Braving the Elements
More than 30 HW athletes were in action in testing, muddy conditions in the Saucony English National Cross Country Championships at Nottingham’s Wollaton Park on Saturday.
Tom Jervis led the senior men’s team to 21st place over the 12K course, finishing 95th of the 1716 runners, with Fred Slemeck 127th, Joe Toomey 239th, Matt Sharp 243rd, Ed Mallett 253rd and Rob Tuer 597th.
Surrey champion Ellen Weir led in the U17 Women's team, finishing 23rd in the 258-strong field over 5km. Georgie Clarke was 32nd and Niamh Thomson 47th. The fourth member of the team, Selma Hegvold unfortunately lost her chip in the mud and puddles!
Lulu Weisz led the U15 Girls to ninth place out of 39 teams. She was 50th of the 395 finishers with Millie Thorpe 101st, Eloise Davies 120th and Rosie Speed 143rd.
The U13 Boys finished in 19th place. Ronan McArdle was 114th of the 385 runners, with Ibrahim Mohamed Achchi 134th, Oliver Holden 173rd and Matt Weisz 176th.
Grace Eminson led the U13 girls home finishing 154th of the 358 runners in the race. Sophie Thorpe was 197th, Elena Hernandez 235th and Indira Ferree 331st. Henry Silverstein was 76h in the U20 race over 10K; while Hector Revill was 183rd in the U17 Men's race.
Winning in Wokingham
Jonny Cornish (above) clinched an impressive win in similar wet and blustery conditions when he headed home a 2600-plus field in the Wokingham half-marathon on Sunday.
It was his third attempt on the race, having finished eighth in 2016 and ninth last year, and the victory was hard won. "I wore two pairs of socks to protect my feet but felt them rubbing during the race and got two bad blisters on my left heel,' he confided. Nevertheless, after running with Nick Torry of Serpentine and Joe Wade of Ryde Harriers for most of the race he managed to kick on at the 11-mile mark to open up a lead and take the win in 1:07:13.
Also competing were Claire and David Grima. Claire, running at Wokingham for a fifth time, was the second woman home behind two-times English Cross Country Champion Louise Damen, and first W40 in 1:18.48, just behind David who was 48th in a PB of 1:15:54.
Meanwhile...
In more clement conditions indoors in Sheffield, Freddie Arkell, in his first year as an U17, narrowly missed qualifying for the final of the 60m at the England U20, U17 and U15 Championships. He won his heat in 7.15 and clocked an identical time in the semi final on Saturday to finish third. He was third in his heat in the 200m on Sunday. Efe Peters was fifth in his 60m heat in 7.34, wh
Results
Saturday 22 February: National Cross Country Championships, Nottingham Full results
Saturday 22 February: Sri Chinmoy 10K, Battersea Park Full results Run Britain
Saturday 22-Sunday 23 February: National U20, U17 and U15 Indoor Championships, Sheffield Full results
Sunday, 23 February: Wokingham Half Marathon Full results
Sunday, 23 February: British Masters Pentathlon Championships (inc South of England Championships), Lee Valley Full results
ile Missy Cooper was 8th, in 8.40.
Mabel Rose Scales, competing as an U15 for the first time, was 5th in the high jump with a leap of 1.55.
Four HW runners contested the Sri Chinmoy 10km road race in Battersea Park on Saturday morning. Will Woodcock was second in a of PB 31:41. There was a season's best for Simon Woodley (39:37) in 37th. Rosemary Fernando was seventh woman in a PB of 41:10 and Tom Cheetham third M50 in 41:30.