Junior Cross Country roundup, February 2019
With the London Schools X/C Champs being held at Wormwood Scrubs again this year in February, a number of our Belgrave Junior athletes jumped at the chance to skip school for the day in order to race.
Lina Colas secured a reserve slot for the English Schools X/C Champs in March with 10th place in the U13 Girls, whilst Monty and Jago Juxon also got reserve letters after 9th and 11th placings in the U13 Boys. Places for the Leeds race were confirmed for Maddy Whitman, 5th Intermediate girl, and Blaine Robinson, 2nd Junior Boy. Well done to all of them.
Our Junior athletes finished the Surrey League with a flourish at Lloyd Park on 9th February, with the U13 Boys finishing with only three runners but still managing 4th place on the day, giving us 3rd team place overall for the season. As ever the Juxon boys were in the thick of it, with Monty 2nd U13 and Jago 6th, despite his waking up that morning with the onset of flu. The team was completed by MaxSimpson in 44th place, showing true team spirit in travelling up from Brighton to do his bit for Belgrave.
We look forward to seeing them at the English National X/C Champs in Leeds later this month. Given that we have the grand total of only six U13 Boys competing for us in the League, and four are needed for a team, our quality has triumphed over the quantity of some of our competitors. Blaine Robinson was a solid 15th U15 Boy.
At the Ladies Surrey X/C League match in Richmond Park, the in-form and rapidly improving Maddy placed 3rd U15 Girl, with Freya Marney 88th in the U17 Ladies. Lina Colas was 23rd U13 Girl, with by the youngest runner of the day, first timer (and not yet 11 years old) Elizabeth Dillon 51st in the U13 Girl's race.