughes, Robert Hall, Will Perkin, Sam Henning. |
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Click on photos to enlarge - use browser back button to return Pictures by Steve Perkin |
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Silver medal-winning Under 13 boys team - Bill Hughes, Robert Hall, Will Perkin, Sam Henning. |
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Click on photos to enlarge - use browser back button to return Pictures by Steve Perkin |
The stars for Chiltern Harriers in Saturday's Southern Cross Country Championships were the Under 13 boys. Packing excellently into the top thirty, Bill Hughes (10th), Will Perkin (26th), Sam Henning (29th), and Robert Hall (30th) finished on 95 points, just 22 behind winners Tonbridge AC, and well ahead of third placed City of Norwich on 169. There were 32 complete teams, Chiltern 'B' finishing in 23rd.
On a very cold day, conditions underfoot at Hampstead Heath were variable with some hard areas but also some softer muddy sections. The hilly courses provided their traditional tough test.
The Under 13 boys tackled a 3K course and had a large field of 223. Aside from the four scorers, Johnny Stenning was 110th, Year 6 boy Calum Steer had a great debut to be 113th, David Willcox was 120th, Rohan Montgomery had his first run back from injury to be 198th and Will Oleksiuk was 204th.
The Under 13 girls race featured 242 athletes and the Chiltern girls ran well to be seventh from 36 teams. Hannah Morton led the way in 22nd, supported by Hannah Thear (68th), Georgie Bingham (74th), and Katie Bench (105th). Rachel Padwick (173rd) and Sophie Chesterman (183rd) both had good debuts at this event and Claire Buttivant was 224th.
The Under 15 boys were hampered by an injury to Michael Goddard who had to withdraw after being spiked. This left James McCarthy (78th), Andrew Stenning (85th), Joe Aherne (137th) and Jimmy Davies (160th) to come in as the team in 19th place from 37. Alex Johnson was 239th.
Connie Lewis had a good run to finish 15th in the 209-strong Under 15 girls race. Emma Barraclough (67th), Amy Harris (80th), and Hannah Wardley (95th) packed well to finish 11th from 28 teams, the Chiltern club's best result in this age group at the Southerns for several years. Rosalind Firth struggled badly with breathing problems but still finished in 125th.
The Under 17 men were 14th. From a field of 178, Jack Walker was 88th, George Gillingwater 95th, Ben Hall 109th, and Liam MacDonald 133rd.
The Senior men's race featured another very good run from Tom Beedell to finish 47th from 900 runners in 52.54 on the gruelling 15K course. David Breingan was 580th and Trevor Brawn 860th.