An Excellent Start to the 25/26 Essex XC League for the Green & Gold.

For the season’s opening Essex cross country league season staged on the One Tree Hill course at Basildon, there was individual success for the boys and men whilst for the women and girls their victories were to come as the team results showed Chelmsford heading the points charts in two groups.

Mason Sanford started the ball rolling as he put in another solid run to take the under 13-year boys’ race whilst Dylan Law also can be well pleased to follow him through. James Pollard 16th and Noah Hammond 20th completed the team for a score of 39 points - just shaded by SS Athletics with their better packing. At this age level Bella Kehoe 7th led the Chelmsford girls with Leila Robinson 13th only four seconds down Issabella Perks 42nd and Scarlett Metcalfe 45th gave the team fourth place.

To the under 15`s age group and Jamie Gilbey saw the green and gold of CAC leading the field home. With Jake Boarer 11th, Khaya Fakazi 25th and Oscar Stollery 29th completing the team third place was taken. Edward Delaney 30th, Charles Jackson 41st and Daniel Smith 51st were other finishers here. No surprise that Brentwood`s Heidi Woodley should lead the girls’ event, but it was the team packing of Chelmsford stealing the honours with Isla Kehoe 2nd, Lily Sanford 3rd, Beatrix Cooke 4th and Francessca Phillips 6th giving an overwhelming 15 points whilst backing up Erin Kelly placed 7th.

For the under 17-year men Jacob Parrott 4th, Joseph Delaney 7th, Austin Kelly 8th and Daniel Pollard 11^th we also saw good team packing but just pipped by Havering. For Chelmsford Max Chivers 12th and Ben Smith 17th were handily placed in reserve. Only disappointment of the day for CAC came from the under 17 women with only two turning out, but now well placed with Katie Cox 5th and Jessica Walker 6th.

And so, to the seniors and both men and women showed up as winners. For the men Jacob Hurrell led the field of a record 291 finishers home. With Thomas Woodward 11th, Tom Rehal 15th, Ethan Reilly 18th, Sebastian Cirillo 33rd and veteran Nick Hunter 70th a team placing of fourth was taken - just one point shy of Havering although Southend and Colchester Harriers were clear for leading positions. Mark Sanford a previous winner of county medals but now in the veteran class and having his first race since 2017 placed 103rd (must be children Mason and Lily egging him on). Other placings Peter Waite 105th, Sam Eida 150th, David Phillips 167th and our over 60`s Peter Tullett 181st and Mick Bridgeland 209th.

For the women a very solid team performance found them scoring 49 points to top that of Havering (67) and Colchester Harriers (101).  Megan Williams finished 5th with Hannah Bolton 7th, Rachel Broome 13th and new member Antonia Moore 24th. Back up came from veteran Wendy King 28th with Emma Cox 32nd, Laura Durn 39th, Emily Cooke 41st, Anna Nuttall 59th and Samantha Kelly 95th. Looks like mums and dads are being brought along by their youngsters.

Not part of the league races but included in the programme are races for under 11`s and in the boy’s race there was a very good run from Samuel Miller for the Chelmsford Endurance team as he finished second. With Ben Padfield 17th, Tom Jaggard 20th, George Jaggard 27th the team took fourth although on equal points to Woodford. Also showing in the results George Hunnybun finished 29th, Max Porter 32nd, Jobie O`Sullivan and Rory Casey 49th. Only lad for CAC was Toby Hatt being 13th. For the girls Hannah Hogben 8th and Olivia Bilby 14th show as CAC whilst the Endurance squad had Coco Phillips 16th, Evie Law 20th, Alice Coker 24th, Lily Wiltshire 23rd, Cleo Robinson 53rd and Edith Murray 55th.

Report written by Roy Meadowcroft

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A Small Turnout at the Southern XC Relays.

Having come up with success in the Essex and National cross-country relays plus the South of England road relays during the last month it seemed reasonable that CAC would be in the chase for further honours at the Southern cross-country event staged at Wormwood Scrubs, London. How disappointing then to turn up the results to find that only two teams feature, the under 13-year girls finishing in eleventh position with the regular team of Bella Kehoe, Jessica Hobson and Leila Robinson. For the under 17`s it was a promising start with Jorjia March taking the first stage and leading the field home. Now however the team was to include Harriet Matthews and Missy Tiller previously amongst the `B` team and although they came up with good performances were to finish just outside the medals being fourth.

All in all, a disappointing day for it is quite likely some ten teams had been entered at £42 a time. Perhaps the venue had some bearing, and parents did not fancy driving in Sadiq Khan`s London with its driving restrictions, or possibly the coaches and athletes opted out after their national success. One must note that other clubs gave this meeting a miss with fields considerably reduced.

Report written by Roy Meadowcroft.

Medals galore for Chelmsford at the Essex Cross Country Relay Championships.

Medals galore for Chelmsford at the Essex Cross Country Relay Championships staged at Hylands Park, including three sets of the coveted gold whilst silver and bronze were added to the collection.

It was the girls event starting proceedings with all three age groups setting off together and of course the under 17`s - in this case the gold and green of Chelmsford setting the pace leading throughout. The previous week`s road relay champions were forced to make one change with Jorjia March not having Essex qualification ruled out. Ezrah Harrold covered the first circuit in 10m 23s with Amelie Shipton again following out and clocking 10m 52s. Now Lottie Wilkin who could be considered unlucky not to have been in that National win, put in a run of 10m 36s bringing them home well ahead of Havering. It was to be another set of medals in this category with the `B` team of Hetty Harrison 11m 25s, Missy Tiller 11m 45s and Katie Cox 12m 12s taking third place. No surprise that both the under 13 and 15-year races should go to Brentwood having taken National titles seven days previously. Both results however found CAC coming away with silver medals. In the younger age group, we saw Bella Kehoe timed at 12m 22s, Jessica Hobson 12m 26s and Leila Robinson 12m 12s very consistent. To the under 15`s and here Erin Kelly clocked 11m 40s with Lily Sanford following with 11m 05s with Ava King bringing them home with her 10m 57s. Not finished here for the `B`team had Izzy Eida on 11m 20s, Beatrix Cooke 11m 38s and Isla Kehoe 11m 11s taking third place. Strength in is numbers for a `C` team took fifth spot with Frankie Phillips 11m 27s, Orla Martin 11m 43s and Vivien Prelavic 12m 41s.

There were to be four sets of medals from the boys’ event and this time it was to be the under 13`s taking the honours with Mason Sanford clocking 10m 24s with Freddie Blacketer11m 06s and Dylan Law 10m 58s leading them home ahead of SS Athletics and Colchester and Tendering. Arthur Cooke 12m 15s and James Pollard 11m 47s will be hoping a third member will come along to complete a full squad in the future. I gave the honours to the under 13`s with two of them fresh from the under 11`s but it was also a winning performance from the under 15`s with Jamie Gilbey 10m 50s, Josh Humphries 10m 19s and Fred Ferman 10m 09s heading Basildon for top spot. For the `B` team of Khaya Fakazi 10m 54s, Thomas Burgoyne 11m 47s and Joshua Dalton10m 55s it was to be seventh. For the under 17`s they were to take both second and third places behind Havering. The `A` team saw Daniel Pollard timed at 9m 49s, Max Chivers 9m 52s and Austin Kelly 9m 51s that would have meant close packing in an individual race the add in the `B` team with Jacob Parrott 9m 53s, Tom Carter 10m 25s and Joe Delaney 9m 58s it would give an interesting result.

To the senior results and here the men were to follow Colchester Harriers home for silver with Lewis Harknett on 19m 24a, Tom Rehal 20m 11s, Tom Woodward 20m 30s and Ethan Reilly 20m 25s. The women's event also won by the Colchester club ahead of Havering but then Chelmsford took third place for a final set of medals. The team out here saw Rachel Broome 23m 59s, Sophie McCall 25m 40s and Hannah Bolton 23m 19s. Two veterans in each of the over 40`s Will Parrott and David Philipps, and over 50`s Peter Waite and Sam Eida events but lacking further athletes failed to finish.

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Report written by Roy Meadowcroft