Straight from that double triumph in the EYAL competitions of the track and field season our youngsters claimed two titles in the South of England road races staged at Aldershot. Add to that two were able set the fastest times for their stages.
First success came from the under 13 girls. Heidi Woodley on the first stage with a time of10m 54s had put them in a promising third position of the 48 teams toeing the start line. Ava King timed at 10m 57s then moved into the lead leaving Erin Kelly to run the 'glory leg` with the third best time of the race with 10m 39sto break the tape. Our `B` team finished a very respectable 7th in such a class of competition with Isabelle Eida 11m 23s, Lily Sanford 11m 51s and Francesca Philipps also on 11m 51s.
Our other gold medal performance came from the under 17 men`s team. This race had attracted a field of 68 teams and Jacob Hurrell with 14m41s came through the first leg in 9th spot. Now Joseph Grange was moving past all ahead and recording 14m 06s set best time of the event. Gregory Martin 14m 37s duly brought the team home some 90 seconds ahead of Norwich. There were also medals for the under 15 girls with Daisy Stollery 11m 14s (12th), Lottie Wilkin 10m 41s and Ezrah Harrold 10m36s.
To the under 13 boys and it was an outstanding performance from Fred Ferman running the first stage in 9m 57s - a time which no other could match throughout the event. Oscar Stollery 11m 46s and Khaya Fakazi were to bring us home inn 11th place. Other races found us 12th in the under 15 boys via Joshua Eida 10m 26s, Jacob Parrott 10m 37s and Austin Kelly 9m 46s. In a very strong field the senior women placed 20th with Maegan Williams 23m 01s, Kiera Atkinson 23m 00s, Rebecca Luxton 23m 29s and Hannah Bolton 23m 47s. The senior men's event had found 107 on the start line. The promising thing here was our ability to put out two teams of six runners- all be it that the `B` team consisted mainly of veterans.
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Report written by Roy Meadowcroft