Valuable experience of top class racing for England cross country team
The English Cross Country Association (ECCA) sent four teams to Elgoibar in Northern Spain last weekend for the prestigious cross country meeting that has a wonderful history.
The teams sent performed very well against top class competition. In the Senior Women's event our team were lead home by Kate Holt (City of Stoke AC, Alan Morris) in a superb 5th place followed closely by Rachel Robinson (Marshall Milton Keynes AC, Bashir Hussein) in 8th, Nicole Taylor (Tonbridge AC, Richard Owen) in 13th and Naomi Tachimowitz (Shaftesbury Barnet AC, Charlotte Fisher) 14th. The race was won by world record holder Obiri, followed by Chesang, Chepkoech and Can.
Our U20 women dominated their race running very strongly with Amelia Samuels (Wolverhampton & Bilston AC, John Abbiss) taking a brilliant win, followed home by Holly Page (Dartford Harriers, Jason Marchant) in 2nd Shannon Flockhart in 4th (Cambridge & Coleridge, Mark Vile) and Olivia Mason (Border Harriers, Graeme Mason) 10th completing the team.
It was another quality field with the Senior Men’s race was won by Kipruto (Kenya) from Barega (Ethiopia) and Waithaka (Kenya). Our Senior Men were lead home by Mahamed Mahamed (Southampton AC, Peter Haynes) in an excellent 12th with Jack Millar (Ipswich AC) in 14th, Adam Hickey (Southend AC, Eamonn Martin) in 24th and Corey De’Ath (Tonbridge AC, Mick Woods) 31st.
The U20 Men - not to be outdone by the women - also provided the race winner in Zakariya Mahamed (Southampton AC, Peter Haynes) with Euan Brennan (Ilkley Harriers, Andrew Henderson) just behind in a fine 2nd place with two French athletes just beating Rory Leonard (Morpeth AC) who placed 5th. Joshua Cowperthwaite (Middlesborough AC, Martin Peevor) completed the team in 14th place.
It has been a great weekend for our teams giving them the valuable experience of top class racing in Europe, which can only aid their development as international athletes. Congratulations to all our runners and thanks to Team Managers Keith Holt, Barbara Cutting, Eamonn Martin and Sue Lamb.