Junior Performance Cross Country - Race 2

The second of the Junior Performance Cross Country Series races took place at Lower Mount Farm, Cookham on Saturday. The race was organised by Peta Bee and her team at Cookham Running Club. Unlike the first event in October which had hideous weather, Saturday saw sunshine and clear skies.
 
The course featured out and back runs along the rows of orchard trees plus some gentle climbs and descents. It was an interesting and unusual course which was good for spectators. U13s and U15s ran 2.7k, and U17s and U20s 5.4k.
 
The race format was waves of six athletes, fifteen seconds apart. Thirty-two Chiltern youngsters took part.
 
There was a great Chiltern result in the U13 girls race. Izzy Martin started in Wave 3 but made great progress to end up with the fastest time of 11.34. In the first wave Emily Ford and Ellie Danner recorded 11.35 and 11.42 to be second and third overall. Other good Chiltern performances came from Katie Allsop (9th in 12.03), Olivia Clarke (10th in 12.06), and Marlie Nkoane (11th in 12.07). There were twenty finishers.
 
The U13 boys featured a good battle between Chiltern’s Daniel Munn and Barnet’s Luke Baughan-Withington, with Daniel just second by a couple of seconds (10.20). Alex Hughes ran well for third in 10.28 and there were good runs from Felix Danielli, fifth in 10.56 and Tom Ford, sixth in 11.01. There were twenty finishers.
 
The U15 girls also featured twenty runners, and Chiltern’s girls were Maddie Hughes (5th in 10.40), Frankie Baxter (6th in 10.48),  Lesedi Nkoane (8th in 11.00), and Rosa Williams (17th in 12.02).
 
Chiltern’s U15 boys again looked good with Thomas Redmond making short work of the course to win in 9.15. Archie Pinder ran strongly from Wave 3 to be fourth in 9.41 and Alden Collier was fifth in 9.44. Other good Chiltern runs came from Max Baxter (8th in 10.01), Oakley Denson (9th in 10.06), Isaac Jessop-Tranter (11th in 10.10), Leon Doran (16th in 10.29), Ethan McCall (17th in 10.34), and Euan Pinder, struggling with a knee injury (18th in 10.35).
 
The U17 and U20 women ran together. In the U17s Holly Henderson was fifth in 21.49, Abbie Henderson seventh in 22.11, and Alice Brown 12th in 24.02. In the U20s Soraya Lockwood was fourth in 25.01 and Millie Hughes fifth in 25.15.
 
There were three U17 men in action. In a high class field James Palmer was sixth in 19.13, Luke Martin tenth in 20.03, and Will Shield 17th in 20.55.
 
Just five U20 men toed the line, with Max Mcgarvie third in 20.15.