 Under 15 girls team - Hannah Morton, Connie Lewis, Emma Barraclough |
 Under 15 boys team - James McCarthy, Joe Aherne, Bill Hughes |
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Under 15 girls team - Hannah Morton, Connie Lewis, Emma Barraclough |
Under 15 boys team - James McCarthy, Joe Aherne, Bill Hughes |
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There were medals galore for Chiltern Harriers young athletes
at Biggleswade on Saturday at the Southern Cross Country Relays
Championships.
In very hot weather on a 2K or 3K course that had an energy-sapping
hill, the youngsters did the club proud with golds for the Under 15
girls and Under 15 boys, silvers for the Under 17 men and Under 13 boys
and a host of great runs by younger athletes, finding their feet in
cross country at this level.
The Under 17 men started off proceedings with George Gillingwater
running 10.05 on the 3K loop to come home in fifth. Michael Goddard ran
10.10 on the second leg to move up to second and Jack Walker held that
position to the end, running 10.39. The Chiltern B team featured Chris
Strong (11.25), Alex Johnson (11.10) and Eli Bou-Gharios (11.24) all
running solid legs to finish 11th.
The Under 13 girls were next and were up against two of the country’s
best teams in Bracknell and West Suffolk, amongst others. Mimi
Houlihan-Burne took on the first leg duties and ran well over 2K to log
8.19 in seventh place. Hannah Thear ran hard to move up to fourth with
7.50 (sixth fastest lap overall) and Sophie Morton had another good run
of 8.08 to maintain fourth place. The B team of Rachel Padwick (8.39),
Katie McCartney (8.53) and Abi Jones (8.38) were eighth and the C team
of Jessica Brew (8.55), Alex Hughes-Morgan (9.32) and Maddy Lacey
(8.47) were 11th. Great runs by inexperienced but enthusiastic girls.
The Under 13 boys had high hopes after second place at Aldershot the
week before in the Southern Road Relays. Sam Henning got the A team off
to a great start with a lap of 7.01 (second fastest of the day) which
saw them leading. Robert Hall started fast but faded towards the end of
his lap to log 7.35 and Thomas Conway had a small advantage going into
the final leg. Although he increased the lead over most of the field he
couldn’t hold off Bedford’s Tom Angell, whose 6.42 on the last leg was
easily best of the day.
The B team of Angus Denison-Smith (7.28), Will Perkin (7.26), and Fred
Sanders (7.35) finished an excellent fifth. The C team of Jonny
Stenning (7.50), Callum Hodson (7.57) and David Willcox (7.41) were
seventh and the D team of Theo Kontos (7.46), Ethan Kidd (8.05) and
Rohan Montgomery (8.14) were tenth. This was a great show of the
strength in depth at the club in this age group.
The action then moved onto the Under 15s. Hannah Morton had another
great run to ‘win’ the first leg with 7.07 over 2K. Connie Lewis then
stretched out a big lead, again running 7.07 to hand over to Emma
Barraclough who ran maturely to keep the lead with a lap of 8.07,
holding off the runner from Aldershot , Farnham and District, and
winning by a clear 20 seconds. Hannah and Connie shared the fastest lap
prize and Emma’s time was eleventh fastest.
As the girls received their gold medals, Bill Hughes crossed the line
to complete a win for the Under 15 boys. Joe Aherne had a blinding run
of 6.40 to lead after one leg. James McCarthy then ran 6.31 to stretch
the lead and Bill Hughes, despite struggling with a sore back, finished
with 6.59 to finish the job. The B team of Joe Cochrane (6.50), Sam
Butcher (7.20) and Callum Neal (7.06) were fourth and Toby Jones (7.00)
and Will Oleksiuk (8.12) ran as an incomplete C team. On the fastest
lap list James was second, Joe Aherne third and Joe Cochrane fifth.