Chiltern Cross Country League - Match 1 at Horspath, Oxford

Chiltern Harriers had a superb day at Oxford Horspath in the first Chiltern League match of the season. Chiltern won the match as a whole and were also the top team across males, females, seniors and juniors. There were team wins for the U13 boys, U15 boys, U17 Men, U20 Men, Vet Men and, for the first time in memory, the Senior Men. All the female teams were in the top three. There were 94 finishing Chiltern athletes.

 
After an early morning deluge, the weather improved into a sunny and quite warm day.
 
The first race was the U11 Girls and Kara Gorman scored a runaway win with Nia Clarke in second place. These two scored enough points to achieve second place in the team standings.
 
The inexperienced Under 13 Girls did very well to be second with Marlie Nkoane (3rd), Katie Allsop (12th), Issy Robinson (19th) and Lydia Cross (21st) being the scoring four. Also featuring were Keya Kara (24th), Anna Stoneham (30th) and Charlotte Grosse (43rd).
 
Tom Ford scored a second individual win of the day in the Under 13 Boys race, just holding off his rival from St Albans. The other scorers in this first winning team of the day were James Holdsworth (3rd), Jack Martin (5th) and Zach Cleary (8th). Other lads running well included George Mawby (18th), Zach Zeru (19th), and Charlie De Sousa (25th).
 
There was good packing from the second-placed Under 15 Girls team with the scoring four being Lesedi Nkoane (7th), Emily Ford (8th), Frankie Baxter (9th), and Olivia Clarke (10th). This large team also included Izzy Martin (12th), Alice Peckham (14th), Jo Snelling (18th), Lily Jessop-Tranter (21st), Lucy Wilkinson (27th), Rebecca Lawson (34th) and Macie Woodward (39th).
 
The Under 15 Boys won despite missing strong athletes. Issac Jessop-Tranter led the team home in second and the other scorers packed well: Daniel Munn (4th), Alex Hughes (5th), and Archie Pinder (6th). Also running well were Rowan Gawne (7th), Max Baxter (8th), Ethan McCall (9th), Sammy Whibley (15th), Max Roughton (20th), Rory Hilton (23rd), Hari Mistry (26th) and Danny Carruthers (32nd).
 
The Junior Women had a strong team out but were up against some good other clubs. The scoring three were Maddie Hughes (3rd), Charlotte Docwra (8th) and Abbie Henderson (9th). Also competing well were a recently post-covid Holly Henderson (11th), Alice Brown (13th), Ellie Shield (16th), Hannah Ashby (21st), and Grace Thorpe (26th). The team were narrowly third.
 
The U17 Men continued the male team-winning streak and added a further individual win from Thomas Redmond. Also scoring were Thomas Askey (3rd), Laurie Gawne (4th), and Oakley Denson (11th). Good back-up came from Jerry Anderson (16th), Sammy Bennetts (19th), Matthew Evans (22nd) and John Nickless (31st).
 
There was a good team effort from the Senior Women to finish third. Hannah Wardley led the team home in 7th and Bex Nkoane was 10th. The other scorers were Christine Burroughs (25th), Sue Elliott (26th), Becky McCall (27th), and Katie Royals (30th). Completing the team were Abi Askey (34th), Cathy Holloway (36th), Jenny Bizley (51st), Jinaan Lockwood (59th), Miriam Kempson (63rd), Jo West (69th), Claire Dickenson (70th), Ella Watson (75th), Tamsin Finch (78th), Fiona Williams (82nd), Isobel De Roever (85th), and Kathy Jessop (93rd).
 
The female Vets team of Bex Nkoane, Christine Burroughs, Sue Elliott and Becky McCall were second. Sue was first Vet 55 and Bex, Christine and Becky were second, third and fourth Vet 45s.
 
There were hopes that the Senior Men’s team could do well but the team surpassed expectations with a fantastic team win, just heading a strong Bedford team. Scoring were Richard Slade (6th), Aran Davidson (10th), Will Perkin (11th), Nick Hughes (20th), James Palmer (25th), Finn O’Brien (29th), Tom Dixon (40th), Luke Martin (45th), Ben Jackson (46th), and James Repper (52nd). Also running well were Neil Turner (58th), Adam Shute (61st), Ross Jarman (62nd), Jamie Carruthers (72nd), Alex Thompson (76th), Alastair Melville-Smith (92nd), Andy Hickman (120th), Paul McCarthy (138th), Jon Taylor (141st), and Trevor Brawn (206th).
 
The Veteran team of Nick Hughes, Tom Dixon, James Repper and Neil Turner won their category as did the Under 20 team of James Palmer, Finn O’Brien and Luke Martin. Nick was leading Vet 50 and Tom fifth Vet 40. In the U20 individual stakes James was 4th, Finn 5th, Luke 6th and Ben 7th.
 
For the next match at Teardrop Lakes, Milton Keynes on November 13th, the junior teams will be affected by a clash with schools cross country matches, but hopefully the club can keep competitive through the season.