Stratford youngsters shine on county stage

STRATFORD Athletic Club’s U11 section was well represented at the Warwickshire Primary School Cross Country Championships at Moreton Morrell College.

Having been cancelled due to weather for the past two years, this was a new course for all the participants.

In the girls’ race Tessa Parkin, Annie Silvers, Martha Paters and Harriet Black all started strongly and were in the top-15 of the field at the start of the climb.

Parkin and Silvers consolidated their positions up the hill, moving into sixth and seventh respectively by the halfway mark.

Parkin continued to move past other girls and was up into second position with 200 yards to go, but, despite a fine finish sprint to close the gap to a couple of yards, she couldn’t quite get past the winner, Elizabeth Fleming from Tamworth.

Silvers (7th) and Peters (9th) were both close behind and other Stratford finishers were Harriet Black (24th), Ella Peeke (35th), Olivia Hawkyard (38th) and Emilie Ross (70th). The boys’ race also had a contingent of Stratford runners in a fast field.

The early leader for Stratford was Flynn Dathan, but Maxime Verstraeten ran a fine race with a particularly huge effort in the second half to finish in an excellent seventh place, with Dathan hot on his heels in 12th.

Seb Hillard had a tougher outing and finished 24th.