It was Ladies day at Hainault Forest.

The second fixture of the Essex Cross Country season brought about a mixed bag of results for Chelmsford for a number of those gaining success in the first meeting did not face the starter this time round. Team wise pride of place goes to our senior women who repeated their position at the top of the points result with Havering closely behind them. Our squad saw Hannah Bolton coming up with her best placing of 4th with Rachel Broome closely behind in 7th. With Sophia McCall 17th and veteran Wendy King 19th our scorers were home although Emma Cox 20th, Emily Cooke 22nd and Laura Durn 23rd were also in close contact whilst Anna Nuttall 34th and Samantha Kelly 63rd were well inside the top half of the field of 152 finishers. What a contrast to our other female age groups. In the under 17`s we saw a good run by Katie Cox to finish second but there was no further support.  To the under 15`s and here Francesca Phillips and Orla Martin 6th placed 6th and 7th with Vivien Prelevic 22nd in support. At under 13 level just two members turned out Leila Robinson highly placed in 6th with Scarlett Metcalfe 15th whilst the under 11`s saw Olivier Bilby 4th and Coco Phillips 12th.

On the male side top of the role of honours goes to Samuel Miller of the Chelmsford Endurance team, second in the first meeting to Southend`s Oscar Perreton the positions were reversed. Again, a very close call - a prelude to future battles! Endurance team also had Lewis Boarer 10th, Ben Padfield 10th and Thomas Arnold 13th with Jacob Smithyes 5th, Toby Hatt 8th and Arthur Moreiro 14th. The under 13`s also brought another good run by Dylan Law as he took second spot and his support came from James Pollard 11th and Noah Hammond 15th. At under 15`s and still an incomplete team as Jake Boarer placed 10th with Edward Delaney 24th and Kyaya Fakazi 27th. The under 17`s only calls for teams of three but here we put out four with Joseph Delaney 3rd, Daniel Pollard 4th, Ben Smith 11th and Luke Webb 13th. With 18 points we were to place second to Havering`s 17. Final race of the day and the senior men were well represented and were to place fourth in team and individual with Lewis Harknett leading us home with Tom Rehal 17th, Ethan Reilly 26th, Zach Bridgeland 33rd and veterans Mark Sanford 77th, Peter Waite 88th completing the scorers. Others completing the race Lee Martin 98th, Bobby Priest 120th, Sam Eida 152nd, Peter Tullett 160th, Dave Phillips 161st and Mike Bridgeland 186th from the field of 250

Report written by Roy Meadoecroft.

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A Brace of European Masters Titles for Paul Grange.

Congratulations to Paul Grange - a double European champion. These results slipped through the net but picked up courtesy of Instagram. Yes, the European Masters Championships staged in Rabeira Brave, Portugal, saw Paul lifting both the 800 and 1500 metre titles for over 45-year men. After `cruising` through his heat of the 1500 in 4m 15.32s he returned the following day for his first success with a time of 4m 06.62s.  Six days later and the 800 heats brought a heat time of 2m 03.86s leading onto a final win in 1m 56.67s - a full three seconds ahead of his nearest rival from Poland.

GREAT RESULTS, WELL DONE

Report written by Roy Meadowcroft

A Superb day at the Races for the Green & Gold.

No gold medals this time round but two sets of silver and a bronze from a NATIONAL event would be an envy to many a club.

Our success this time came at the National cross country relay championships staged at Mansfield with the under 17 women first away. Here Ezrah Harrold put in another fine run to come through in second place from the field of 62 starters with a time of 8m 43s.  Now Lottie Wilkin was to put in a performance to bring Chelmsford to the fore with her time of 8m 52s. The final circuit with Amelie Shipton coming up with 9m 22s was to see a final spot of third for the bronze medals - just one second down Lincoln with leaders Aldershot taking top spot fifty second ahead. Yes, we most certainly missed our number one Jorjia March for this would have no doubt proved to bring a great battle for top spot. The `B` team with Hetty Harrison 9m 34s, Emme Lole 9m 20s and Harriet Matthews 9m 42s placed 10th.

The under 15 girls’ team were also involved in a close battle as Isla Kehoe with 7m 17s came in for seventh place on lap one. Ava King 7m 12s then moved into second with 7m 12s which Lily Sanford, with 7m 26s, retained holding off Hallamshire, Windsor, Slough and Eton winners. The `B` team of Beatrix Cooke 7m 52s, Erin Kelly 7m 32s and Frankie Phillips 7m 35s placed 12^th, whilst a `C` team of Hattie Blackburn, Orla Martin and Vivien Prelevic finished 24th of 82 teams.

Very pleasing to see the under 13-year boys coming away with medals. Mason Sanford put them on the way coming through in fourth spot with 6m 49s. Now two lads only last season with the Chelmsford Endurance team (under 11`s) and in their first race at national level put in very good efforts for Freddie Blacketer, 7m 24s, moved into third and Dylan Law, 7m 19s passed yet another to give the team silver medals behind Shaftesbury Harriers. In other races the under 13 girls’ team of Bella Kehoe, 8m 00s, Jessica Hobson 8m 19s and Leila Robinson, 8m 08s, place 18th - winners here Brentwood.

In the under 17 men Daniel Pollard 9m 59s on the first stage placed 48th, Max Chivers 9m 54s moved to 39th with Austin Kelly with 10m 02s (very consistent times here) bringing a final placing of 34th. For the under 15 boys James Gilbey 6m 38s, Josh Humphries 6m 44s and Fred Ferman 7m 06s finished 12th.

On to the junior men with Arthur Ballard 9m 11s, Jacob Hurrell 8m 46s, one of the fastest times of the event, and Sam Plummer another 9m 11s seventh position was obtained. Our senior men squad of William Nuttall, Lewis Harknett, Joseph Perry and Thomas Woodward can be pleased with a final placing of 29th from the largest field of the day of 172.

After their victory in the previous weeks league fixture, it was perhaps disappointing that a full team could be put out here - but then we do have so many away at university both in the UK and the USA. However, what a great run by Megan Harris on the first stage being second with 9m 41s from the 122 and Antonia Moore putting in a lap of 12m 04s. Realistically we would have not expected to feature amongst the topflight but maybe as our youngsters move up the age levels who knows.

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Report written by Roy Meadowcroft