A Vine Romance
Barely a week into 2024 and the U13 Boys team were already laying down a golden marker for the rest of the cross country season, coming home first at the Surrey County Championships at Denbies Vineyard on 7 January. Despite feeling unwell, Theo Creed led in the quartet, clinching the individual silver medal. James Fraser followed him home in fifth, Cyrus Sheikh was next in 18th with Thomas Hennigan closing the team in 25th.
As we have now come to expect, the strength in depth of this ultra-keen squad of boys was underscored as Fredric Bolton (30th), Alex Hughes (31st) and Joseph Sutherland (32nd) finished in almost identical times.
'Theo was suffering from a stomach bug', says coach and team manager, Andrew Davies. 'He was in lead until the last 300m but had nothing left and was overtaken by one of his big rivals, but he still held on for silver.
'Of course you can't know for sure but I think a well-Theo would probably have won', says Andrew, who is almost out of superlatives to describe the enthusiasm and team spirit generated by this group of young athletes, and is hopeful of more medals to come in the Southern and even the National Championships.
At Denbies there were bronze medals for the U13 Girls. First home was Freia Harper-Tee in eighth, with Alexandra Bramwell in 14th, Freya McAndie 22nd Blanka Domsodi in 33rd; and there was team bronze, too, for the U20 Women (below left): Eloise Davies in eighth, Lulu Weisz in 13th, Millie Thorpe in 16th and Abbie Grey in 22nd.
For the U15 Girls Isabella Harrison finished just outside the medals in fourth, with the team, completed by Otelia Garcia-Davis in eighth, Ava McAndie in 20th and Iona Alexander in 34th, also in fourth spot. Since the top six finishers in each age and gender category earn selection for Surrey at the Inter-Counties Championships, Isabella, along with Benjy Street, who was fifth in the U17 Men's race, should be in the team heading to Wollaton Park, Nottingham in March.
Left: the victorious U13 Boys, minus James who was off cheering on the U15s!
The U17 Men (with the team completed by Jack Hobden and Noah Fernandez) and U17 Women (Dillan Quinn, Lara Delport and Grace Eminson) also finished fourth, with the U15 Boys (Sammy Hobden, Harry Allen, Sam Dyson and Zac Elliott) fifth, while the Senior Women, led in by Niamh Thompson in 23rd, followed by Philippa Mitchell in 27th, Claire Grima in 29th, and Matilde Lomba in 30th, came home in seventh.
The timing of the Championships so soon in the new year and at the spearhead of a string of challenging competitions, often means that many senior athletes – particularly those with a fitness question mark hanging over them – opt instead to target Club success in the two remaining Surrey League fixtures and the Southern and National Championships which follow on swiftly. So although the Senior Men started the day at Denbies as holders of the title, they finished as bronze medallists this time around (below).
The Mallett brothers, George and Ed, the only remaining members of last year's winning team at Lloyd Park, finished in sixth and tenth. Richard McDowell (second in the 40-45 age category) was 23rd, with Sam Peters in 36th, U23 Hector Revill in 46th. Joe Clark in 60th completed the scoring team.
Fred Slemeck, who won individual bronze and silver respectively at the last two Championships, wrestled long and hard with the question of whether to race at Denbies or opt to run in the Hampshire Championships, having moved to Winchester in 2022. In the end he plumped for the latter, winning the bronze medal, though he admitted it 'felt weird', given he hadn't missed a Surrey Championships since 2015! Finishing two places behind him in Hampshire was second-claim Andy Greenleaf. Elsewhere Rhys Boorman finished seventh in the Sussex Championships in Bexhill.