Zak & Mo take inter-counties titles with ease

Mahamed brothers Zak & Mo both dominated their respective age group races at the South of England Inter-counties cross country championships at a decidedly chilly Horspath course in Oxford.The Pete Haynes trained duo won comfortably on a day that saw 15 Southampton AC athletes represent their county team.

Zak won the U15 boys race despite being bottom of the age group and was the only boy to complete the 4K course under the 15 minute mark.  Zak also won a bronze medal as part of the 3rd place Hampshire team.  Patrick Whelan was the 6th Hampshire boy to finish in 45th with 85 runners from 12 counties completing the course.

Mo won the U17 mens race in a canter, finishing the 5K course in well under 14 minutes.  Mo added team silver as the Hampshire team were 2nd.  Luke Powell also took a team silver as the 3rd Hampshire runner to finish in an impressive 16th place.  Sam Costley also ran well after returning from illness to finish 37th.  82 runners from 11 counties completed the course.

Isabel Richardson & Poppy Wright took team bronze medals as part of the 3rd place Hampshire team in the U13 girls age group.  Isabel improves with every race, to take a fine 6th place finish just 15 seconds behind the winner and Poppy was the 3rd Hampshire girl home in 24th.  Elizabeth Adamson was 56th & Phoebe Moriarty-Palios just behind her in 59th finishing as 5th and 6th Hampshire girls home.  92 runners from 13 counties completed the course.

6 other Southampton AC athletes represented Hampshire as follows.  Evergreen Nicci Blandford was the 6th Hampshire runner in the Senior womens race finishing 52nd.  Frances Arnott took a scoring 4th Hampshire place by finishing 27th in the U20 womens race.  Holly Powell was 55th in the U15 girls race.  Anna sharp & Alana Spiers were 33rd and 37th respectively in the U17 womens race.  Finally Toby Hale took a scoring 4th Hampshire place in the U13 boys race where he finshed 46th overall.  Congratulations to all for securing county honours.

See attached full results & also pictures of the U17 mens team featuring  Sam (842), Luke (846) & Mo (with gold medal) and the 4 Southampton AC girls who made up half of the Hampshire team with Phoebe (259), Poppy (263), Isabel (261) & Elizabeth (253).

South of England Inter-counties xc championships results 2014