South of England XC Success.

Pride of place for CAC at the South of England cross country championships staged at what now appears as a regular venue of Beckenham Place Park, Lewisham, Kent, go to Mason Sanford in taking second spot in the under 13-year boys’ event - and just two seconds down on the winner. Mason`s run also led to a bronze medal placement for the team with Dylan Law well to the fore in 15th place, Freddie Blacketer 38th and James Pollard 98th completing the quartet whilst Noah Hammond and Arthur Cooke were handily placed in reserve.

It was also to be a third team finish for the under 17 women's team and only six points adrift of the silver medals claimed by Milton Keynes. Amelie Shipton led the team home with an excellent eighth place with Emmie Lole close by 14th, Hetty Harrison 34th and Jessica Walker 54th with Niamh Roberts in reserve.

There was a promising start for the under 15 girls with Francesca Phillips 13th, Ava King 16th and Beatrix Cooke 19th and at this point there was little difference in the points of the two clubs that were to top the table at the end of race. Thanks to Vivien Prelevic they were however to place eighth.

Disappointment that the under 13 girls could not muster a full squad with Sadie Davis 29th, Leila Robinson 47th and Scarlett Metcalfe our sole representatives. What a day for our close neighbours Brentwood in this event with their Madison Kinder leading to a 1, 2 and 3 individuals although it was to be a third place for them in the team stakes.

CAC interest in the under 20`s and senior women rested on one in each event with Kazia Beeton getting into the top ten of the former with ninth place and in the senior`s Antonia Moore 87^th. The male side of the club did however complete teams in each event.

We have already reported on the under 13`s.and it was to be sixth team for the under 17`s with Jacob Parrott 23rd, Daniel Pollard 40th, Joe Delaney 49th and Austin Kelly 61st with Max Chivers 65th and Ben Smith 85th close by. For the under 15`s Jamie Gilbey led the home being 20th with Josh Humphries 52nd, Jake Boarer 70th and Kyaya Fakazi 132nd completing the scorers with Ed Delaney also amongst the finishers.

For the senior men Zach Bridgeland led them home finishing 87th and was supported by Peter Waite 237th, Scott Thomas 246th, Will Parrott 257th, Stephen Woodford 285th and Luke Fitz-John 311^th for a team placing of 21st.

Away from the domestic scene what a grand international debut for Sam Wright. Previously his highlight was coming away from the English Schools Championships with the gold medal – which may have led to his selection for an England squad competing in the Iceland International Games. As followers of the Instagram site will have seen Sam triumphed with a leap of 7.07 metres. Of course Sam may treat this as his main event but as a multi eventer - and achieving success including the decathlon - he can be considered as to master ten events. Well done Sam.

Full gallery of the SEAA XC Championships here.

Report written by Roy Meadowcroft.

31 Athletes, 8 Medals, 23 New PB's marks a very Successful Southern Indoor Champs for CAC's Juniors.

Certainly, track and field has a season of 12 months thanks to indoor meetings having seen the South of England staging championships in December and now following with further championships for the under13, 15- and 17-year age groups. The proof of their popularity can be gauged that many events drew entrants requiring some ten heats. Ploughing through this one finds that Chelmsford was well represented with many having that ‘PB’ shown against their performance. Regrettably I cannot include all these in a report although it shows promise for the future - instead concentrate on those going to semi-finals.

The stage was set from the opening event on day one when Bella Kehoe won her heat of the 800 metres for under 13`s in 2m29.95s With Sadie Davis second in the next heat with 2m 31.98s. It was a long wait for the final entailing a return the following day when Bella was to finish in the silver medal position with 2m29.04s with Sadie fifth in 2m 32.29s. Again over 800 metres and in the under 15`s sister Isla Kehoe took second place in her heat with 2m 21.94s then followed with a pb in the final of 2m 19.63s again taking silver. Over the 60m hurdles Chloe Allam was in great form winning her heat in 9.12s, then again at the head of the semi-final in 9.23s before setting a pb in the final of 9.09s for well deserved gold medal. Shindra Ayo-Adeyemo also reached this final placing 6th but setting a pb on route with a clocking of 9.51s. At under 17 level three girls went through the heats of the hurdles Abigail McElroy 7.99s, Alicija Yalaju a pb of 8.11s and Abigail Nwaker 8.16s but failed to go beyond the semi-final stage.

The field events were to produce two wins for CAC athletes in the shot putt. Monica Malagala to record a comfortable victory in the under 17`s shot putt - with Alicija Yalaju sixth with 9.88m. At under 15-year level Shindra Ayo Adeyemo came up with a second pb to go alongside her hurdles time. Here in the shot 11.42m saw well in control as she took the gold position, Timmy Osei was also setting a pb with 9.02m and finishing just outside the medals with 9.02m. Back on the track and to the 200 metres. Niamh Taiwo in the under 15`s set a pb in her heat then improved further to 27.23s placing 4th in the semi-final. Going to the under 17`s and three girls were to qualify via the heats, all placing second, Jasmin Lunn, Lily Hartman and Ruby Collier. In the semi-final Jasmin placed first with Lily second in her race. To the final and Jasmin came out with a pb of 25.92s for third place with Lily fourth timed at 26.16s. Stepping up to 400m and Stephanie Smith after winning her heat clocked 60.08s in the final to place 4^th.

Back to the field, now turning to the jumps. Abigail McElroy came up with a pb of 11.02m for second place - an agonizing just two centimetres shy of the top spot.  Was to be silver also for Chelsea Clarke in the under 17 high jump clearing 1.60m

Report written by Roy Meadowcroft

It's all to play for after the Penultimate Essex XC League at Hilly Fields.

As has been said in other spheres, what a difference a week can make.

That most certainly applied to Chelmsford youngster in the Essex cross country league fixture held on the Hilly Fields, Colchester course. Having picked up seven team sets of medals in the Essex Championships at Basildon in the six events for under 13`s, u15`s and under 17`s for girls and boys - yes seven from six does go for the latter group had

collected both silver and bronze it was to be only the under 17 girls that managed to muster a full complement, thankfully with only three required in this competition.

Starting with the under 13 girls only Leila Robinson in the green and gold faced the

starter and she came up with her best performance to finish in third spot. Worse was

to come with CAC not having a single competitor at the age level. Ironically it was the

under 17 women that fielded a trio for they had failed to achieve this in earlier meets.

Jessica Walker put in a good run to finish third whilst Katie Cox an ever present followed her home, with Amelia Goodall 11th a total of 18 points put them level with Basildon but with their scorer seventh they took top spot - and with it the seasons trophy such has been their consistency. With her ever-present record and being towards the fore Katie is a certainty up for an individual award, the same goes for her sister Emma in the under 20 age group, although not at Saturday`s fixture, nevertheless if she contests the Basildon race would likely take second spot for the season. Going to the senior women's race and with the minimum of four athletes they had to be content with a third place behind Colchester H`s and Havering. This builds up to a great finish for the league title with Havering and Chelmsford on five points and Colchester on six. Our squad here found Hannah Bolton 4th, Rachael Broome 13th, Wendy King 22nd and Anna Nuttall 33rd - and interestingly all four could feature in the end of season awards. Wendy having already contested all four races is assured of being the leader of the over 50 age group, Anna currently places equal second in this group but having only contested three races has the need to race in the final race at Basildon to qualify. Hannah and Rachael as seniors lay third and fourth in the points tally but here it is very much an open affair for like the two leaders all have missed one meeting and find it essential to turn out.

To the boys and in the under 13`s there was another interesting duel with Dylan Law

taking the honours from Rowan Stringer of Colchester & Tendering. Rowan currently holds the advantage over the season by one point so clearly an exciting conclusion in abeyance. In this event Noah Hammond was our only other runner finishing 18th. At under 15 level Joshua Dalton placed 17th with Ed Delaney 22nd. For the under 17`s we saw Daniel Pollard placing third and fourth - positions they also take in the season’s points tally. Both however have missed one meeting so have the need to compete at Basildon. For the senior men`s event we again saw the CAC colours to the fore. In previous races Jacob Hurrell had won at One Tree Hill whilst Thomas Woodward had placed second at Hadleigh. This time round it was William Nuttall taking the plaudits for his first place. Ethan Reilly placed tenth and then we had to rely on our veterans with Peter Waite 59th, Ken Hoye 72nd, Nick Hunter 81st, Peter Tullett 126th and Mick Bridgeland 166th from the field of 217 finishers. Three of these ever-dependable feature in the points tables. Peter Waite heads that for over 55`s as does Peter Tullett in the over 65`s - be it only a narrow eleven points advantage over Billericay`s Mark Gowers. In the over 45`s Nick Hunter takes seventh spot - with third place only 27 points ahead. Although not officially part of the league awards to the under 11`s, and in the chase here is Samuel Miller from the Chelmsford Endurance team being second on count back. This latest race saw him third with Lewis Boarer 7th, Toy Hatt 9th, Arthur Moreira 22nd, Georg 30th, George Jaggard 25th, Max Porter 30th, George Hunnybun 40th and Rory Casey 44th.

For the girls Olivia Bilby took seventh place with Coco Phillips 10th, Evie Law 16th and Cleo Robinson 20th.

Report written by Roy Meadowcroft

Photo: Mike Jeffery