The biggest annual cross-country event – the English National Championships – was held at Parliament Hill London last Saturday.
It was a cold and sunny afternoon but the 35 Brighton youngsters who made the journey experienced a day to remember. Cross Country is the only event in which you can be rubbing shoulders literally with the best runners in the country. Despite several missing from the original club entries there were numerous excellent individual and team performances.
In the U/13 girls race – in a field of 467 – Dulcie Yelling led the team home in an excellent 62nd and with Ruby Wilson having her best run in 89th, Sophie Packham 221st and Madeleine Badruzaman with her best run for the club in 223rd – the team came 22nd and were the first Sussex team home. Not far behind Eadie Yelling 245th, Sima Saadatzadeh 276th, Edith Hancock 301st and Tilly Wilburn 365th completed the ‘B’ team.
In the U/13 boys race in a field of 570 Henry Yelling had an outstanding run in 53rd and with Miles Waterworth 113th, Sam Southgate 128th and Will Matthews completing the scoring four in 139th the team finished in an outstanding 10th place and again they were the first Sussex team in. Back up came from Archie Turner 349th, Jonny Hancock 396th, William Muzio 449th, Kit Monti 461st and Joe Wiburn 532nd.
For the U/15 girls race in a field of 463 Rebecca Losh continued her excellent form and led the team home in 58th and not far behind in her first cross country season Poppy Malins-Palmer came 67th and with Ella Matthews 138th and Ciara Muzio 156th the team were just outside the top 10 in 13th place. This was another outstanding performance and like the U/13 teams we were the first Sussex team. Just behind Ciara sister Emily came 163rd, Gracie Bernard 189th, Bertie Brooking 247th, Alex Nann 254rd and Jess Corbett after two falls battled on to complete the team in 294rd.
The U/15 boys had 504 finishers and first home for the team was Harvey Grant in 187th, followed by Joseph Luker 232nd, Baxter Fletcher 253rd and Josh Pay 359th. The team finished in 36th and were the 2nd Sussex team on the day.
In the U/17 men’s race in a field of 355 Tomer Tarragano had an outstanding run in 24th and with Joe Clayson 120th, Max Brazier 138th and Henry Taylor 227th the team finished inside the top 20 in 18th place and were the 2nd Sussex team to finish.
Well done again to every one it was another great day for the club.