A team of 8 Banbury Harriers travelled up to Wollaton Park, Nottinghamshire on Saturday for the English National Cross Country Championships. The Nationals is a fantastic opportunity for athletes to race with some of the country’s top distance runners with Jessica Judd winning the Senior Women’s race and Ben Connor winning the Senior Men’s race. Conditions were very tough with lots of thick boggy mud which made for difficult running conditions.
Tilly Lainchbury produced a strong performance in the U13 Girls race, finishing 300th out of 467 runners. This was Tilly’s first year running as a U13 with another 2 years in this age group and it was a fine opportunity to race the 3km distance which she will be running next season.
In the 3km U13 Boys race Jasper Bell finished 288th and Archie Street came 340th in a field of 459 runners. Jasper will be moving up to the U15 age group next season whilst Archie has 2 more years in the U13 age group.
On a 2 lap course with hills, wooded areas, fast flat sections, bogs and ditches the quartet from Harriers enjoyed the longer than usual 8km distance in a field of 787 with Michelle Bartlett having a strong run to finish 209th, followed by Ros Kelling in 234th. Lisa Ansell finished in a fantastic 523rd in her first National race and Rebecca Biegel finished strong in 664th.
In the final race of the day Jonathan Carruthers endured the gruelling churned up course and produced a very strong performance coming 1531st in a 1762 strong field over the 12km distance.
Thank you
Becky
