It was a sunny but blustery day at the Schools International (SIAB) Cross Country at the Sports Ireland Campus at Abbotstown, Dublin on Saturday.
 
Based on selections from the previous week’s English Schools races at Pontefract, Tom Ford in the Juniors and Alex Hughes for the Intermediates were running for the English Schools teams on the day, a great reward for the boys’ hard work this winter.
 
The English teams were facing competition from Wales, Ireland and Scotland, so about thirty in each race with six to score from each team. Tom was tenth in the Junior Boys race and sixth English scorer and Alex was third in the Inter Boys race, third scorer in the winning English team.
 
The pair can go into the track season full of confidence. 

The last big national cross country event of the winter, the English Schools Cross Country Championships, took place at Pontefract on Saturday on the relatively dry and undulating grounds of the racecourse. It was a red letter day for two Chiltern athletes.
 
After good runs as first years in last week’s National Inter Counties at Nottingham, Tom Ford (in the Junior race) and Alex Hughes (in the Intermediates) ran brilliantly as second years at English Schools to gain selection to run for England Schools in next Saturday’s SIAB international in Dublin.
 
Tom was running for Hertfordshire Schools in the Junior Boys race, second on the programme and at 3.2k quite short. Tom was always well placed and kept his form to finish fourth in 10.06, the same time as the third placed athlete. Tom’s Herts team won the silver team medal. There were several other Chiltern runners competing for Buckinghamshire Schools – Charlie Quantrill 81st, Logan Gaskell 269th and Eddie O’Brien 318th.
 
Alex was in the fourth race, the Intermediate Boys, who ran 4.5k. Alex was at the head of the field, then fell back slightly before rallying for an excellent third place. Edward Johnson was second Bucks scorer in 119th place, Aidan Suleyman third scorer in 223rd, Callum Powell seventh Bucks in 304th.
 
The Junior Girls race saw Kara Gorman make her debut at English Schools and finish a creditable 13th and first Bucks scorer. Maya Davis was fourth Bucks scorer in 144th, Evelyn Wildman fifth scorer in 124th, Nia Clarke sixth scorer in 140th, Megan Lockwood seventh Bucks in 218th. The Bucks team was a good seventh overall.
 
In the Intermediate Girls, Emily Ford was 135th and third scorer for Herts Schools, with Marlie Nkoane seventh Bucks in 226th.  Bucks’ Senior Girls also ran well for seventh team. Maddie Hughes was third scorer in 50th, Frankie Baxter fourth scorer in 75th, Ellie Shield fifth scorer in 137th,
 
In the Senior Boys race over a gruelling 6k, Archie Pinder was fourth Bucks scorer in 150th, Euan Pinder was fifth scorer in 154th, and Isaac Jessop-Tranter sixth scorer in 175th. 

Top o’ the evening to you, Race Report fans, on St Patrick’s Day. I hope you’re not feeling the ill effects of any green Guinness and have enjoyed your weekend.​

Congratulations, first of all, to any Harriers who were in action at yesterday’s ESAA English Schools Championships in Pontefract. I know we had at least one pretty epic performance from Alex Hughes, so do keep your eyes peeled for the full report. If you’ve not read them yet, you may also want to catch up on results from the Inter-Counties cross country championships, held in Wollaton Park, Nottingham, on 9 March.

​
​Chiltern Harriers had 31 athletes in action at the UK inter-counties cross country championships, held at Wollaton Park in Nottinghamshire on 8th March 2024.

On what was a rare dry day this winter, the ground underfoot was surprisingly firm leading to some good racing, albeit with some challenging hills thrown in.

The U13 girls provided Chiltern Harriers' only medal of the day, courtesy of Kara Gorman, running for Buckinghamshire, who finished an excellent 3rd in the hotly-contested race.

Also running for Buckinghamshire were: Juliette MacDougall (40th); Maya Davis (114th); Nia Clarke (115th); Bea Robinson (139th): and Soraya Roughton (239th).

In the U17 women, Chiltern had three representatives. Frankie Baxter was 91st and Alice Packham was 217th, both running for Buckinghamshire. Running for Hertfordshire, Emily Ford was 93rd.

There was another strong Chiltern showing in the U20 women, with the club contributing four of Buckinghamshire's five runners.

Maddie Hughes finished in a creditable 32nd, with Ellie Shield (65th), Charlotte Docwra (104th) and Maddie Rae (115th) also running.

Buckinghamshire had only one senior women running. Katie Royals finished in 228th. This was Bucks' only incomplete team of the day and the hope is to field a full team at future championships.

Moving onto the male races, the Bucks U13 boys ran very well to place 8th overall. Two Chiltern athletes were in the team: Logan Gaskell (91st) and Zac Taylor (205th).

The U15 boys also had a strong Chiltern contingent.  Tom Ford (Herts) was the first Chiltern athlete home in 58th.

Running for Bucks, Thomas Reynolds was 90th, Aidan Suleyman was 130th, Charlie Quantrill finished in 155th and James Holdsworth placed 178th.

Alex Hughes was the star of the show for the U17 men, finishing in a very strong 8th place. He was supported by team mates Daniel Munn (245th), Rory Hilton (262nd), Jack Turner (264th) and Toby Radbourne (287th).

Running for Hertfordshire, Euan Pinder placed well in 116th, as did Archie Pinder in 145th.

In the U20 men's race, Ash Finch was running for Hertfordshire. His 43rd placing helped his team to a 7th place finish.

Finally, the senior men took to the course. Richard Slade continued his excellent form to finish 20th against some incredibly tough competition. Adam Shute also ran well to finish 195th.

There was good representation in the Bucks Swans teams at the Primary Schools and Year 7 Cross Country Championships at Prestwold Hall on Saturday.
 
The highlight was a win in the Year 7 Girls race for Juliette MacDougall, who has a great record in this competition. Also featuring in a strong Swans team performance were Bea Robinson (17th), Loren Gerber (38th), Holly Knott (42nd) and Soraya Roughton (96th). In the Year 7 Boys team Toby Reynolds did well for 38th and Zac Taylor was 61st.
 
Emilia Ingham ran well for 16th in the Year 6 Girls race and Ingrid Bellwood (40th) and Elodie Bellwood (57th) did well in the Year 5 Girls event.

Well, what a weekend. From the World Indoor Athletics Championships in Glasgow to parkrun, it’s been a really fabulous weekend for running and athletics.​

Firstly, a huge well done to Blayden - son of our former, well-loved Harrier Shelley Trigg - who completed the Tokyo Marathon today in 5.01.35, and collecting the coveted ‘star’ on her behalf for completing all of the six world major marathons. A beautiful tribute for a beautiful person. Well done, Blayden, from all of us at Chiltern Harriers.