Runners star for county at championships
BRITISH titles and selection for the World Cross Country Championships were at stake at Nottingham’s Wollaton Park staged the Inter Counties Cross Country Championships on Saturday, reports Sam Swanepoel.
The recent wet weather threatened to put a dampener on the event but after strong winds during the week, the courses ran fast and true on firm ground, if shorter than advertised.
There were a number of Stratford AC runners representing Warwickshire over the different races and first up was Georgie Campbell making her debut in the senior women’s race run over 8,000m. She was satisfied with her 57th place and was second in the Warwickshire team.
Also in the race was former Stratford athlete Daisy Musk, running for her new county of Dorset, and she finished fifth for her team in her longest ever race.
The next event was the under 15 boys who ran over 4,000m. Stratford’s Sam Lambert finished in a superb 11th place after being in the top 20 throughout the race and managing a very strong finish. Also in the race was Tom Fisher who has had a great breakthrough season and was a minute behind Sam in 114th and third for the county. The pair made up half of the county’s team and helped them to 12th from 41 teams.
The under 17 women were next and raced over a slightly longer course. Maisie Joy Spriggs and Niamh Hillard have been neck and neck all season and this time it was the former who came home ahead, finishing 109th with Hillard in 155th. They finished second and third for Warwickshire.
Zak Lambert was the only Stratford runner in the under 17 6,000m men’s race and pulled out a tremendous run to finish 62nd and second in Warwickshire.
The under 13 boys ran 3,000m and included Reece Yarnold placed third in the Worcestershire team.
The penultimate race involving Stratford runners was the under 20 women where Onna Dowling completed her debut cross country season with a strong race to come fourth in the county. It was a longer race than she’s used to and she will now return to the football field before embarking on the track season.
Finally, the under 15 girls raced over 4,000m. Marijke Tear-Verweij seems to get stronger with each race and led the Warwickshire team home in 112th followed by Annie Silvers in 195th as they guided the county to 31st position.
Most of the Stratford runners will move on to Pontefract Racecourse next week for the English Schools Championships to round off the cross country season.
