The last Chiltern League cross country race of the season took place this weekend at the very challenging Campbell Park in Milton Keynes, a notoriously hilly course not helped by the slippery mud and the freezing temperatures.
Nevertheless, Vale athletes ran well with the in-form Rob Taylor the first Vale athlete home in the men’s race finishing 55th from over 330 finishers in 31:37. Not too far behind were two athletes who are also running well this year, David Maisey in 70th spot in 32:03 and Sean Wilson 79th in 32:25. Congratulations to our men all of whom finished in under 40 minutes, and our Vet Men finished 2nd overall in the day’s team event. In the ladies race, Rosanna Iannone’s consistent performances brought her home in 19th spot finishing in 23:41, and Julia Austin was 21st in 24:21; Julia was also second V45 home. It was good to see Debbie Channer competing again; third Vale lady home in a time of 26:51.
In the junior races, Harri Kate and Will Ralston competed for the U17s with Harri home in 9th spot and Will 26th. The U13 boys had four Vale finishers lead by William Ratcliffe in 17th place followed by Nathan Jones, Patrick Scarhill and Ted McQuade while Freddie Kane, Harri’s brother, lead Vale’s U15 runners home finishing 15th in 5:06. Timothy Fryer and Ethan Perry were given the same time of 5:26 in the race.
Alice Wright was first Vale lady to finish in the U20 race – she was in 10th spot in 17:53 ably supported by Eliza Taswell Fryer (26th) and Leonie Glasson (30th). Tilly Green and Rebecca Lee were our only U15 runners both finishing in the middle of the field in 28th and 31st place respectively. Our younger girls fared well in the U13 race which had 73 finishers; for Vale Anna Cuthbert finished 26th (11:58); Millie Carey was 32nd (12:07) and Imogen Crafts 42nd (12:48). In a similar size race, Mary Drewett was 13th U11 girl to finish with Aimee Taylor 45th and Iona Royce 48th.
We are delighted to say that two of our ladies were presented with medals at the 2015/16 Awards Ceremony afterwards, as were two of our teams. Rosanna Iannone finished in silver medal position in the 35+ age group for the year, as did Julia Austin in the 45+ age category. Our Vet Men also took silver in this year’s team competition, with the Vet Women earning bronze medals.
A big thank you to the organisers of Chiltern League who every year come up with well organised events, and to the marshals who are of course so very important to every race.