A
remarkable winter of achievement has been rounded off in fine style for
three Under 13 Chiltern Harriers. Robert Hall, Sam Henning and Will
Perkin have been selected to run for the South East Region Under 13
Boys team in the London Mini Marathon on April 22nd.This is a great accolade for the boys as only the top six rated runners from the combined counties of Kent, Sussex, Hampshire, Surrey, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire take part in the three mile race that finishes on the Mall on London Marathon morning.
The Mini Marathon will top off a season where the boys have won medals at county, regional and national level for both club, school, and county. The role of honour for the Chiltern Harriers U13 team this winter is : South of England Road Relays – silver, National Road Relays – bronze, Southern Cross Country Relays – silver, National Cross Country Relays – bronze, Bucks County Cross Country Championships – gold, National Cross Country Championships – bronze, and Chiltern Cross Country League – gold. The trio have been backed up by great running from fellow Harriers Tom Conway, Angus Denison-Smith and Fred Sanders.
In addition to their exploits at club level the boys, who remarkably are all in the same class at Dr Challoners Grammar School, won the County Round of the English Schools Cross Country Cup for DCGS, the Regional Round a month later, and, along with Fred Sanders, were narrowly beaten into second place in the National Final. The boys were also half the DCGS team that won the Bracknell Forest Relays.
The threesome have also been the core of the Buckinghamshire team that won gold at the Southern Inter Counties Cross Country Championships in December and were silver medallists in the National Inter Counties in March.
So a call up for Rob, Sam and Will to take part in the Mini Marathon is just reward for a season of dedicated training and committed racing.
They will be joined on the day by fellow Chiltern Harrier Connie Lewis who is taking part for the South East Under 15 girls team. Connie was the winner of the Mini Marathon as an U13 two years ago so will be able to help the boys prepare for their experience.
In the Intermediate boys race the Bucks Schools team contained James McCarthy who was second scorer in 98th and Elie Bou-Gharios, running in his first race of this calibre, who was sixth Bucks scorer in 295th place. The Bucks team was 23rd.
The Junior boys team had the biggest Chiltern contingent with Bill Hughes, Sam Henning, Will Perkin and Robert Hall all taking part. Bill had a superb run, starting from third in the pen to finish a brilliant 15th and the first Bucks runner home. Sam continued his great form to be second scorer in 26th and Will was fourth Bucks runner home in 105th. Rob unfortunately had to pull out with a calf strain, and the county only finished with six scorers, doing well to finish as high as 11th.
The Senior boys team that finished in 18th featured George Gillingwater in 216th, seventh Bucks finisher.
Overall Buckinghamshire put in an exceptionally good team performance. They were top girls team in the Category B, medium sized counties league table for scores across all races and therefore won the Durham Trophy for the first time since 1971. The boys were fifth best team in this category, another very strong effort.