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.