Athletics round-up: Medal winners at English National Cross Country Championships
Herne Hill Harriers claimed medals in three races at the English National Cross Country Championships on Saturday at the iconic Parliament Hill, writes Geoff Jerwood.
The U15 boys took pride of place with their squad depth helping to win silver medals with a quartet featuring a couple of newcomers to the podium compared to their recent team successes at county and area level. The successful scoring team was James Clements-Nash (10th), Tommy Clerkin (16th), Luca Boulton (27th) and Arnold Duan (44th).
With the winning team scores margin being only five points, Herne Hill were maybe unlucky not to claim a set of gold medals as Caspian Holmes, their leading runner during much of the season, suffered a fall during the race and pluckily finished 68th. Exceptional back-up came from Zachary Morris 50th, Ed Cunniffe 55th, Holmes 68th and Leau Roch 78th, all in the top 80 of 343 runners.
While the boys were being presented with their medals, Skyla O’Brien was sprinting strongly into the finish funnel to place a brilliant third in the U13 girls’ race.
Harriers also took on the best in the country with aspirations for team medals in the U13 boys’ race and so it proved with an excellent third place finish. Their bronze medals were claimed thanks to strong group packing by Henry Kucerov 24th, Josiah Aldham 35th, John Reynolds 48th and Ben Thomas 55th. Ted Jones did not make the scoring team but also produced a good run in 68th.
Lucy Jones backed up her recent England team representation by finishing in the highest-ever position for a Herne Hill athlete in the senior women’s race with her superb fourth place.
The 26-year-old has enjoyed a stellar season, returning to top level racing a decade after having been a schoolgirl star. As well as her senior international debut, she has been crowned London Cross Country champion on the same course and won three out of four Surrey League races.
Jones led a depleted women’s team to 10th place on the day, with the scoring team completed by Jenny Nandi 87th, Helena Keenan 109th and Shannon Sinclair 218th.
A strong turnout of more than 20 senior men brought home 15th team position in the six to score contest and 12th for teams with their first nine men scoring. These fields are always huge, with 1,783 men in this race alone on Saturday which included three Harriers men in the first 100.
The nine team counters were Arlo Ludewick 43rd, Andrew Clarke 81st, Brandon Dewar 94th, Daniel Shaw 217th, Jeff Cunningham 247th, Matt Raymond 344th, James Nutt 400th and Mat Hudson 454th.
Teams were incomplete in other age groups but some notable individual results came from Sophie Mendes 32nd and Annabel Wainwright 82nd among U15 girls, Kaitlin Hewitt 38th U20 woman and Maeve Minielly 86th U17 woman.
Two Herne Hill athletes produced good runs at the Wokingham Half Marathon on Sunday.
Gaby Reynolds finished 10th of all females with 77:50, a time that ranks her third W40 for this year so far. Harry Roberts improved his PB by more than a minute (71:14).
HERCULES WIMBLEDON
Conor Kelly took his maiden Irish senior title, aged just 17, as he stormed to 400m indoor gold in Abbotstown, Dublin on Sunday, writes George Mallett.
His time of 46.54 was a second clear of his nearest competitor and was quicker than the winning time in the UK Indoor Championships, also held this weekend.
Kelly, who trains in Wimbledon, where he has lived for a number of years, was a bronze medalist at last year’s European U18 Championships.
Freddie Arkell made the semi finals of the 200m UK Championships, where he finished fourth in the second semi-final in a season’s best of 21.68.
The English National Cross Country Championships returned to Parliament Hill in typically attritional conditions as Hercules athletes tackled the mud with a mix of strong individual and team performances on Saturday.
The senior men’s team placed eighth in a competitive field of 1,781 finishers, not to mention the countless who failed to finish. Fred Slemeck was 54th, overtaking cross country captain James Stockings (67th) late on in the race.
George Mallett led home Hayden Beauchemin in 85th and 89th respectively, with Oliver Carrington securing a top-100 finish in 99th.
Ed Mallett completed the six in 105th with Sam Todd an outstanding 118th and just outside the scoring places.
The senior men have secured top-10 finishes in the last four National Cross Country Championships, their best being fifth spot in September.
U15 Theo Creed secured an outstanding individual fifth place, made all the more impressive given this is his first of two years in the age group. Creed was a winner of the U13 event last time out.
There was a similar impressive performance from Harry Allen, not far behind in 14th, with Sam Dyson and James Fraser rounding out the scoring four in 84th and 95th respectively.
Their combined score of 198 was good enough for fourth on the day.
In the U13 girls, Anna Wait and Jessica Wood were a superb 11th and 15th respectively, making hugely impressive debuts on the mud of Hampstead Heath.
Elena Monteza-Pringle (54th) and Ava Wallace-Shafie (126th) earned the team a very solid fifth place with Sasha Allen (127th) highly unfortunate not to score.
The U17 women were seventh, led home by Rose Evans (39th). Lara Delport (69th), Ava Mcandie (83rd) and Dillan Quinn (101st) rounding out the four to score.
The U13 boys emulated that team finish with good packing throughout. Max Harrison was first over the line in 52nd with Anas Briki in 61st. Brothers Alex and Ivan Derian were 81st and 82nd to complete the team, with Thomas Hennigan only one place back in 83rd.
The U15 girls were 14th. Freia Harper-Tee performed strongly to take 66th with Isabelle Sparkes and Alexandra Bramwell in 95th and 96th respectively. Summer McDougall completed the four in 173rd.
In the U17 men Noah Fernandez earned a top-100 finish in 80th, with Pancho Panchev 120th. Joseph Rumfitt (166th) and Oxen Xu in 188th, secured a 19th-placed finish for the team.
In the junior women’s race Allegra Massey was a highly creditable 39th, with Charlotte Lam running strongly for 109th.
In the senior women’s race that boasted 830 finishers, Ruby Carter secured 59th, with Niamh Thompson 50 seconds back in 73rd.