Hampshire Cross Country Championships

HAMPSHIRE CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS 7th JANUARY FAIRTHORNE MANOR Southampton Athletic Club had an outstanding afternoon at the Hampshire Cross Country championships. Conditions at Fairthorne Manor were good and the overnight rain had little effect on the going quite a contrast to last year which was extremely muddy.Southampton Athletic Club were in the ascendancy right from the start with Annie Mann winning the under 11 race in convincing style from her club mate Lucy Phillips(2nd) with Katie Youp(6th) and Celia Brabazon(8)_ completing an easy team victory. In the corresponding boys race George Lambert (9th)_,Alistair Higgins(10th) and Samuel Wain(45th) just fell short of a medal. In the u13 Girls race a superb run by Megan Hulbert finishing a close 2nd to Summer Woodhead (Guernsey)with Madeline Cooper 10th)and Eve Emm (33rd) The u13 Boys race was a closely run event with Southampton AC Ben Brown (2nd) Josh Horner (21st)Feyerabend-Powell(27th) Felix Clacy (34th) ensuring a bronze medal with solid back up runs from Charlie Morse (39th) James Moore (52nd) and Thomas Coates (54th) Another bronze team medal in the U15 girls with Isabelle Richardson (5th) Phoebe Moriarty-Palios (10th) Ellie Sproul (23rd) Olivia Reavey (25th) with Chloe Errington (26th) Star of the U15 boys was young Toby Hale finishing (2nd) with Ben Williams (15th) and Jack Greatorex (33rd). In the U17 women Holly Powell(10th) Aimee Rayner (11th) Maya Gill (21st) and Grace Reavey (28th) and there was a silver medal in the U17 men with Zakariya Mahamed just conceding the gold medal to Lachian Wellington to continue their local rivalry. Zakariya older brother Mahamed was competing in his first senior appearance for Great Britain at the Great Edinburgh Cross Country in the same team as Sir Mo Farah . Sam Tyas(5th) Max Satterly(12th) Matthew Jansen (24th)and Seth Furniss (26th) completed the team. The U 20 women did Southampton proud with a great team victory and gold medal for Anna Sharp (4th) Anna Reavey (5th) Hanna Polden (6th and backed up by Alana Spiers (7th) Sole representative in the U20 men Sam Costley continued his good form of late finishing (5th)_ The senior women’s race over 7950 meters was won by Aldershot and Farnham international Louise Small after a close battle with Louise Damen Winchester and District. Southampton Athletic Club swiftly improving athlete Jen Elkins finished 7th Sarah Kingston (14th) Rachael Ayerst (16th) Nicci Blandford (18th) to complete the bronze medal team.Frances Arnott (23rd) Miriam Jones-Walters ((25th) Karia Borland (26th) Claire McErlean (31st) Georgina Russell (32nd) Kelly Hewitson (34th) Helen Jones (36th) Hannah Willson (45th) and Lynda Massey (89th) Nicci Blandford won the individual Veteran 40 competition and like a fine wine gets better and better. The final race of the day was the senior and veteran men’s event which was a triumph for Southampton Athletic Club. Alex Teuten running his first event for the club since transferring his affiliations won convincingly over team mate Jamie Knapp with Jonathon Roberts (5th) Matthew Bennett (6th) Abdi Mahamed (7th) and Alex Wall-Clarke (8th) to complete the winning team. Max Costley (11th)_James Smith (25th) Daniel Hunt (26th) Tom Cully (28th) Gareth Klepacz (35th) Robert Finch (40th) David Blackman (49th) Steve Marcer (57th) Greg Warder (89th) Paul Johnson(90th) Jim Bennett (100th) Jonathan Bean (103rd) Nicholas Willson (109th) Ian Richardson (123rd) James Smith won the gold medal for veterans over 40 and led the team of David Blackman,Steve Marcer and Greg Warder to team gold.