The South of England cross country championships showed again that Chelmsford have the strongest young athletes within Essex coming away with gold, silver and bronze medals.
It was the under 13 year girls that achieved that major honour as their scoring four of Isla Kehoe 5th, Beatrix Cooke 13th, Orla Martin 20th and Hattie Blackburn 27th finished with a total of just 65 points. This had been a stern test between two Essex teams for Brentwood had looked in pole position with their Maddison Kindler taking the individual title but that extra packing by Chelmsford gave them the edge by twelve points.
The under 20 men's race brought about the silver - this time an individual success for Joseph Grange. A promising start team wise and with Will Nuttall 9th and Finn Rattray 25th it could well have brought a team medal as in the Essex event earlier in the month if they had that fourth member.
For the under 15 girls it was to be third place although like the under 13`s scoring 65 points. Again Brentwood looked in a strong position with Summer Smith 4th and Heidi Woodley 7th but again our packing was superior with Jorga March 13th, Ezrah Harrold 14th, Erin Kelly 16th and Ava King 22nd . Amelia Shipton 24th, Lily Sanford 26thand Isabella Eida 36th were all well placed.
There were also two fifth placed teams - the under 17 women via Daisy Stollery 13th, Harriet Matthews 29th, Jessica Walker 31st and Emma Cox 51st. The under 15 boys were led home by Jacob Parrott 16th with Joe Delaney 28th, Daniel Pollard 77th and Max Chivers 82nd.
A very good run from Mason Sanford in the under 13 boys saw him just outside the medals in fourth spot. With Jake Boarer 21st, Joshua Dalton 50th and Thomas Burgoyne 85th the team placed sixth - again first of the Essex clubs.
Alas in two other age groups we failed to compete a full quota - Lucy Nuttall 27th and Sophie McCall 45th contested the under 20 women whilst the under 17 men found Austin Kelly 45th, Jacob Hurrell 46th and Ben Smith 121st. Obviously Jacob had problems for one would have expected him to be chasing honours.
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Report written by Roy Meadowcroft
