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National Cross Country Championships muddiest ever!

This year's Saucony English National Cross Country Championships goes down as one of the muddiest ever and with lots of athletes loving the conditions while others hated them - so it certainly had a marmite feel about it. The conditions were certainly a big talking point on social media and all the Champions had to work hard to win their titles.

Numbers-wise a total of 5008 runners were recorded as finished, this ranked as the 5th best since the 10 race format came into play 18 years ago. However when comparing numbers when races were previously held in the Midlands this was second to when the 2017 version was held in Nottingham when 5194 finished. However with uncertainties about travel, parking and the ground conditions the numbers could have been closer.

There were no records among the age groups. However 920 Senior Women were recorded as finished, this was the 3rd best since the joint Championships first took place in 1995. Numbers in the U15G - 395, U17W - 258, JW - 131, U15B - 364, U17M - 286 were all up on last year at Harewood House, Leeds but the Senior Men's numbers fell by 300. Looking at the % of those that ran compared with those that entered the record is 67.4% in 2018 at Parliament Hill, since then 2019 the figure was 67.2% and this year 65.8% however that is larger than when the event was last held at Wollaton in 2017 when the figure was 64%.

The following athletes became the 2020 English Cross Country champions - congratualtions to them!

  • U13 Girls: Zoe Gilbody (15:00)
  • U13 Boys: Alden Collier (14:21)
  • U15 Girls: Kiya Dee (18:35)
  • U15 Boys: Lewis Sullivan (16:30)
  • U17 Women: Maya Todd McIntyre (21:49)
  • U17 Men: Will Barnicoat (22:42)
  • Junior Women: Amelia Quirk(25:33)
  • Senior Women: Anna Moller(32:59)
  • Junior Men: Zakariya Mahamed(36:27)
  • Senior Men TEAM (9 to score): Tonbridge AC

A full set of results can be found on the English Cross Country website at www.englishcrosscountry.co.uk/news/results-nationals-2020/  and click on Results sporthive site.