South of England Cross Country Relay Championships

Wormwood Scrubs again proved a successful stamping ground for Chiltern Harriers yesterday with two teams winning medals at the SEAA Cross Country Relay Championships.
 
This meeting has seen several Chiltern medals in previous years and yesterday saw the meeting bookended by bronze medals for the U17 Women at the start, and Senior Men at the end.
 
A mild, grey day provided good conditions for running, but the course was very firm in places with some athletes opting to run in road shoes.

The first race was the U17/U20 Women’s race where two races are combined and results separated at the end. The U17 Women featured two Chiltern teams and there was a solo run from Roxie Jones as an U20 in the same race. Issy Robinson led off for the U17 A team and had a good run of 10.36 over the 2.9k route to bring the team home in 10th overall but sixth in the U17 race. Evelyn Wildman made up several places with a leg of 9.56 to finish in fourth overall and fourth U17 team. Alex Whitfield ran a mature run of 10.47 to overtake the U17 team ahead but lose a place to an U20 team. So bronze medals won. There were also good runs from the U17 B team – Megan Lockwood (11.27), Marlie Nkoane (12.30) and Lydia Cross (11.52). Roxie Jones ran 11.02 on the first leg of the U20s.
 
Next up were the U17 and U20 Men who also shared the same race. The U17 A team ran well for 11th place – Edward Johnson finishing second on leg 1 in 8.36 and James Henderson (9.29) and Eddie O’Brien (9.33) completing the team. There were good runs from the incomplete B team – Zach Cleary (9.27) and Henry Keen (10.00). The U20 trio of Callum Powell (9.11), Jack Turner (9.53) and Rory Hilton (10.07) were sixth.
 
The U13 Girls had an incomplete team but Chloe Willson (7.30) and Lottie Monnington (8.07) both ran well on the shorter 2K circuit. The U13 Boys were 19th courtesy of Barnaby Williams (7.37), Jack Dalton (7.44) and Thomas Cooper (7.53).
 
The U15 Girls were also incomplete but Maya Davis (7.25) and Juliette MacDougall (7.21) both ran strongly and finished leg 2 in fifth. The U15 Boys had two teams out. The A team came 22nd thanks to John Rooney (7.05), Josh Woodward (7.46) and Isaac Taylor (7.00). The B team were not far behind in 26th – Hector Gamblen (7.29), Isaac Brown (7.27) and Kit Dixon (7.33).
 
There had been medals for the Chiltern Senior Men in several of the last few championships and a good Green Arrows quartet kept the tradition going on a two lap 4.2k route. Simon Bossi finished third on leg 1 in an impressive 12.44. Harry Cox kept that position with 13.08 and Aran Davidson (13.38) lost a place. In-form Alex Aldred ran a strong second lap to bring the team home for bronze with 13.12. The B team of Daire Stack (13.28), Tom Dixon (14.50), Cameron Reid (13.48) and Jonny Slade (14.51) ran very well to finish 11th and third B team from thirty complete teams.
 
There will be Chiltern Senior Men’s and Senior Women’s teams at the National Cross Country Relay Championships at Mansfield on November 1st.