Buckinghamshire AA Cross Country Championships

There was a good deal of success for Chiltern Harriers at the Buckinghamshire Cross Country Championships at Shuttleworth on Saturday. There were five team wins and four individual wins, and several athletes booked their places in the Buckinghamshire teams at the National Inter Counties in March.
 
The weather was kind with clear skies and reasonable temperatures. The underfoot conditions were surprisingly firm given the recent heavy rain.

​The Under 13s started proceedings and there was a great display by the Chiltern girls, filling the first four places. Lesedi Nkoane, Frankie Baxter, Marea Logan and Lucy Wilkinson led the field and are all selected for Inter-Counties. Also doing well were Lily Jessop-Tranter (8th), Olivia Clarke (10th), Savarnah Pandya (11th), Beth Togneri (13th), Izzy Martin (16th), Alice Peckham (20th), Rebecca Lawson (22nd), Jo Snelling (25th), Elizabeth Nickless (28th) and Issy King (29th).
 
The U13 Chiltern boys were similarly in control with the scoring foursome being led in by individual winner Alden Collier. Max Baxter was second, Rowan Gawne third and Ethan McCall fifth to complete the scorers. Another big team was completed by Alex Hughes (6th), Daniel Munn (9th), Gabriel Strutton-Smith (11th), Rory Hilton (12th), Alfie Clifford (13th), Sammy Whibley (14th), and Frazer Peterson (16th).
 
The U15 girls were missing the Henderson twins but Alice Brown and Maddie Hughes stepped up to secure a Chiltern 1-2, with Alice just ahead with a strong run-in. Third scorer was Ellie Shield in fourth and there were good runs from Hannah Ashby (5th), Charlotte Docwra (9th), Amber Galley (10th), and Annie Hilton (13th).
 
The Under 15 boys exceeded expectations with another convincing win. Thomas Askey continued his breakthrough season with a win, closely followed by Cormac Nisbet in second and Thomas Redmond in third. Teague Eaton completed the scoring in fifth and there were good efforts from Oakley Denson (10th), Laurie Gawne (13th), Matt Aldred (15th), Nathan Sweeney (17th), Felix Palmer (22nd), Sammy Bennetts (24th), Jerry Anderson (25th), and John Nickless (28th).
 
Chiltern’s Junior Women were missing some key athletes but the trio of Alicia Bushell (6th), Jinaan Lockwood (12th) and Millie Hughes (13th) did enough for third place. Ella Watson was 16th.
 
For the first time Under 11s were involved in the Bucks county champs. The girls saw Katie Allsop (7th), Evelyn Wildman (11th) and Charlotte Grosse (13th) finish as second team. Gabby King was 26th. The boys were also second courtesy of Zach Cleary (5th), Felix Danielli (7th) and Charlie Quantrill (8th). Also doing well were Charlie De Sousa (9th), Jacob Strutton-Smith (10th), Jack Martin (13th), Luke Coultate (17th), Jacob McCall (18th), and Isaac McCall (22nd).
 
The Senior Men did not field a complete team but those that ran did well with Richard Slade continuing his great season to be bronze medallist. Fabian Downs was fifth, Aran Davidson ninth, Nick Hughes tenth, and Andrew Wiseall 21st. Nick was fist Vet 50. Trevor Brawn was third in the Over 60s race and Tommy Davies seventh in the Under 20s.
 
There were four Chiltern Senior Women competing, Ellie Bates leading the way in fourth. Bex Nkoane was fifth, Sarah Quantrill eighth and Lizzie Barraclough 14th. Bex was leading Vet 45 and Sarah second Vet 35.
 
The U17 Men completed the programme and, despite losing Alex Johnson mid-race with a foot injury, the scoring foursome of Alex Aldred (2nd), James Palmer (4th), Ben Jackson (8th) and Max McGarvie (9th) did enough for a team win. Luke Martin also ran well for 11th.