Good evening, Race Report fans. I hope you’ve had a great couple of weeks. If you’ve not yet read Steve’s report from the second Chiltern League cross-country match of 2025, check it out here.
​
Tonight is a nice mix of running and news. We’ll do the running first. On 8 November, Ben Hannen completed the Remembrance Day Half Marathon from local timed-event organiser, Phoenix Running, covering the 13.1 distance in a creditable 1.38.16.

The U11 Girls started proceedings and were fourth. The scorers were Ezrayah Latham in sixth, Martha Stanley ninth, and Jemima Barnes 20th. Ida Goldman made a good debut to be 23rd. The U11 Boys were also in good form and had their largest team for some time. Kit Reynolds was eighth, Evan Atkinson 11th and Oliver Dixon 18th to score and finish a strong second. Also running well were Freddy Higgins (20th), Ethan Brown (30th), Oliver VandenBrekel (32nd), and Oliver Ingham (39th).
 
The U13 Girls had a much improved result to be second. Chloe Willson scored another Division 1 win and was backed up in the scoring by Sunaya Nanda (eighth), Lottie Monnington (ninth), and Amelia Hanstein (31st). Emilia Ingham was 43rd. The U13 Boys also ran well to be fourth. The scoring quartet were William Clasby (12th), Jack Dalton (14th), Barnaby Williams (19th), and Jack Dixon (24th). Completing the team were Jonathan Kalibbala (34th), James Woodgate (36th), Toby Moore (66th) and Charlie Yeoh (67th).
 
Also featuring a larger and stronger team than match 1 were the U15 Girls. Maya Davis had another good run to be fifth and Juliette MacDougall was sixth. Annie-Rose Quantrill in 12th and Nia Clarke in 17th completed the scoring. Also running well were Holly Knott (19th), Mala Bahia (34th), and Aiyla Haigh (35th). The girls were second.
 
Chiltern have a big U15 Boys squad this year and thirteen lads toed the line at Oxford. The scoring team that came fourth were Harrison Lawrence (16th), John Rooney (18TH), Isaac Taylor (21st), and Isaac McCall (25th). Completing the team were Jack Rogers (29th), Jacob McCall (32nd), Josh Woodward (37th), Isaac Brown (39th), Kit Dixon (42nd), Oli Atkinson (43rd), Toby Reynolds (44th), Hector Gamblen (53rd), and Alex VandenBrekel (62nd).
 
The momentum kept going in the U17 races. The U17/U20 women are well supported this year and the scoring three of Evelyn Wildman (fifth), Alex Whitfield (seventh), and Roxie Jones (16th) were second. Also featuring were Jocelyn Davies (17th), Issy Robinson (19th), Megan Lockwood (21st), Lara Milburn (37th), Izzy McFetrich (40th) and Lydia Cross (44th). Roxie and Jocelyn were fourth and fifth U20s.
 
The U17 men completed a second team win and Tom Ford a second individual win. Backing up Tom in the scoring were Edward Johnson (fourth), Thomas Reynolds (eighth), and James Henderson (13th).  Also well up were Charlie Quantrill (16th), Eddie O’Brien (18th), Ben Reeder (23rd), James Malin (27th) and Charlie De Sousa (37th).
 
The Senior Women were second and saw excellent runs from Bev Whitfield (fifth) and Soraya Lockwood (seventh), with good support from Katie Royals (19th), Charlotte Docwra (29th), Jess Orr (35th), and Jenny Bizley. Completing the huge team of 19 were Abi Askey (43rd), Lauren Mayot (45th), Cathy Holloway (50th), Tessa Passey (82nd), Sue Slade (92nd), Rebecca Lawson (99th), Heidi Folkard (104th), Helen Hinde (122nd), Miriam Kempson (123rd), Caroline Stevens (132nd), Tamsin Finch (141st), Tyra Bishop (146th), and Fiona Calder (155th). The Veteran quartet of Bev, Jenny, Abi, and Lauren were second. Bev was first Vet 45.
 
There was also good support for the Senior Men who came a strong second. The scoring ten featured Alex Aldred (fifth), Harry Cox (sixth), Aran Davidson (19th), Daire Stack (22nd), Tim Lawrence (26th), Cameron Reid (35th), Nick Hughes (40th), James Turner (50th), Alex Johnson (53rd) and Jack Turner (56th).  Completing the fine turnout were Daniel Munn (69th), Jonny Slade (77th), Rory Hilton (83rd), Russell VandenBrekel (133rd), Alan Crozier (145th), Ian Lawson (167th), Jon Taylor (174th), Duncan Passey (194th), Glen Martin (203rd), Mark Johnson (209th), Ed Wright (212th), Frank Gaymond (215th), and Stuart Henderson (222nd).
 
The vet foursome of Tim, Nick, James and Russell were second. Tim was second Vet 40 and Nick first Vet 50. The U20 trio of Jack, Daniel and Rory were fourth and lie third after two matches.
 
Match 3 is on December 3rd at Campbell Park, Milton Keynes where the club will hope to continue this good start.

​Thirty-four Chiltern school-age athletes were competing in school colours at the ESAA Schools Cross Country Cup Regional Round at Cokethorpe School Oxfordshire on Tuesday Nov 4th.
There were several good runs, and five teams from the local area are progressing to the National Final at Princethorpe College near Rugby on December 6th.

​Junior Girls
Sunaya Nanda had a storming run to be second on a two lap 3k circuit. Lottie Monnington ran well for fifth. Their DCHS team were third and through to the final. Aura Lue Fong was 22nd but her Wycombe Abbey team were sixth so don’t progress.
 
Junior Boys
The DCGS team contain several Chiltern runners and Barnaby Williams (15th), Jack Dixon (27th) and Thomas Cooper (41st) contributed to the team finishing third and also through to the final.
 
Inter Girls
The Inter Girls ran the same course as both junior teams, and Maya Davis ran a superbly judged race to take the win for DCHS and lead her team into the final. Annie-Rose Quantrill also ran well for 12th, and Aiyla Haigh was fourth scorer in 24th. Amelia Qasam was 45th. The DCHS Inters took a narrow win and also go to Princethorpe next month.
Also running very well for their schools were Nell Frost (in second place for Wycombe Abbey) and Juliette MacDougall (fourth for Wycombe High). The Wycombe High team also featured good efforts from Bethan Lloyd in 30th, and Bronwen Harman in 44th. Neither of the Wycombe schools made it through however.
 
Inter Boys
Solid packing from the DCGS boys led to second place on a long (short lap, large lap) course of 5k. Harrison Lawrence was first home in tenth with Isaac McCall in good form for 16th, Isaac Taylor 20th and Oli Atkinson 38th. So another team through to the final.
 
Senior Girls
Both Senior races featured a good quality fields. In the girls race Evelyn Wildman (DCHS) ran well on the 3.5k large lap route to be fourth. Also competing well for Chesham Grammar, who qualified in third, were Issy Robinson (13th), Alice Peckham (17th), and Megan Lockwood (23rd). Lydia Cross (33rd) and Rebecca Lawson (52nd) completed the DCHS team, and Lara Milburn was 31st  for Borlase. Neither Borlase nor DCHS will progress.
 
Senior Boys
A ruthless pace meant that Edward Johnson (Aylesbury Grammar) logged 16.15 for the 5k route, but that was only enough for eighth place in a high-quality affair. Zach Cleary also ran well for AGS to run 17.59 – only enough for 29th. Callum Powell was the leading Chesham Grammar finisher in 11th. Meanwhile, a Chiltern-heavy DCGS team battled hard but ended up fourth so won’t progress. Thomas Reynolds was 15th, Aidan Suleyman 18th, Daniel Munn 24th, Charlie Quantrill 25th, Eddie O’Brien 28th and Felix Danielli 53rd.  

Several Chiltern athletes were running for their universities at the Manchester University Relays on October 25th.
 
This fast, fun but high standard event takes place over a grassy 3k circuit in Wythenshawe. The men’s teams and mixed teams run six legs, women’s teams three.
 
Alex Johnson took over the lead in the men’s race for Manchester University and did well to run 9.59 to keep in touch. Isaac Jessop-Tranter ran 9.51 on leg 1 for one of the many University of Birmingham teams and came back to run leg 3 in an impressive 10.25 for one of the other ones. Euan Pinder ran 9.47 on leg 5 of the Durham University B team, faster than several of the A team. Alex Aldred ran a storming 9.22 on leg 3 for University of Brighton Arts and Crafts Club (Alex is a Bristol alumnus?).
 
On the female side Alice Brown ran 12.40 for one of the several University of Birmingham teams which also featured Liv Brown from our neighbour club Wycombe Phoenix. And Alex Johnson came back to run leg 5 in 10.16 for the Manchester Uni mixed B team.

There was just one Chiltern Harriers team taking part in the National Cross Country Relays at Berry Hill Park, Mansfield on Saturday.
 
The Senior Men had just the A team competing and had a great race, finishing 15th from 141 complete teams. This is the club’s best position in the Senior Men’s event, and a big improvement on 32nd last year.

See video of the whole race by Mark Hooksway  ​https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7SsuGliLmo

​Richard Slade led off on the modified 5k course around the park, which includes undulating grassland and twisty sections through woodland. Richard had a great first leg, coming in second place in an excellent 14.43, the fifth fastest leg of the whole competition. The remaining three runners all worked hard to avoid losing too many places and Simon Bossi (16.03 on leg 2), Alex Aldred (16.25 on leg three), and Harry Cox (16.11 on leg four) all did a great job to keep the team in the top 20.
 
Last year the quartet of Simon, Richard, Aran Davidson and Harry logged 1.05.41 as the aggregate time for 32nd place – this year the lads completed the course in 1.03.24 (Simon, Richard and Harry all substantially quicker than last year).

Good Evening Race Report fans. I hope that you all came through Halloween unscathed and welcome to November. May there be less ‘November Rain’ and lots of ‘November Run’.
​
Kicking off Halloween in style Jonny Slade and Lauren Mayot (an unstoppable racing machine) were in action in Serpentine’s last Friday of the Month 5k. Jonny clocked a time of 17.42, Lauren - 22.20.