English Schools XC places secured for Harriers

The Harriers Middle Distance squad secured 17 places at the English Schools National Cross Country Championships on March at the Ardingly Showground in West Sussex. This is the most eagerly awaited and most prestigious National final and for most athletes the pinnacle of their career.

The final qualifying round and selection races were held at the Anglian Trophy in the grounds of the prestigious Woodbridge school, which provides a tough course with some challenging hills. All the Harriers competing were representing Northants County Schools, with just a handful based at Kimbolton school representing Cambs schools.

The highest individual placing on the day, and the strongest performers from the squad were in the U15 Girls & Boys (Junior) category.

Junior Girls team from L to R, Elsie Bennett, Tiggy Guthrie-Brown, Amelie Heron,

Millie Sharp, Sabina Lawton, Clara Booth, Marianna owen, Darcey Taplin

Marianna Owen the County Schools & NAA County Champions enjoyed another brilliant performance finishing in second place to take a Silver medal. This was well supported with six other athletes qualifying for their counties. Owen attacked the race from the start locking into battle with Lincs Maisie Mullett for the opening lap, but Mullett managed to open a small gap on the second lap and won the race in 11:55, with a comfortable second place for Owen in 12:19. Clara Booth, competing for Cambs finished in a fine 12^th place (top scoring for her county) in 13:00, just edging out club colleague Millie Sharp who produced a controlled performance to finish in 13^th place (13:01). Sharp who is returning to full fitness qualified for Northants in 4^th place, with  Amelie Heron enjoying a strong race for 19^th (5^th Northants), as did Sabina Lawton & Elsie Bennett who claimed the final 7^th & 8^th Northants team places finishing in 25^th (13:31) & 30^th (13:46) place overall. Tiggy Guthrie-Brown also claimed 7^th county place for Cambs finishing in 39^th place (13:58) with a good run, with Darcey Taplin a late reserve running well in 59^th place.

Marianna Owen with a brilliant Silver medal battling with Maisie Mullett.

The Junior (U15B) race also saw a medal winning performance from Ben Scott who had an outstanding race to finish in 3^rd place in 12:30, finishing strongly in a group of 4 athletes separated by 3 seconds from 3^rd to 6^th place. Scott, the Northants County Schools Champion, was again top finisher for Northants claiming his first English Schools place. Joshua Spavins competing for Cambs repeated his 5^th place finish from the Cambs county schools race a few weeks earlier to claim his first English schools place, finishing in 16^th place overall (13:19) with Oliver Smith doing a good job qualifying while nursing a foot injury as 6^th Northants athlete in 34^th place overall (13:41).

Ben scott (right) superb running for a Bronze medal in the Junior Boys race, with Oliver Smith who

qualified in 6th place for Northants

The Inter Girls (U17) also saw a terrific performance from Peyton Almond with a top 10 placing, Almond who is only contesting schools XC this season finished in 7th place overal and 2^nd place for Northants County Schools in 15.31, and Iona Ellwood also had a fine run to finish in 17^th place overall (16:17), and third in the Northants placings. Freya Allitt ran well after missing training due to an illness for 66^th place, while Esther Champman in her first competition at this level also ran well for 73^rd place.

Peyton Almond with a terrific run for 7th place

The senior races (U19) also saw fine performances from the Harriers to secure selection, with Evie Brooker leading the way with a fine finish in 21^st place (17:08) and 4^th place in the Northants team, while Charlotte Jackson finished in 33^rd place overall (18:13) claimed the final position for the Northants team. Dylan Ransom had a slightly under par performance by his recent standards, but finished in 29^th place in 24.20, and 4^th Northants qualifier, closely followed by Joseph Pickering in 37^th (24.40) securing 6^th place in the Northants team.

The Anglian Trophy also saw some of the minor girls (U13) in action, while not competing for English schools positions the races were still fiercely fought, and this was the first opportunity for some of the Harriers youngsters to represent their County. Olivia Henderson was top finisher for the girls with a fine run for 56^thin 11:14 while colleague Amelie Chymcakova also ran well for 60^th place (11.22). The sole male representative Callum Johnson also ran well 61^st place (14.02).

Well done to all athletes who competed