The junior’s team coach had to take a detour through Reigate on the way to the SEAA Championships on Saturday 30th January. The M23 was closed between junctions 8 and 9 and the resulting diversion delayed the coach by over an hour. This meant that the Under 15 boys missed the start of the first race of the day.
The Under 15’s have proved dominant at County level all season and were hoping for a good showing at the Southerns. Unfortunately the team were at the top of Hampstead Heath Hill, still on the coach, when the gun went off for the start of the race.
Having managed to get to Parliament Hill in time the Under 13 boys made sure they were on the line ready for the third race of the day. James Oliver continued to build on his good form this year with an excellent 11th place completing the muddy 3K in 11:55. Tom O’Brien shook off his ankle injury worries to come home 118th of the 212 finishers in 13:37, Harry Sullivan-Jones wasn’t far behind in 146th, 14:05, with Aiden Silsby completing the team in 209th, 17:07. The team finshed 24th of 34.
The Under 17’s had time to get properly warmed up for their 6K race at 12:10. This helped the boys put in a good team performance. Will Gray relished the conditions leading the team home in 21st place of the 189 finishers with a time of 21:54. The next two boys played cat and mouse through the race with Kieran Silsby proving too strong in the final run in, finishing 52nd in 22:34. TW, who the boys were calling ‘Liam’ all day was given the same time in 53rd, Not bad seeing it was his first run at this distance. Alec Rice was not able to repeat his strong run at the County Champs and came in 76th, 23:12. The team finished 6th of 22.