The Essex County Cross Country Championships, staged at Gloucester Park, Basildon were a huge success for Chelmsford AC. Despite not providing any individual winners, there proved to be a glut of medals both on the individual front and team wise.
Most successful were the U13 Girls where Ezra Harrold and Ava King placed second and third - and with superb backing from Erin Kelly in 4th, and Hettie Harrison in 7th the Girls ran away with the team title. And CAC were not finished yet, for Francesca Phillips 8th, Heidi Woodley 9th, Isabella Eida 11th and Lily Sanford 23rd claimed third place in the team results.
Moving to the Under 15’s, here Daisy Stollery won the Bronze medal as she led the team into second spot, with support coming from Jemima Knightbridge 9th, Harriet Matthews 12th and Niamh Roberts 16th, whilst further competitors were Emma Cox 28th and Rosie Hopper 32nd.
At U17 level Holly Watson was once again amongst the front runners, placing second, and backed up well by Molly Drane 7th, Lucy Nuttall 9th and Sophie Cottam 10th - and in doing so bringing another team title home. Other runners well placed as back-ups saw Kiera Atkinson 11th and Sophie McCall 14th.
Completing the female races, alas we lacked support. Our only representatives were Hannah Bolton opting for the Senior event, rather than the U20’s (where she may well have won a medal), and placed 5th – while Wendy King - the leading Over 50 athlete - finished 23rd.
With the Boys, at U13 level Jacob Parrott, in third place, individually led the team to second place, with Casper Norris 8th, Fred Ferman 17th and Oscar Stollery 22nd.
It was also second team spot for the U15 Boys, with Jacob Hurrell also picking up the individual Silver medal. Mason Grant 10th, Austin Kelly 11th and Dylan Robbins 15th completed the team. The B team of Joshua Eida 23rd, Ben Watley 28th, Ben Smith 30th and Thomas Carter 39th placed seventh.
With the U17’s, Will Steadman finished 9th, Gregory Martin 12th and Archie Durham 18th but lacking a fourth member they failed to complete a team.
In the U20’s we again had a winning squad, via Thomas Woodward (just outside the medals in 4th place), Scott Thomas 5th, Samuel Waite 7th and Ethan Reilly 9th. Other members in this race were Jacob Alexander 14th and Tom Ing 20th.
As in the Senior Women we surprisingly short of athletes in the Senior Men’s race - Luke Oliver placing 38th, veteran Nick Hunter 70th, Peter Tullett 88th (and first through as an Over 60 year old), and Joe Wells, whose running is normally based on sprint events, 149th.
Report: Roy Meadowcroft