Vale had a very successful day at this year’s County Cross Country Championships held at Shuttleworth Park, Bedfordshire on 9 January. It is also very pleasing that the medals came across all age groups. Fortunately the ground at Shuttleworth drains well do what could have been a mud bath following wet weather wasn’t too bad at all.
Anna Cuthbert, Ted McQuade and William Ratcliffe all ran well in the U13 age groups, and our first Gold Medal came in the U15 girls’ race where Kitty Shepherd-Cross became County Champion winning in 14:24, 15 seconds ahead of her nearest rival. Tilly Green finished 15th in 16:21. For the boys, Max Perry finished in bronze medal position in 13:00, a very good race as Max is in the first year of this age group; Jamie Pugh was 23rd in 14:47. For the U17’s, Harri Kane finished 7th in 19:36.
Our next County Champion is Alice Wright who won the U20 ladies race finishing in 22:28. The Senior ladies added to the medal haul with Rosanna Ianonne the first V35 to cross the line in 7th place overall (35:20) and Julia Austin 1st V45 in 36:14 (10th overall). Charlotte Steptoe’s 11th place finish gave our ladies 2nd place in the team competition and Debbie Channer’s 12th place meant that our Vet Ladies took gold in the Team Competition.
Not to be outdone, our men were also on form. Patch Taylor, Rob Taylor and Martyn Summerfield put the men’s overall team in 3rd place; individually, Rob Taylor was 2nd V40 to finish and Henry Edwardes-Evans 2nd V50. Again, we won gold in the Vet Men’s Team Competition.
Full results can be found at: http://www.bucksaa.org.uk/