England mountain running team retain Edinburgh Trophy
On a fresh, windy autumnal morning in County Wicklow, Ireland the 2024 edition of the British and Irish Junior Mountain Running Championships gave England the chance to retain the Edinburgh Trophy, for overall best team.
With a high hopes of a large medal haul the English squad had some returning medallists and debutants in the four Junior teams. The feeling going into the weekend was one of enthusiasm and nerves, as the athletes readied themselves for the task at hand.
The courses were testing but fast: the U17s racing over 5.02 km with 230m of climb, and U20s 6.02km with 278m of climb.
U17 Girls
First off were the U17 girls, led by Graihagh Turner (Penistone Footpath Runners & AC/Rotherham, Richard Harris), hoping to improve on last year's 4th place. She didn’t disappoint, edging past Cerys Wright of Scotland in the last 600m of the long descent to win gold. Isla Pastor (Warriors PAC, Sarah & Ronan Kearney) claimed individual bronze, backed up by Emilia Frost (Dark Peak FR/Hallamshire Harriers) in 4th and debutant Millie Jebb (Helme Hill Runners) in 11th. These outstanding positions helped England to win the overall team competition.
U17 Boys
The U17 boys ran the same route, just 1km less than the U20 athletes. Firm favourite Jack Sanderson (Settle Harriers, Alastair Scholey) showed that his form over cross country and the track hadn’t faded, moving into the lead after a kilometre. He slowly eased away to win by 21 seconds, from an impressive step up in performance by Jay Hutchinson (Trafford AC, Mike Hutchinson). Jake Ireland (Macclesfield Harriers, Alison Hartopp) couldn’t quite hold onto bronze, being overtaken by a fast-finishing Lachlan Thomas from Scotland, but ensuring a clear team win. Archie Peaker (Keighley & Craven, Alan Buckley) ran a strong race - finishing 7th - to show he is hopefully over his recent illness and injury problems [pictured top].
U20 Women
With all three medallists from the U20 women's race returning for England there were high expectations of team if not all podium places. Gold and silver came from English athletes who recently returned from training and racing in Europe; Lauren Russell (Highgate Harriers, Hannah Viner & Chris Rainsford) winning by over 30 seconds, then Amelie Lane (Wharfedale Harriers AC, Sally Malir) and Georgia Bell (Leven Valley AC, Jethro McGraw) in the top three places in that order. Team motivation was high which helped Rose Gilldaley (Eden Runners, Derek Hurton) who moved up from U17s in 2023 surpassing expectations by finishing 4th.
U20 Men
The U20 Men’s race was a lot tighter affair, with only eight seconds separating the medallists. England’s Sam Bentham (Ilkley Harriers AC) proved the strongest, holding off Welsh challenge of Noa Vaughan and Scot Thomas Hilton. He was backed up by last year’s teammates Alex Poulston (Wirral AC, Katie Hewison) in 5th and Isaac Battye (Horwich AC) in 9th to finish just behind Scotland in the team race. Ollie Bailey (Staffords Moorlands) in his first year U20 ran strongly to finish 14th.
With England teams winning three team golds and a team silver they held onto the Edinburgh Trophy for overall best team.
Team Managers Neil & Sarah Wilkinson were understandably proud of the mountain runners' results, and in particular the mutual support the team members provided to each other.
