English National Cross Country Champs: Parliament Hill, Hampstead Heath 26th Feb 2022

Following the good results achieved in the County and Northern Cross country Championships, the club athletes were hoping for another successful day, and so it proved - with two individual medallists and a silver team medal.

Issy Waugh convincingly won the U15 girls race, some 42 years after the last club individual medal winner at this level - a certain Peter Elliott - who won the U17 (youths, as it them was) race at Leicester in 1980.

Not only did Issy win that race but Lilia Harris also secured a well deserved individual bronze medal, and these two were backed up by Caitlin McCloy in 26th and Katie Battle - having a great run to finish 31st. The team points (61) were ths same for the harriers scoring quartet and the team from Wreake & Soar Valley, of whom Athletics Weekly had said would be "unchallenged for the team award" in their event preview piece.

The gold team medals did go the Wreake and Soar Valley quartet, but only just! Their fourth scorer finished 28th, just 3 places ahead of the Harrier's fourth scorer, giving them the team win on countback. With City of York AC athlete Lottie Langan in 2nd place that meant the individual medalists at the National event were the same three as the Yorkshire and Northern events, with Issy triumphing this time

The U15 girls performance wasn't the only highlight of the day; the U17 women's team, led home by Evie Thomson in 9th place were 5th team (and 2nd North team, behind winner's Vale Royal AC); and the U13 girls team (led home by Northern winner Grace Igoe in 10th place) were 6th team, (and 2nd North team.) The U17 mens team were 17th team (5th North) and the Senior men's team were 33rd (7th North).

Conditions, on the day, for the athletes were challenging, as the course was a mixture of gluey mud in parts, and good firm conditions in other parts.

There were many fallers in the slippery mud and as the U17 team photo shows, one of these was Evie Thomson, who did extremely well to finish 9th after going headlong into the mud early in her race.

Other good individual places were:- Keiva Rennocks 22nd in the Junior womens race; Joe Massingham 39th in the Senior mens race; Sam Gilson 47th in the Junior men's race and Mya Taylor 80th in the senior women's race.

Thanks are due to all the athletes who competed and their supporters, who made to journey to London and were a part of this historic day for the club.

Results

U17 Women 5K

1st Jess Bailey Leven Valley AC 19:20

9 Evie Thomson 20:10 (3rd North) Team 5th 260 points (2nd North) 1st Vale Royal 84 points

55 Amelia Topliss 22:02

78 Bobbie Waugh 22:35

118 Anna Maddocks 23:19

126 Marci Walsh 23:33

U15 Boys 4K

1st Robert Price Vale Royal AC 14:15

130 George Ellis 16:55

139 Jake Parker 16:59

U13 Girls 3k

1st Katie Webb Marshall Milton Keynes 12:38

10 Grace Igoe 13:01 (2nd North) Team 6th (2nd North) Liverpool 4th

27 Graihagh Turner 13:17

67 Layla Roden 13:53

148 Rosalie Bailey 14:54

162 Esme Milbourne 15:01

225 Esther Lovell 15:37

257 Emmie Surgey 15:51

U17 Men 6K

1st Sam Mills Exeter AC 21.14

116 Luke Parker 24:48 Team 17th (5th North)

137 Joshua Gilbert 25:14

160 Jake Orr 25:35

289 Alexander Brand 29:26

U13 Boys 3K

1st Jake Meyburgh Windsor, Slough, Eton & Hounslow 11:06

205 Harry Orr 14:19

314 Seb Johnson 15:31

U15 Girls $k

1 Issy Waugh 16:11 Team 2nd 61 pts (same points as winners - Wreake & Soar Valley AC, but their last scorer was 28th)

2 Lottie Langan 16:32 (City of York)

3 Lilia Harris 16:34

26 Cailtin McCloy 17:49

31 Katie Battle 18:03

101 Mischa Walsh 19:17

269 Gracie Fidler 21:57

DNF Annabelle Sibley

Junior Women 6K

1st Alexandra Millard Invicta East Kent AC 24:23

22 Keiva Rennocks 26:59 (6th North)

Senior Women 8K

1st Jessica Gibbon Reading AC 29:00

80 Mya Taylor 34:06

659 Naomi Clegg 45:59

Junior Men 10K

1st Will Barnicoat 32:51

47 Sam Gilson 36:13 (11th North)

Senior Men 12K

1st Mahamed Mahamed Southampton AC 40:52

39 Joseph Massingham 44:32 Team 33rd (7th North)

106 Luke Cotter 46:30

381 Ben Burton 50:57

386 Aidan Johnson 51:03

482 Gareth Sampson 52:29

1195 Elliott Jackson 1:02:08