National Cross Country Championships

Twenty-one Chiltern Harriers took part in the National Cross Country Championships at Bolesworth Castle in Cheshire on Saturday. Conditions at the gently undulating and fast course in the grounds of the castle, were good on a dry but blustery day.
 
Again the main highlight for the club was U13 Girl Kara Gorman, adding to her medal collection with an excellent bronze. Although the club had runners in most of the races the only complete team was the Under 15 Boys who were a creditable ninth.

Earlier the U17 Women featured good runs from Maddie Hughes in 21st and Ellie Shield in 36th. The Under 15 Boys were next and Alex Hughes led the way in 23rd. Daniel Munn in 116th, Callum Powell in 130th, and Aidan Suleyman in 137th completed the scoring with James Holdsworth 193rd from 289.
 
Kara again ran a spirited race in the Under 13 Girls beating the Southern Champs winner in the  process and adding to the bronze she won at that championships. Kara made her way through the field to finish very strongly. Evelyn Wildman was the other U13 girl, running well for 108th. There were 253 finishers.
 
The Under 17 men’s race saw Archie Pinder 36th with twin Euan in 138th. The Under 13 Boys was also a twins effort with Isaac McCall 204th, and Jacob 206th being the Chiltern presence. In the Under 15 Girls race Lucy Wilkinson was best placed Chiltern finisher in 46th. Issy Robinson had a good run for 99th from 285.
 
The Junior Men packed well with Louis Peterson 72nd, James Palmer 84th and Alex Aldred 85th.
 
The Senior Men also featured a trio and Richard Slade had a great run to be 29th on the long 12k course. George Brown also ran well for 39th and Will Brown was 73rd from the biggest field of the day of 1471 runners.
 
Amongst the photos is a picture of Richard, George and Will at the National Cross Country at Nottingham in 2014 where Richard was 112th, Will 117th, and George 242nd. Hard work and commitment have seen all three move up to the strong performances seen on Saturday.