It was a good day for Chelmsford in the fourth fixture of the season of the cross-country league with four team victories and three individual wins - plus for good measure age group firsts in senior events.
On the Hilly Fields course at Colchester our under 13 girls kept their 100% record as Francesca Phillips had an excellent race to place second followed by Lily Sanford 4th, Emma Pickering 5th and Beatrix Cooke 6th to close in on 17 points with Brentwood next best on 49. Other members here were Isla Kehoe 8th, Orla Martin 9th and Izzy Eida 10th. Izzy - like Francesca is in line for an individual awards come the final fixture next month.
For the under 13 boys Fred Ferman was our first individual winner and his support came from Khaya Fakazi 8th, Oscar Stollery 15th and Charles Jackson 24th with Thomas Burgoyne backing up in 30th With 48 points this put them behind Basildon's 34 but improved the league position to third - just one point down on Havering.
Our under 15 boys have like the under 13 girls been dominant in the team stakes here scoring 30 points against the 50 of Havering. Josh Eida placed 5th with Austin Kelly 7th, Ben Smith 8th and Jacob Parrott 10th whilst Thomas Carter`s 15th would still put us to the fore.
It has been a different story from the under 15 girls. Concentrating - with success- on major road and cross-country championships the league has not seen a complete team fielded. Here Ezrah Harrold put in a strong performance for 2nd place with Niamh Roberts 15th and Chloe Haycock 20th. One must hope for a better turnout for the Essex Championships at Basildon on 6th January where medals could be won.
Under 17`s and both men and women found team and individual success. For the men Jacob Hurrell was the victor with Harry Wright 5th, Archie Durham 11th and William Sweeney 18th completing the scoring quartet with Dylan Robbins 26th and Thomas Birks 34th.Â
The women were led by Kayleigh Atkinson`s 1st place with Sienna Shipton 2nd and Lucy Nuthall 6th for just 9 points with Colchester & Tendring next on 25.
To the seniors and the women`s team comprising different age levels again found us led by Rebecca Luxton in 6th place but first over 40 year through. Next Kiera Atkinson in 10th was 2nd under 20, Megan Williams 13th and Wendy King 26th - but first over 50 year - completed the scorers to put us in third but retaking second in the league table behind Colchester Harriers.
For the men we were led home by Finn Rattray as he placed 5th and was in fact first under 20 year home. Zack Bridgeland 6th and Ben Felton 7th were close behind with the next scorers also close to each other as they placed 50th Tom Wood, 53rd Samuel Waite and 55th Jacob Alexander to push our score to 176 for 5th team. Other finishers Seb Cirillo 62nd, Peter Waite 69th, Peter Tullett 152nd, Mick Bridgeland 217th and Gerry Daniels 261st.
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Report written by Roy Meadowcroft