National XC: Young Athletes
Athletes in Saturday's National Cross Championships at Sunderland’s Herrington Park found a carpet of snow on the ground and heavy snow falling as they travelled to the venue – the legendary Penshaw Monument that overlooks the course was lost in the cloud until competition got underway. Spotting Woodford Green athletes in the races was a bit like looking for needles in haystacks (or snowballs?) as only eight junior athletes made the long trek north.
Harry Cavell and Taylor Reece probably had the best of the conditions running early in the day in the U15B race. The pristine carpet of snow over the course quickly turned to a slushy trail and by the afternoon, to a strength-sapping, muddy quagmire. Harry and Taylor applied their usual grit and determination to get round, finishing in 188th and 221st respectively. The result of the day from our juniors came from U20M Ed Shepherd who finished an excellent 7th, 1’18” down on AFD’s winner, Ian Bailey. This was a fine performance from Ed who picked up at least two places in the second lap and looked strong throughout. James Stockings also had a very respectable run for 34th place and was justifiably satisfied with his first Nationals in the age group.
In the Junior Women’s race, Emelia Gorecka (AFD) dominated as she did in the Southern Championships the previous week, winning in 21:35 with a slightly increased margin over the 2nd finisher. Sidnie Sales was our first runner home crossing the line in 25:28 for 36th place which more or less followed the formbook although she did turn the table on a couple of runners who had finished in front of her at Parliament Hill. Claudia Conway made the short trip up the road from Durham and claimed 78th, a further 2’25” back and was content just to get round having suffered from a back injury for the past few weeks.
In the U13B race, James Wakefield looked distinctly uncomfortable whilst finishing in 149th, a lower position that he would have hoped had his race gone to plan. Chris Hogg meanwhile looked to have enjoyed himself for 183rd, only 56” behind James and finishing with a turn of speed that seemed to make light of the mud in the home straight. As usual, Chris, Taylor and Harry (albeit a captive audience) then applied themselves to supporting the seniors along with club stalwart Charlie Crump.
These Nationals were certainly harder than last year’s at Parliament Hill and whilst not quite on a par with the rivers of mud at Alton Towers the year before, will probably enter the annals as one of the more challenging and spectacular stagings in recent years.