South of England Cross Country Championships

Stanmer Park, Brighton

Saturday 28th January 2012

Pictures of the Under 13 Girls race by John Pohlman

Pictures by Steve Perkin

There were some good individual and team performances from Chiltern Harriers at Stanmer Park, Brighton on Saturday for the South of England Cross Country Championships.

On a tough, hilly course the ground conditions were good but with some muddy sections and harder paths the athletes had to concentrate to keep upright. The races took place in winter sunshine with a cool breeze.

The first race of the day saw Chiltern’s only team medal, a great set of runs from the Under 15 boys. James McCarthy ran to form to finish 12th and there were good efforts from Joe Aherne (23rd), Bill Hughes (33rd) and Joe Cochrane (88th) to complete the team that won bronze medals from 27 taking part. Callum Neal was 100th and Sam Butcher 109th from the 211 finishers.

Next up were the Under 13 girls, most of whom were making their debut at this level of competition. Hannah Thear recovered from a poor start to finish 49th. Lizzie Barraclough (117th), Abi Jones (147th) and Katie McCartney (150th) were the scorers that finished in 16th place overall. Georgina Barnett, Sandie Pohlman and Jessica Brew also all got good experience.

At full strength the Under 13 boys would have been team medal contenders but with two away on a school trip and others injured or unavailable it was left to Sam Henning to lead the team and he ran very well to secure the individual bronze medal. Angus Denison-Smith suffered from an asthma attack and was 70th and Jonny Stenning (96th) and Freddie Burrell (119th) completed the team that was 10th from 26.

The Under 15 girls featured good runs from Connie Lewis in 11th and Hannah Morton in 24th. The team was completed by Emma Barraclough in 106th and Katie Bench, suffering from a cold, in 124th. The girls ended up in 10th place from 25.

The Under 17 men saw George Gillingwater 86th, Liam McDonald 108th, Elie Bou-Gharios 128th and Jack Walker 150th finish in 14th place. Hannah Wardley was the sole Chiltern representative in the Under 17 women’s race, having a solid outing in 73rd place.

In the large senior men’s race David Breingan was 465th and Trevor Brawn 736th.