​It was a memorable day for Chiltern Harriers on Saturday at Parliament Hill Fields as Richard Slade won the Senior Men’s race at the National Cross Country Championships. After a great season which has involved two appearances for England, Richard was amongst the names in contention, but the win was beyond expectations.
 
It was a mild, dry day but recent rain created a soft, heavy course which cut up badly through the day – fortunately conditions which suit Richard.
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See article in Athletic Weekly on the Championships

Earlier on several Chiltern athletes braved the tough hills on Hampsted Heath with the first club interest being in the U15 Boys race where James Henderson (141st) and Kit Dixon (280th) battled hard.
 
In the U13 Girls race Emilia Ingham was the sole Chiltern competitor, running well to be 95th.
 
There were seven U17 Men facing the starter and the team came a creditable 16th. Edward Johnson was 39th, Aidan Suleyman 82nd, a one-shoed James Holdsworth 151st and Jack Turner 200th to be the scorers and there was back up from Daniel Munn in 241st, James Malin 259th, and Charlie De Sousa 278th.
 
Harrison Lawrence was first Chiltern U13 boy in 92nd and Isaac Brown in 141st and Zac Taylor 174th completed the team.
 
Next up were the U15 Girls and there were good efforts from Maya Davis in 61st and Megan Lockwood in 152nd. Roxie Jones was the sole Junior Woman in 91st.
 
In a big field of 830 finishers in the Senior Women’s race, Emily Alderson in 173rd and Katie Royals in 221st both did well in conditions which were by then very taxing.
 
Ash Finch braved the tough Junior Men’s 10k course, finishing well in 75th.
 
For the first time at a big championships the Chiltern Senior Men fielded the biggest team representing the club. There were ten Chiltern runners in the massive field of 1765 finishers and the scoring six finished an excellent 18th from the 112 complete teams. In the ‘nine-to-score’ results the team were 21st.
Richard Slade has built on a good previous few years to breakthrough into the international ranks this winter and was always in the leading group on Saturday. With one lap to go he was in a leading duo with Tonbridge’s James Kingston and was able to pull away for an impressive thirty second win. There was good packing from the remaining Chiltern scorers – Harry Cox was 178th, James Palmer 200th, Tim Lawrence 202nd, Aran Davidson 235th and Adam Shute 451st. Also braving the mud were James Turner 603rd, Jonny Slade 726th, Tom Robinson 967th and Ben Hannen 1027th.
 
The Chiltern Senior Men – the ‘Green Arrows’ – have had a good winter, fielding two full teams at the Aldershot Road Relays; winning a medal, through Simon Bossi, Aran Davidson, Angus Willimas and Cameron Reid, at Wormwood Scrubs XC Relays; and now a top twenty team finish in the National. Hopefully next winter will see the team build on that. 

For the U11 Girls, Rita-May Jones was 41st, and the U11 Boys had a complete team, Jack Dalton 12th, Freddy Higgins 17th, and Oliver Harrison 22nd with Charlie Yeoh in 29th. This was enough for fourth on the day, and the team ended up seventh overall.
 
The U13 Girls completed a dominant win and were led home by Juliette MacDougall, who made it five wins from five. Also scoring were Bea Robinson in third, Loren Gerber fourth, and Holly Knott fifth. Great back-up came from Emilia Ingham seventh, Annie-Rose Quantrill ninth, Lottie Monnington 11th and Mala Bahia 18th. The girls won their division by over 50 points and the final league positions saw Holly fifth, Emilia eighth, and Lottie 14th.
 
There was a win on the day from the U13 Boys who ended up second overall. There was great packing as usual and the scorers this time were Harrison Lawrence fifth, Zac Taylor eighth, Josh Woodward ninth, and John Rooney 14th. Also running well were Hector Gamblen 16th, Oliver Atkinson 19th, Isaac Brown 20th, Thomas Cooper 21st, and Jack Dixon 39th. In the individual season-end standings Harrison was seventh, Zac  11th, Isaac 14th, Hector 15th.
 
A small group of U15 Girls have worked hard all season, often pitching up when not feeling 100%, and their reward was a team win on the day, enough to take the overall team title by just eight points from Watford. Maya Davis was fifth, Evelyn Wildman sixth, Megan Lockwood seventh, and Carys Jones 12th. Overall Maya was fourth, Evelyn sixth, Megan ninth and Carys 17th.
 
U15 Tom Ford completed another win having already clinched the league title at the previous match. He was supported in the scoring by Charlie Quantrill fifth, James Henderson 12th, and Kit Dixon 26th. Isaac McCall was 29th and Jacob McCall 34th. Charlie Quantrill was sixth overall, Ben Reeder 15th, James Henderson 17th.
 
Second place on the day was enough to confirm the Junior Women as silver medallists overall. Emily Ford ran well to be second, Alice Peckham was eighth, and Issy Robinson 12th. Support came from Jocelyn Davies 16th, Jo Snelling 18th, Lydia Cross 29th and Lara Milburn 30th. Emily secured the overall bronze medal. Issy Robinson was sixth overall with Jocelyn Davies 15th.
 
After a great run on Wednesday to win Bucks Schools, Edward Johnson had to accept second in the U17 men’s race and ended as silver medallist overall. He was backed up on the day by Daniel Munn 17th, Zach Cleary 18th, and Jack Turner 22nd. Rory Hilton was 27th and Charlie De Sousa 30th. The team were second on the day and were comfortably second overall. James Holdsworth completed the season in eighth place, Daniel Munn 18th.
 
The Senior Women had a solid team out and were led home by Emily Alderson, running her first cross country for several years, in ninth place. Also scoring were Katie Royals 19th, Roxie Jones 28th, Jess Orr 32nd, Ellie Bates 35th, and Jenny Bizley 52nd. Carys Evans was 56th, Sue Slade 69th, Lyndsey Bill 72nd, and Fiona Calder 122nd. The vet quartet of Ellie, Jenny, Sue and Lyndsey were 6th, Overall the seniors were fifth, the vets sixth. In the final Senior Women’s standings Katie Royals was 14th, Roxie Jones 16th and Jess Orr 17th. Sue Slade was fourth Vet 55.
 
A relatively small senior men’s race saw the Chiltern team sixth. The scorers were Aran Davidson ninth, Tim Lawrence 12th, Daire Stack 21st, Adam Shute 25th, Jonny Slade 75th, Tom Robinson 96th, Mike Turney 100th, Ben Hannen 114th, Alan Crozier 121st, and Amit Dixit 158th. Glen Martin was 161st, Mark Johnson 168th, and Tony Dawson 175th. Chiltern’s vets completed an overall win, narrowly second on the day to Wycombe. The scorers were Tim, Adam, Tom and Mike. Adam completed the season as bronze medallist in the Vet 40 category with Tim Lawrence fourth. Mike Turney won the Vet 60 age group for a second year and Aran Davidson was fourth Senior Man.

Buckinghamshire Schools Cross Country Championships
 
The Bucks Schools Cross Country Champs took place at Stowe School on Wednesday Feb 5th, with a good turnout of Chiltern youngsters running for their schools.
 
It was a fine, sunny day and the tough undulating course was quite firm underfoot making for fast races.
 
In the Year 5 and 6 Boys race Freddy Higgins ran well to be ninth.
 
The Minor Girls (year 7) race saw a good run from Lottie Monnington to be 11th from a big field of 111. The Minor boys had strong efforts from Barnaby Willians in 13th, Thomas Cooper in 16th, and Jack Dixon 32nd.
 
The Junior Girls (Years 8 and 9) featured several Chiltern girls well up in a field of 107. Juliette MacDougall was second, Maya Davis fifth, Loren Gerber sixth, Alice Martin seventh, Nell Frost eighth, Annie-Rose Quantrill 10th and Holly Knott 12th. Aiyla Haigh was 27th, Carys Jones 28th, Lana Wahlberg 37th, and Mala Bahia 38th. Bea Robinson was running  well but had to withdraw with ankle pain.
 
Logan Gaskell ran well to be third in the Junior Boys race and Harrison Lawrence continued his great recent form to be fourth. Toby Reynolds was 11th, Colin Miles 15th, Isaac McCall 24th, Isaac Taylor 25th, Jacob McCall 38th, and Oliver Atkinson 81st.
 
The Inter Girls (Years 10 and 11) and Senior Girls (Years 12 and 13) ran together on the same 4k course as the Junior Boys. In the 52-strong Inter Girls race Megan Lockwood had an excellent run to be sixth, Issy Robinson was eighth, Katie Allsop 13th, Lydia Cross 19th, Lara Milburn 20th, and Abi Masters 23rd. There were 20 girls in the Senior race and Alice Peckham came seventh, Jo Snelling tenth.
 
There were 63 Inter Boys and 18 Senior Boys in the final race of the day, on a tough 5.6k route. In perhaps the best race of his strong season Edward Johnson won overall and became Bucks Inter Boys Champion. Also amongst the Inters were Aidan Suleyman (fourth), Zach Cleary (17th), James Malin (30th), and Seb Mano (52nd). Archie Pinder was second Senior Boy with Euan Pinder third, Callum Powell fifth, Daniel Munn seventh, Jack Turner 11th, Rory Hilton 12th and Max Baxter 18th.

Hertfordshire Schools Cross Country Championships
 
Several Chiltern athletes were taking part for their schools in the Herts Schools Champs in St Albans on Saturday.
 
The course was an undulating twisty circuit on the old golf course at the back of Verulamiam Park. It was sticky underfoot but it was a dry day.
 
The Senior Girls race saw good runs from Emily Ford in second and Roxie Jones in sixth.
 
Tom Ford had another great run to win the Intermediate Boys event with James Holdsworth running well to be third. James Henderson was 20th and Ben Reeder 30th.
 
The Junior Boys race saw Isaac Brown 31st, Hector Gamblen 33rd and Josh Woodward 46th, all running well as first years.
 
Lauren Dwyer had a good run to be 38th in the Junior Girls race.
 
In the Pre-Junior (Year 7) Girls race Emilia Ingham was third, and Phoebe Gorman 43rd.
 
Emily, Roxie, Tom and James are invited to represent Herts Schools at the English Schools Cross Country on March 15th in Sussex and Emilia to the Primary Schools Championships on March 22nd in Northamptonshire.

BUCS Cross Country Championships
 
The British Universities and Colleges Sport (BUCS) Cross Country Championships took place in Cardiff on Saturday with several Chiltern athletes taking part.
 
This is a big event with four races featuring well over 1500 runners in total. The male long A race, features the top six from each university, and a short B race for all others. The B race can feature many hundreds of runners.
 
In the top level men’s A race, Angus Williams in 94th and Ash Finch in 105th both representing Bristol University, had excellent runs.
 
The men’s short B race saw a big field of 768 finishers. Ben Jackson (Nottingham) was 283rd, Alex Johnson (Manchester) was 394th, and Charlie Stone (Nottingham) 477th.
 
The women’s short B race saw 638 complete the course. Katie Repper (Bath) was a commendable 99th, Ellie Shield (Leeds) 232nd, Alice Brown (Birmingham) 304th, and Jinaan Lockwood (Southampton ) 422nd.