Buckinghamshire AA Cross Country Championships

Chiltern Harriers had a very successful Bucks County Championships at a wet and grey Campbell Park on Saturday. On courses that were significantly shorter than the distances billed, the weather and the tough hills still made for hard racing. The Championships were, as usual, in conjunction with the Bedfordshire Champs which filled out the fields and made for some good races.
 
There were Chiltern team wins for the U11 Girls, U15 Girls, U17/U20 Women, Veteran Women, U13 Boys, U15 Boys, U20 Men, Senior Men, and Veteran Men. Individual wins came from Nia Clarke (U11G), James Holdsworth (U13B), Alden Collier (U15B), Maddie Hughes (U17W), Alicia Bushell (U20W), James Palmer (U20M), Richard Slade (SM), James Repper (V40M), Nick Hughes (V50M), Cath Holloway (V45W), and Miriam Kempson (V55W).

Chiltern Harriers had a very successful Bucks County Championships at a wet and grey Campbell Park on Saturday. On courses that were significantly shorter than the distances billed, the weather and the tough hills still made for hard racing. The Championships were, as usual, in conjunction with the Bedfordshire Champs which filled out the fields and made for some good races.
 
There were Chiltern team wins for the U11 Girls, U15 Girls, U17/U20 Women, Veteran Women, U13 Boys, U15 Boys, U20 Men, Senior Men, and Veteran Men. Individual wins came from Nia Clarke (U11G), James Holdsworth (U13B), Alden Collier (U15B), Maddie Hughes (U17W), Alicia Bushell (U20W), James Palmer (U20M), Richard Slade (SM), James Repper (V40M), Nick Hughes (V50M), Cath Holloway (V45W), and Miriam Kempson (V55W).
 
The U11 races were small with Nia Clarke first in the girls race, Maya Davis finishing third. Chiltern didn’t have any U11 boys racing.
 
The U13 Races were much better supported. Chiltern’s U13 Girls were second team. Kara Gorman made her U13 debut and had a great run to be 4th. Marlie Nkoane (9th) and Issy Robinson (13th) were the other scorers. Also running well were Evelyn Wildman (18th), Megan Lockwood (24th), and Lydia Cross (25th).
 
James Holdsworth set off up the first hill with intent and raced to a well-earned win in the U13 Boys race. The team also won, James being backed-up by Charlie Quantrill (7th), Hugo Mundy (9th) and Aidan Suleyman (10th). Also doing well were Jacob McCall (11th), Isaac McCall (13th), Charlie De Sousa (14th), and Theo Roughton (16th).
 
There was a good turnout of U15 girls and the scoring trio of Frankie Baxter (2nd), Lesedi Nkoane (3rd) and Olivia Clarke (5th) won comfortably. Completing the impressive team were Lily Jessop-Tranter (6th), Sofia Lomas (7th), Izzy Martin (11th), Jocelyn Davies (12th), Jo Snelling (14th), Alice Peckham (15th), and Ffion Harman (24th).
 
Continuing the winning habit were the U15 Boys with Alden Collier taking the individual win. Daniel Munn had his best race of the season so far to be second and Alex Hughes (3rd) and Max Baxter (4th) made it a dominant team win. Also running well were Rowan Gawne (6th), Isaac Jessop-Tranter (8th), Ethan McCall (9th), Rory Hilton (10th), and Max Roughton (11th).
 
The U17 and U20 Women ran together with team scores combining. Chiltern comprised ten of the 13 finishers with Maddie Hughes taking the overall win, backed up by Holly Henderson (2nd) and Charlotte Docwra (5th). Abbie Henderson was 6th. Alicia Bushell (7th) won the U20 title with Katie Repper (8th) second. Completing the team were U17s Alice Brown (9th), Ellie Shield (10th), Tia Lomas (11th) and Annie Hilton (12th).
 
It has been several years since Chiltern won the senior men’s race, but a strong sextet did a great job to take the title. Richard Slade continued his great form to take the individual win on a course advertised as 9.1k, but actually under 7k. Completing the scoring were Aran Davidson (4th), Will Perkin (5th), Nick Hughes (10th), James Repper (11th), and Neil Turner (15th). Michael Turney was 25th. The Veteran men’s team of Nick, James, Neil and Michael won their team prize and James was first Vet 40, Nick first Vet 50.
 
The Senior Women’s team of Ellie Bates (9th), Cath Holloway (12th) and Katie Royals (13th) were second, but the Veteran trio of Cath, Aleksandra King (14th) and Tamsin Finch (17th) were gold medallists. Cath Holloway was first Vet 45 and Miriam Kempson took the Vet 55 title.
 
The final race of the day was perhaps the most exciting. The U17 and U20 Men ran together and a decent field of 27 (including the Bedfordshire athletes) toed the line. Chiltern’s leading U20s, James Palmer and Louis Peterson, quickly built a lead and were neck and neck for most of the race, James just getting the win. Unlike the women’s junior race, the men’s team results were separated. So Chiltern’s U20 team won gold but there were only three U17 Chiltern lads so an incomplete team in that category. The U17 race featured Laurie Gawne (4th), Sammy Bennetts (7th) and Jerry Anderson (9th). The U20 winning quartet was James, Louis, Finn O’Brien (4th), and Ben Jackson (7th). Charlie Stone was 8th and Alex Johnson, having his first race for a couple of years 9th.