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Cross-country championship medals for club contingent




THE Midland Counties Cross Country Championships took place on Saturday 25 January, attracting athletes from across the region to test their endurance and skill on a challenging course at Leicestershire’s Mallory Park.

Stratford (SuAAC) competed in all but one of the junior races, enjoying a successful outing, including team golds in the u13 girls, u17 boys and u20 women.

Lucia Ogilvie-Putt showed great stamina to power her way to ninth in the u13 girls ahead of Amelie Marshall who remained full of running to the finish 11th. Maggie Silvers finished 15th, Eliza McLeod 24th and Jasmine Mothershaw 38th as they secured a well-deserved team gold.

Stratford’s u17 men Sam Lambert, Zak Lambert, Tom Fisher and Will Mayes with their gold medals.
Stratford’s u17 men Sam Lambert, Zak Lambert, Tom Fisher and Will Mayes with their gold medals.

The club had a smaller team of two in the u13 boys. Toby Wilkinson finished 38th with Leo Thacker unfortunately losing a shoe to the mud and unable to finish.

Marijke Tear-Verweij and Elle Weir both had good races in the u15 girls event with Marijke taking 15th, up from 27th last season, and Elle finishing 48th.

Will Hovell raced in the leading pack during the first lap of the u15 boys but a fall cost him some 15-20 metres. He was nonetheless pleased with sixth, up from 29th in 2024). Arthur Williamson took 23rd and was satisfied with his race overall having missed last season due to illness. Max Rossney showed great determination to complete the race in 75th place.

Annie Silvers finished 21st in the u17 women up from 33rd last season as an u15. Conquering her pre-race nerves, Brooke Rossney can take confidence from a really good performance, finishing 27th (65th in u15s in 2024).

Sam Lambert took silver in the u17 men having finished sixth as an u15 last year. Zak Lambert also put in an excellent performance and looked to be holding off a rival for fourth but was unfortunately pipped by a second which was an improvement on 14th in 2024). Will Mayes and Tom Fisher took 13th and 14th respectively with James Day completing the team in 40th for another team gold.

There were no u20 men but the u20 women’s was a good race. Niamh Hillard led the Stratford team home in fifth with her previous best being 23rd. Abbi Cooper was up to tenth from 28th last season as an u17 and completing the team was Tilly Campbell in 19th (39th last year as u17). All this secured another team gold for Stratford.

For the senior age groups, the women were first to race and although not fielding their strongest team, Stratford came a creditable 13th. Emma Vickers led the team home in 70th, followed by Beth Swain (76th), Suzie Graham (97th), Becks Parker (108th) and Sue Mothershaw (118th).

Due to injuries and illness the men did not have a full team. The club’s cross country runner of the year Ned Campbell led the team (49th) followed by Rich Shephard (59th) and, in his first cross country season, James Lake (69th).

The previous week had seen the school championships held at Princethorpe and it included 30 runners from SuAAC.

The leading athletes in each race would be selected for the county team in the English Schools Championships and although it was a cold day, conditions were good on the hilly course.

The first two races for minors (Yr 7) were not qualifying races but they were keenly contested over the 2,400m course. In the first girls race there was a one-two for Stratford with Maggie Silvers leading the way ahead of Amelie Marshall followed by Eliza McLeod (fourth) and Emily Lambert (sixth).

There was more success for Stratford in the boys race which was won by Robin Gallagher with Charlie Castle second, then Charlie-Jay Cassells (seventh) and Toby Ledgard (15th).

The junior age groups were run over a 3,200m course where the junior girls brought more success for Stratford members. Lucia Ogilvie-Putt was in the leading group for the whole race before finishing a close second, followed in sixth place by Elle Weir, Portia Nabney (seventh), Isabella Marriot (13th), Jasmine Mothershaw (16th) and Georgia Sharpe (22nd).

Our junior boys saw Tom Yates leading the way in 12th, Alistair Durance (17th) and Toby Wilkinson (20th).

The final two races of the day were combined inters (Yrs 10 and 11) and seniors (Yrs 12 and 13). First up was the combined girls race over 3,630m. In the senior race Niamh Hillard took an early lead and remained at the front for the whole race followed by Abbi Cooper in second.

In the inter race, Marijke Tear-Verweij was very strong on the hills and finished second with Lois Ford in 13th.

The last race of the day was the boys race over 4,700m although it did seem a little less than that according to all the runners. This race included many strong athletes and there were good results for the Stratford contingent in the seniors race with Zak Lambert second and Will Mayes third. They were followed by James Day (sixth) and James Mayes (ninth).

The inter boys featured the traditional battle between Sam Lambert and Archie Lane (Leamington) which left Sam with silver. Close behind was Tom Fisher in fifth who lost two places in the finishing straight to miss out on a medal but was still pleased with an excellent run with only two seconds covering third to fifth places. Next was combined eventer Will Hovell (eighth), Joel Ledgard (11th), Arthur Williamson (13th) and Josh Davies (21st).

Meanwhile at Warley Woods for the West Midlands Schools Championship, club newcomer Dougie Garnett qualified for the senior boys team.



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