A Great way to Sign off on This Seasons Essex XC League.

The final Essex cross country league of the season took place at Southend`s Hockley course with Chelmsford topping three of the ten age group tables with six second places. On the individual awards that came their way, it certainly looks good but with many missing previous meetings this should have been improved on.

The under 13 girls was an example here for only two of the winning county title team turned out with Isla Kehoe having an excellent run to place second with Jessica Hobson 9th and Zenobia Williams 21st they had to concede to SS Athletics the league title. For Isla consistency over the season brought her to top spot in the individual awards.

Things only got worse with the under 15 girls – with only one competitor they were ruled out from the start. Another fine performance from Izzy Eida however gave her the individual runners up berth behind Frankie Phillips whose consistency in the previous four meetings enabled her to keep ahead of the charts. The team honours here went to Brentwood Beagles.

There is no doubt that the recently formed SS Athletics are setting the pace at under 13 level as they claimed top spot in the boys to go along with that by the girls and also having the number one individual. For Chelmsford Thomas Burgoyne 4th, Jake Boarer 5th, Joshua Dalton 7th and James Pollard 19th brought them a second spot on the day and also in the  league table. For Joshua his points tally also brought another second place. With the under 15 boys Jacob Parrott took second place here and this gave a commanding lead for the seasons individual top spot. With Joseph Delaney third -both in this race and the seasons rankings - Daniel Pollard 6th and Max Chivers 12th this gave them a team win and with Basildon dropping to a third place Chelmsford take the title on count back. To the under 17 men and here Austin Kelly 5th, Thomas Carter 9th and Max Chivers 12th placed second behind Basildon and this just managed to keep ahead in the league stakes. Austin Kelly`s run brought him a third place award over the season. With the under 17 women, led by Jessica Walker 5th and with Emma Cox 7th and sister Katie 11th there was a team victory over Basildon but this did not overturn the deficit from previous meetings Jessica was however another individual coming away with an award - third place.

The senior women's competition over the season has been a duel throughout between Havering  and Chelmsford and it was the same here. With Megan Williams 3rd, Rebecca Luxton 5th, Rachel Broome 9th, and Lucy Nuttall 12th a score of 29 points brought victory on the day but not sufficient to take the league title. For the season individual honours for Megan, Rebecca (over 40 age group) and Lucy (under 20 year) Sophie McCall another under 20 and here placing 18th comes into the reckoning. Wendy King (over 50`s) placed 25th and collects top spot.

For the senior men it had seemed a formality to take the second division title having three team wins behind them. The old saying goes `never count your chickens before they hatch` and it was certainly the case here, for not fielding a complete team they were to place sixth and Benfleet took advantage to take the title.. Gregory Martin, an under 20 athlete, placed 9th ahead of veterans Nick Hunter 64th, Lee Martin 65th, Peter Tullett 102nd who surely most take the over 65 year award. Mick Bridgeland another over 65 placed179th

As yet to form part of the league the races for under 11 year old boys and girls continue to draw attention, and rightly so for they are the future of our sport and where future Olympians will come from. Leila Robinson after four second places this time claimed the top spot in the girls result with Olivia Bilby 7th and Isabelle Perks 14th.  In the boys race Freddie Blacketer had a good run placing third whilst Jacob Smithyes placed 7th, Artur Cooke 9th, Ben Padfield 26th and Henry Ball 27th.

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Report written by Roy Meadowcroft

Our Stars Shine Brightly on the Indoor Stage.

Although the cross country season is in full flow with major championships coming up in the next two months - plus the final meeting of the league in which we are well placed in all age categories to come away with coveted team first places whilst also in excellent positions for individual honours there are still track and field competitions which demand our attention.

To start us off here we found two of our members involved in the National combined events meeting held in Sheffield - and there were really positive performances from  Sam Wright in the under 20 men`s age group with pb`s in the 60 metres (7.03s) and the 1000 metres (2m 50.45s). Add in the hurdles (8.39s),  long jump (7.09), high jump (1.84), shot putt (11.54m) and pole vault of 4.70m brought a total of 5179 points - AND A GOLD MEDAL for this heptathlon event. In the senior women's pentathlon Zoe Ateba recorded 9.72s for the hurdles, high jump (1.60), long jump (5.21), shot putt (8.67) and 2m 41,39s over the 800m for a total of 3118 points - a personal best.

Just a week later and we come to the South of England for senior and under 20`s and again we were able to GOLD coming the way of  CAC members. And how. Kissiwaa Mensah has to take the main plaudits - winning her heat of the 200 metres in 23,76s, semi final 23.71s and then with a personal best of 23.45s setting a new championship record for the senior event. A further success came from Alastair Brown in the under 20 men shot putt were a pb of 16.79m was achieved. The shot putt also provided a silver medal in the senior women's event with Jess Hopkins having a best of 13.56m. Staying with the women but moving to the under 20  age group there were to be two silver medals via Amelie Scott in the triple jump (11.04m) and Sophie Catchpole over the 60 metre hurdle event with 8.84s after a win in the heats of 8.91s. For good measure Sophie also contested the 400 metres going through from the heats with 58.5s an placing fifth in the final. Another under 20 to make the podium was Ruby Vinton who qualified for the 800m with a heat time of 2m 18.36s then lowered this to 2m 14.4s for a bronze medal. Add in a further nine members here and it is clear that steps are in place for the summer ahead.

Report written by Roy Meadowcroft

Medals at a Sunny Southern XC Champs.

The South of England cross country championships showed again that Chelmsford have the strongest young athletes within Essex coming away with gold, silver and bronze medals.

It was the under 13 year girls that achieved that major honour as their scoring four of Isla Kehoe 5th, Beatrix Cooke 13th, Orla Martin 20th and Hattie Blackburn 27th finished with a total of just 65 points. This had been a stern test between two  Essex teams for Brentwood had looked in pole position with their Maddison Kindler taking the individual title but that extra packing by Chelmsford gave them the edge by twelve points.

The under 20 men's race brought about the silver - this time an individual success for Joseph Grange. A promising start team wise and with Will Nuttall 9th and Finn Rattray 25th it could well have brought a team medal as in the Essex event earlier in the month if they had that fourth member.

For the under 15 girls it was to be third place although like the under 13`s scoring 65 points. Again Brentwood looked in a strong position with Summer Smith 4th and Heidi Woodley 7th      but again our packing was superior with Jorga March 13th, Ezrah Harrold 14th, Erin Kelly 16th and Ava King 22nd . Amelia Shipton 24th, Lily Sanford 26thand Isabella Eida 36th were all well placed.           

There were also two fifth placed teams - the under 17 women via Daisy Stollery 13th, Harriet Matthews 29th, Jessica Walker 31st and Emma Cox 51st.  The under 15 boys were led  home by Jacob Parrott 16th with Joe Delaney 28th, Daniel Pollard 77th and Max Chivers 82nd.

A very good run from Mason Sanford in the under 13 boys saw him just outside the medals in fourth spot. With Jake Boarer 21st, Joshua Dalton 50th and Thomas Burgoyne 85th the team placed sixth - again first of the Essex clubs.

Alas in two other age groups we failed to compete a full quota - Lucy Nuttall 27th and Sophie McCall 45th contested the under 20 women whilst the under 17 men found Austin Kelly 45th, Jacob Hurrell 46th and Ben Smith 121st. Obviously Jacob had problems for one would have expected him to be chasing honours.     

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Report written by Roy Meadowcroft