​Chiltern Harriers Under 15 Boys carried on their successful winter season with an excellent win at the National Cross Country Championships at Parliament Hill on Saturday.
 
Despite it being a beautiful sunny day, the hilly courses soon cut up badly with plenty of lost shoes and fallers amongst the runners. Many runners in the Chiltern teams were taking part at this iconic venue for the first time.

First race off was the U17 Women and the Chiltern contingent ran very well to be a creditable fourth from eighteen teams. Running the big 5k loop, Maddie Hughes had another great race to be sixth. Holly Henderson was 41st, Charlotte Docwra 83rd and Abbie Henderson, suffering from a stitch, 94th to complete the scoring. Ellie Shield in 128th and Hannah Ashby 141st both ran well in a field of 274. Olivia Edwards started well but suffered two falls and a spiking before dropping out.
 
The Under 15 Boys were second on the programme and after a win at the Southern Champs in January were fancied to do well. Alden Collier had probably his best race of the winter to be second on the two lap 4k course. From a large field of 412 runners Daniel Munn was 40th,  Euan Pinder 41st and Alex Hughes 74th to  give a score of 157, well ahead of second placed Tonbridge. Archie Pinder was well placed but had a fall and had to settle for 96th. Also running well were Max Baxter 89th, Isaac Jessop-Tranter 90th, Rowan Gawne 174th, Callum Powell 250th, and Hari Mistry 194th.
 
Neither U13 team could complete a foursome but there were good efforts in both 3k races. Year 6 athlete Kara Gorman had another eye-catching run to finish a superb 5th for the girls with Issy Robinson 111th and Marlie Nkoane 117th completing the Chiltern presence. For the boys Tom Ford worked his way through the field well to be 15th and James Holdsworth in 37th and Charlie Quantrill in 137th both ran strongly.
 
The U17 Men had five out and were 16th from 23 teams. Ash Finch was first home over the tough 6k circuit in 86th and also scoring were Oakley Denson 108th, Laurie Gawne 163rd and Thomas Askey 220th. Sammy Bennetts was 241st.
 
Frankie Baxter lost a shoe, then a sock in the U15 Girls race early on and worked hard to stay upright. Carrying her ankle chip through the finish meant it didn’t register but Frankie finished about 100th. Meanwhile Emily Ford ran very well to be 34th and the scoring was completed by Lily Jessop-Tranter 145th, Izzy Martin 241st and Rebecca Lawson 315th.
 
Louis Peterson turned an ankle early on and had to drop out in the Junior Men’s race.
 
In the Senior Women’s race Emily Hollis made her Chiltern debut to be an excellent 250th from 1010 runners. Katie Royals also did well to be 354th. Fiona Williams was 808th. Ian Lawson was the sole Chiltern Senior Man and came 1138th from a giant field of 2087 runners.
 

As we all hoped, Saturday ended up with Chiltern Harriers winning the Division 1 overall title for the first time. After four wins in the first four matches, the club concluded the campaign in style winning the fifth match as well.
 
A very strange meeting at Shuttleworth College began with the announcement that trophy and medal presentations wouldn’t take place. The weather conditions, with strong winds and driving rain, were so poor at this point that no-one seemed to mind.
 
The first race saw a fifth consecutive win for Kara Gorman in the U11 Girls, with Maya Davis an excellent second and Carys Jones fourth. This small squad won on the day and secured the league team victory. Individually for the whole season it was a Chiltern 1-2-3 on the podium with Kara 1st, Nia Clarke 2nd and Maya Davis 3rd. Carys Jones was 6th.
 
The U11 Boys team was even smaller with just Kit Dixon in third place and Jack Rodgers 14th on debut, facing the starter. The duo were third on the day and the team were second overall for the season. Kit was fifth overall.
 
The Under 13 Girls had a good team out and were second on the day and second overall. The scorers were Marlie Nkoane (9th), Katie Allsop (11th), Evelyn Wildman (14th), and Issy Robinson (15th). Also running well in torrential rain were Anna Stoneham (29th), Lydia Cross (34th) and Charlotte Grosse (38th). Overall Marlie was the best placed Chiltern athlete in 7th with Issy 13th.
 
Tom Ford won the Under 13 Boys race, clinching the individual league title in style, and Felix Danielli had his best race of the season to be second. Charlie Quantrill in 5th and Hugo Mundy in 9th completed the scoring. There were good efforts from Aidan Suleyman (11th), George Mawby (18th) and Theo Roughton (28th). The boys won the team race on the day and the team league title. Overall in the top 20 were Felix Danielli 3rd, James Holdsworth 4th, Charlie Quantrill 8th, George Mawby 15th, and Charlie De Sousa 19th.
 
Another good turnout came from the Under 15 Girls led home by Frankie Baxter in fourth. Emily Ford (8th), Lily Jessop-Tranter (10th) and Sofia Lomas (13th) competed the scoring with good efforts from Jocelyn Davies (14th), Alice Peckham (16th), Sav Pandya (21st), Jo Snelling (21st), Genevieve Donald (25th), Rebecca Lawson (29th), Marea Logan (30th), and Ellie Gowers (32nd). In the top 20 for the season were Emily Ford 7th, Lily Jessop-Tranter 10th, Olivia Clarke 11th, Alice Peckham 12th, and Marea Logan 19th.
 
The Under 15 Boys dominated to take their fifth win and the league title. Alden Collier won the race to confirm him as league winner and the other scorers were Archie Pinder (2nd), Euan Pinder (4th), and Alex Hughes (5th).  Max Baxter (6th), Isaac Jessop-Tranter (7th), Rory Hilton (9th), Callum Powell (14th), Hari Mistry (25th) and Danny Carruthers (28th) also ran well. In the final league standings Alex Hughes was 4th, Rowan Gawne 5th, Max Baxter 6th, Rory Hilton 10th, Max Roughton 15th and Hari Mistry 18th.
 
The Junior Women this season have been the best team in that age group that the club has produced, and there were nine Chiltern women on the start line out of a field of twenty. Maddie Hughes took the individual win thus ensuring the individual league title. Holly Henderson was 5th, Abbie Henderson 6th, Olivia Edwards 7th, Charlotte Docwra 9th, Ellie Shield 10th, Alice Brown 11th, Katie Repper 12th and Hannah Ashby 14th to conclude a great team effort, winning on the day and overall. The final league positions featured Holly 5th, Charlotte 6th, Abbie 7th, Alice 9th, Ellie 10th, Hannah 11th, and Grace Thorpe 13th.
 
There had been some delays on arrival for athletes with pressure on car parking. The Senior Men’s race was delayed by half an hour to allow for this. Although starting in sleet, the race concluded in bright sunshine. The Chiltern men had another good race but could not quite match a Bedford team that had several big guns in action to get them over the line. It was very close though with the final season scores 9809 to Bedford, 9735 to Chiltern.
 
Richard Slade concluded his great season, finishing second and thus clinching the league title. Before the race there were several men very close on points and the positions were rearranged with Will Perkin having his best finish in a senior league race to be fifth, thus ensuring the silver medal overall, moving up from fifth. Although Aran Davidson ran very well to be 10th, it bumped him from third to fifth in the overall standings. The other scorers on the day were Charlie Wood 13th, Louis Peterson 16th, Nick Hughes 25th, James Repper 31st, Tom Dixon 38th, Neil Turner 42nd, and Luke Martin 51st. Also contributing well were Ben Jackson 69th, Jamie Carruthers 83rd, Jonny Slade 105th, Richard Moss 107th, Ian Lawson 108th, Andy Wiseall 123rd, Ed Wright 133rd, Jon Taylor 144th, Neil Bates 152nd, Glen Martin 165th and Trevor Brawn 180th.
 
The Chiltern Veteran men won the match on the day courtesy of Nick Hughes, James Repper, Tom Dixon and Neil Turner. The Vets also won the overall league title. Nick was the Vet 50 winner and James Repper, Tom Dixon and Neil Turner were 2nd, 4th, and 6th in the Vet 40 standings respectively. Trevor Brawn was second Vet 70.
 
The Under 20 men were second thanks to Louis Peterson, Luke Martin and Ben Jackson, and after a tight battle all season were narrowly second to Milton Keynes overall. Individually overall James Palmer was second and Ben Jackson fourth.
 
During the men’s race rumours were circulating that the U17 men’s race and Senior Women’s race had been cancelled; the landowner having a problem with the match. Unfortunately there was no further racing, a great shame for all the young men and senior ladies who had travelled a long way to compete.
 
The Senior Women’s standings at the end of Match 4 remain with Chiltern second in both seniors and veterans. Individually Hannah Wardley was second in the Senior Women’s league with Ellie Bates seventh. Sue Elliott won the Vet 55 category with Miriam Kempson third, and several made the Vet 45 top ten: Abi Askey 4th, Cath Holloway 5th, Tessa Passey 6th and Sylvia Moss 8th.
 
The U17 Men’s league concluded with the Match 4 standings showing another Chiltern team win. Individually Laurie Gawne was silver medallist, Sammy Bennetts 10th, and Jerry Anderson 13th.
 
So an odd end to what has been a superb league season for the club with brilliant efforts from the athletes but helped by strong back up from team managers, coaches and officials. 

A special thanks to all of those athletes who have contributed to our amazing Cross Country performances this season. It was disappointing that Shuttleworth proved itself to be unsuitable yesterday as regards the car parking arrangements and our ladies, and a few of the men’s team, were denied the opportunity to run due to what can only be described as a chaotic situation. I have been running in the XC League races for over 30 years and we have never experienced anything even remotely similar before. 
Tuesday 22 February - Session 1 - 
Speed endurance with Roger Ellerby and Craig Fulham, assisted by Trevor Brawn and Mike Shrive at 7pm.
A meeting room has been booked at the Rear Hall at Broadway Baptist Church, 78 The Broadway. Chesham HP5 1EG from 6.45 until 8.45, however we will be meeting outside the Hall until it is clear that the current Covid variant is under control. Toilets will be available and items may be left in the Hall during your run. The closest parking is at Star Yard, Chesham (free after 6pm) and the meeting room can be accessed adjacent to the Car Park Toilet Block.
Please be ready to run by 7.00pm. Maximum 60 athletes. We will allow a maximum of 30 runners per group, so we expect to divide into 2 sub-groups to make the session safer for all.
Please also ensure you are wearing high viz clothing, and use a torch with care if you need to. Please be mindful of shining bright torches into other athlete’s faces, and switch off when not running.

Thursday 24 February - Session 2 -  
Speed endurance with Mike Shrive at 7pm. Limited to 30 athletes.
Meet in Rickmansworth Road car park, Amersham, ready to run at 7.00pm.
Please also ensure you are wearing high viz clothing, and use a torch with care if you need to. Please be mindful of shining bright torches into other athlete’s faces, and switch off when not running. 

How to book into your sessions
1. Athletes must go to this link and check that there are places available at their preferred session(s) - check the number, NOT the percentage of people opted to attend. If you are the first person you will not see any responses.
2. Athletes will then need to go to this link to then register their intention and ensure that they have read the COVID19 Risk Assessment. 
PLEASE NOTE: the COVID-19 Risk Assessment has been amended for current guidance and change in location so you must have another look at it. ​

Loughborough Open
January 15th/16th saw the Loughborough Open where Lily Holt, competing for Birmingham University, got her season going.
 
Lily ran two 60m hurdles races on the 15th in 9.42. and 9.49 and on the 16th had a perfect high jump card up to 1.66m, but just couldn’t get over 1.70m
  
London Indoor Games
The London Indoor Games for U13/U15/U17 took place on Jan 29th/30th with several Chiltern athletes in action. In 60m debutant Florence Owen (U15) ran 9.84 and 9.93. In 300m U15s Elizabeth Nickless (50.54) and Leila Pollard (53.39) both ran PBs. U17 John Nickless improved his 400m PB to an impressive 53.85.
In 800m Oakley Denson continued his busy indoor season with and 800m in 1.59.75 whilst fellow U17 Felix Palmer ran 2.17.34. There were PBs for U15s for Ffion Harman (2.39.44) and Florence Lee-Rubis (2.38.51). U17s Chisom Nwafor and Gabi Riley tackled 60m hurdles with Chisom running 8.84 (PB) and 8.92 and Gabi 10.22.
 
EA U15/U17/U20 Championships
The high point of the indoor season for age group athletes, the England Athletics U15/U17/U20 Championships, took place at the English Institute of Sport, Sheffield on the weekend of 12th/13th February.
 
The highlight was a gold medal for Chisom Nwafor in the U17 Women’s Long Jump. In a close battle Chisom prevailed with a  jump of 5.71m, just ahead of jumps of 5.65m and 5.60m in second and third.
 
There were three U17 men taking part in 800m. In Heat 2 Isaac Jessop-Tranter battled hard for second place in 2.04.88 but was down on his best time from last month and did not progress to the final. Going into the championships, Oakley Denson was ranked top 3 in the country and looked a good bet for a medal. Oakley looked good winning Heat 3 but was very unfortunate to be disqualified for a lane infringement and took no further part. In Heat 4 John Nickless led the race at a good pace but was overhauled in the second half of the race and was third, just missing out on the final. His strong pace did, however, result in a new PB of 1.59.98, John’s first time below two minutes

 A small group of Chiltern youngsters took part for their schools in the Herts Schools Cross Country Championships at St Albans on Saturday Feb 5th.
 
There were two wins, both courtesy of the Ford family. Tom ran well to win the Pre-Junior Boys (Year 7) race and Emily was first home in the Junior Girls event. Also in the Junior Girls was Izzy Martin who had a good run to be fifth. In the Junior Boys race James Holdsworth made his debut in this event to be 11th.

It is the final round of the Chiltern XC League on Saturday 19 Feb at Shuttleworth. If you have not yet experienced these superb team events please sign up and join us to round off the most amazing winter season the blub has ever had. Please note the men run at 1.30pm, before the ladies, so please make sure you are there in plenty of time.Please continue to use the WhatsApp Spring Marathon Group where those doing Spring Marathons can post messages, get together for training, arrange build up races to assess fitness, and request help with different aspects of marathon running.

Tuesday 15 February - Session 1 -
Speed endurance with Trevor Brawn and Mike Shrive at 7pm.
A meeting room has been booked at the Rear Hall at Broadway Baptist Church, 78 The Broadway. Chesham HP5 1EG from 6.45 until 8.45, however we will be meeting outside the Hall until it is clear that the current Covid variant is under control. Toilets will be available and items may be left in the Hall during your run. The closest parking is at Star Yard, Chesham (free after 6pm) and the meeting room can be accessed adjacent to the Car Park Toilet Block.

Please be ready to run by 7.00pm. Maximum 60 athletes. We will allow a maximum of 30 runners per group, so we expect to divide into 2 sub-groups to make the session safer for all.
Please also ensure you are wearing high viz clothing, and use a torch with care if you need to. Please be mindful of shining bright torches into other athlete’s faces, and switch off when not running.

Thursday 17 February - Session 2 -  
Speed endurance with Mike Shrive at 7pm. Limited to 30 athletes.
Meet in Rickmansworth Road car park, Amersham, ready to run at 7.00pm.
Please also ensure you are wearing high viz clothing, and use a torch with care if you need to. Please be mindful of shining bright torches into other athlete’s faces, or switch off when not running.
​
​How to book into your sessions
1. Athletes must go to this link and check that there are places available at their preferred session(s) - check the number, NOT the percentage of people opted to attend. If you are the first person you will not see any responses.
2. Athletes will then need to go to this link to then register their intention and ensure that they have read the COVID19 Risk Assessment. 
PLEASE NOTE: the COVID-19 Risk Assessment has been amended for current guidance and change in location so you must have another look at it. ​

Don't forget to book your tickets for the end of XC season social. It takes place on 19th February at Chesham Cricket Club at 7pm.
To book your tickets click here

A record number of Chiltern athletes were running for their universities at the BUCS (British Universities and Colleges Sport) Championships at Horsenden Hill near Ealing yesterday.
 
This massive event has a long race and short race for both male and female athletes with each universities’ top runners in the long race. Each short race however had some superb athletes given the strength of some universities’ squads.
 
All the Chiltern women were in the short race and Emily Alderson (Loughborough) continued her great recent form to finish 63rd from 405 finishers. Also tackling the 6k circuit round a very muddy Horsenden Hill were Soraya Lockwood (Exeter) who was 218th, Lizzie Barraclough (231st) running for Leeds, coming back from a long period of injury and illness, and Jess Orr (Bristol) 299th.
 
In the men’s long race Seb Mills (Coventry) was 234th on a  gruelling 10k circuit and Joe Day (Bristol) was 274th. The men’s 8k short race saw a good run from Harry Cox (Cambridge) to be 48th from a big field of 512. Angus Williams (Bristol) was 175th.