National Cross Country Championships

Saturday 22 February, Wollaton Park, Nottingham

There were hopes that our women's team might sneak a set of team medals but in the event, even if all had run exceptionally, we would probably still have not quite had enough fire power.  So fourth place was a fine result and with Tish Jones in seventh individual spot it was a great afternoon for the Belles. Another move up the list to our best placing ever.

We even had Adelaide Clair and Yasmin Marghini running well to figure in the first column of results in the under 13 girl's race. Yes, it was a good day.

The men don't have the big guns of ten years ago - when we ran out convincing team winners at Leeds - but Paskar provided plenty of excitement. He hugged the front rank of the lead pack and even pushed on up the hill with a huge effort on lap two.  It was do or die and all credit to our Captain for taking it to the field ... but it was he who paid the penalty, dropping back on the final lap. The team did well to place 21st at six to score and 17th at nine to score.

There were some changes to the all-time stats. Will Cockerell extended his lead at the head of the most consecutive runs and taking over from the legendary Captain of the ‘20s and ‘30s, Bert Footer, who lost his place at the top of the most scoring runs list. Don Anderson stretched his record of the most National runs ever and now has no less than three appearances in the most consecutive runs list.The Cross Country Plate competitions have now been concluded with winners being Will Cockerell and Zoe Doyle, neither of whom missed a fixture throughout the entire winter. Paskar kindly gave Will a one match start and then proceeded to pick up maximum points in every remaining race.Over in Dunboyne, Co. Meath, Ireland, Andrew Connick won the Intermediate National Cross Country Championship.Senior Men: 1 S Vernon (Stockport H&AC 36:23; 2 R Goodman (Shaftesbury Barnet H) 36:31; 3 A Keyes (Hallamshire) 36:37; 4 N Swinburn (Morpeth H&AC) 36:46; 5 J Wilkinson (Leeds City AC) 36:48; 6 J Gilbert (Kent AC) 36:51; … 18 P Owor 37:28; 155 K Marks 40:40; 243 W Cockerell M40 41:55; 257 M Trees M50 42:08; 298 R Maddams 42:30; 378 T Hadfield 43:34; 477 F Logan 44:52; 671 R Norville 47:05; 693 M Young 47:17; 1387 D Anderson M55 57:17; … 1657 finished.Teams: Six to score: 1 Bedford & County AC 265; 2 Notts AC 296; 3 Leeds City AC 301; 4 Shaftesbury Barnet H 331; 5 Aldershot F&D AC 355; 6 Morpeth H&AC 377; … 21 Belgrave H 1349; … 127 teams closed in.Nine to score: 1 Leeds City AC 645; 2 Notts AC 727; 3 Aldershot F&D AC 764; 4 Bedford & County AC 804; 5 Shaftesbury Barnet H 928; 6 Highgate H 1019; … 17 Belgrave H 3190; 56 teams closed in.Senior Women: 1 G Steel (Charnwood AC) 27:42; 2 S Twell (Aldershot F&D AC) 27:59; 3 L Partridge 28:11; 4 K Brough (Vale Royal AC) 28:18; 5 J Andrews (Aldershot F&D AC) 28:18; 6 M Heathcote (Newquay & PAR AC) 28:29; 7 T Jones 28:32; 41 S Amend 31:18; 47 Z Doyle 31:37; 67 M Wilkins 32:17; 146 J Rhodes 34:07; 262 A Heydenrych 36:15; 459 H Brown 40:43; … 708 finished.Teams: 1 Aldershot F&D AC 21; 2 Charnwood AC 102; 3 Rotherham H&AC 127; 4 Belgrave H 162; 5 Bristol & West AC 217; 6 Vale Royal AC 290; … 83 teams closed in.Under 13 Girls: 1 G Copeland (Wimborne AC) 11:42; 2 A Brown (Herne Hill H) 11:42; 3 J Czura (City of Portsmouth) 11:46; … 50 A Clair 12:59; 88 Y Marghini 13:15; … 431 finished.Full Results Men's Stats Since 1920 Cross Country Plate 2013-14