Buckinghamshire Schools Cross Country Championships

Over 70 Chiltern Harriers were running for their schools at the Buckinghamshire Schools Cross Country Championships at Stowe School on Wednesday Feb 5th.
 
There were some individual wins and several athletes finished high enough up the finishing order to receive invitation letters for the Primary Year 5,6, and Year 7 English Schools Championships at Prestwold Hall on March 21st,  or the English Schools Cross Country Championships at Sefton Park Liverpool on March 14th for those in Years 8 to 13.

 The Year 5/6 Girls race was first on the programme and Ellie Danner was first Chiltern girl across the line, 6th overall and also the first Year 5 finisher. Marlie Nkoane was 8th, Hetty Salter 17th, and Evelyn Wildman 22nd (7th Year 5 girl) from a field of 122 finishers.
 
The Year 5/6 Boys race  saw Zach Cleary in 8th place, with Hugo Mundy 15th, Jack Salter 18th, Jacob Strutton-Smith 19th, Felix Danielli 20th, Charlie De Sousa 27th, and George Mawby 30th,
 
The Year 7 ‘Minors’ race for girls saw an excellent win for in-form Lily Jessop-Tranter. Olivia Clarke was 3rd and Lucy Wilkinson 4th. Beth Togneri ran well for 7th, and other Chiltern girls in the mix were Rebecca Lawson in 19th, Alice Peckham 21st, and Emma Readman 79th.
 
There were a cluster of Chiltern lads towards the front of the Year 7 ‘Minors’ boys race. Callum Powell was 2nd, Alex Hughes 4th, Gabriel Strutton-Smith 5th, Daniel Munn 6th, Rory Hilton 10th and Danny Carruthers 11th. George Fotherby was 19th, Max Roughton 20th, and Toby Bartlett 56th.
 
The subsequent races acted as qualifiers for the prestigious English Schools Championships which are at Liverpool this year. It was a Chiltern/DCHS 1-2-3 in the Junior Girls (Years 8 and 9) race with Frankie Baxter taking the win, Lesedi Nkoane 2nd and Maddie Hughes 3rd. Also well up were Marea Logan 4th, Hannah Ashby 5th, Ellie Shield 12th, Amber Galley 17th, Sofia Lomas 64th,  Annie Hilton 70th and Isabella King 83rd from a large field of 123.
 
The Junior Boys race saw a win from Alden Collier, just one second ahead of Thomas Redmond. Oakley Denson was 3rd, Euan Pinder 4th, Archie Pinder 5th, Max Baxter 9th, Isaac Jessop-Tranter 11th, Sammy Bennetts 15th, Ethan McCall 25th, Rowan Gawne 27th, Jamie Shepherd 31st, Alfie Clifford 35th, Sammy Whibley 43rd, Frazer Peterson 45th, Felix Palmer 53rd, Jerry Anderson 56th, and John Nickless 112th.
 
For both girls and boys, Intermediates (Years 10 and 11) and Seniors (Years 12 and 13) run together.
 
In the girls race it was an Intermediate, and overall, win for Abbie Henderson. Only six Seniors took part alongside 57 Inters. Others high up in the Inters race were Holly Henderson 2nd, Alice Brown 4th, Katie Repper 7th, Alicia Bushell 8th, Charlotte Docwra 11th, Jinaan Lockwood 26th. Millie Hughes was 4th in the Senior Girls race.
 
In the Inter Boys race on a very tough 5.5k circuit Thomas Askey was 2nd, Louis Peterson 3rd, Mac Nisbet 5th, Teague Eaton 6th, Ben Jackson 7th, Matt Aldred 9th, Angus Stoneham 10th, James Watson 11th, Luke Martin 15th, Will Shield 22nd, Laurie Gawne 28th, and Zak Fisher 34th, from a field of 61.
 
The Senior Boys was much better supported than Senior Girls, with 30 finishers and a strong competitive race.  Max McGarvie led in with 6th place. Alex Aldred, who had not raced or trained due to injury for several weeks, was 10th, Alex Johnson, who was similarly light on training, 17th, and Cam Hathaway-Enright 26th.