Parliament Hill sets England team a challenge
The London International was the final England Cross Country representative meeting of the winter incorporating the Home Countries International and the Celtic Cross Challenge.
The hills on the iconic Parliament Hill course combined with the mud and wet ground from many weeks of continuous rain made it a challenging course.
Senior women
The senior women raced over an 8km course which comprised of four tough muddy and slippery 2km laps. There were great performances from the winning senior women’s team of Ellie Curran (Leeds City AC), Kate O'Neill (Havering AC, Patrick Gahagan) and Amelia Quirk (Bracknell AC, Luke Gunn). Unfortunately our last season’s National Cross Country Champion Jess Gibbon had to pull out due to a slight injury.
The race was competitive with positions changing throughout. The pace was fast from the start with Kate pushing the field at the start of first lap followed by Amelia and Ellie. Along the top of the first lap Ellie put a spurt on and created a gap in the field taking Amelia, Kate, Scout Atkin and Niamh Brown with her. Amelia took the lead over the far field and through to start the second lap.
Ellie and Amelia continued to work together and pulled the group of five further away from the rest of the field. Kate staying in contact just sitting off the back of the group. Ellie continued to push the field and broke away taking Niamh and Scout with her. Amelia and Kate in fourth and fifth position. Going into the final lap Scout and Niamh closed the gap on Ellie but Ellie continued to work hard up the hills creating a gap to appear again and Scout and Niamh unable to challenge.
Ellie found another gear half way around the last lap and opened up a winning lead to win the Home Countries International and Cross Challenge. Scout finished in second, Niamh third and Kate finishing strong in fourth place and Amelia close behind in fifth. Positive runs were produced by all the England team in very tough conditions.
Results
1st: Eleanor Curran 29:50
4th: Kate O'Neill 30:25
5th: Amelia Quirk 30:39
Senior men
The senior men had to negotiate five laps of the 2km course and with the English National Champions from the last three years lining up (Richard Slade, Hugo Milner and James Kingston) along with last year’s winner of this event for Scotland Logan Rees, it was promising to be a great race.
Whilst James Kingston (Tonbridge AC, Mark Hookway) and Richard Slade (Chiltern Harriers, Matthew Seddon) were representing England, Hugo had entered individually. It was immediately after the uphill start that Hugo emerged at the front and within a short period of around two minutes of running had created a gap on the rest of the field with Richard, Logan, James and Angus McMillan in close pursuit.
After one lap Hugo had a significant lead one which left you thinking that with his experience he would not be giving up anytime soon. So it proved as he powered on - but behind him by lap three Richard and James were locked together having dropped Logan. Angus had moved through and was now clear in fourth place.
Still out in front Hugo Iooked controlled and majestic, but further behind there was a real battle with Richard and James each taking it in turn to lead and trying to crack his opponent. This continued late into the final lap when Richard made a break up the hill and kept his foot down on the downhill until there was a clear gap to his rival - the job was done for the battle for second with Hugo Milner away in first.
Angus McMillan had earned a good run with fourth. Ed Buck (Newark AC) suffered in the heavy mud but hung in for third Englishman home, whereas Jenson Connell (Leeds City AC, Andrew Henderson) succumbed to his ankle over flexing on a previous injury he had developed three weeks earlier In Spain.
Results
2nd: Richard Slade (32.39)
3rd: James Kingston (32.45)
12th: Edward Buck (34.16)
DNF: Jenson Connell
Junior women
The U17 and U20 women raced together over a distance of 6km which comprised of 2 small laps, 1 medium lap and 1 large lap. The race was dominated by 15-year-old Freya Brenton from Ireland winning the race in emphatic style, 25 seconds ahead of her compatriot Emma Stewart.
Ava James (Brighton & Hove AC, John Clements) led the way for the English quartet to finish a superb third place overall (2nd U20). Sophia Chapman (Marshall Milton Keynes AC, Barry Hearn), on her England cross country debut, was next to cross the line in an excellent fourth place (second U17). Both athletes were rewarded with runner up spots and scored maximum points in the UK Cross Challenge series in their respective age groups.
Tilly Nickell (Team Bath, Luke Gunn) was the third in for England - finishing in 12th place overall (sixth U20), followed by debutant Jasmine Wright (Salford Harriers and AC, Duncan Mason) in 14th place overall (eighth U20).
Results
3rd: Ava James (24:05)
4th: Sophia Chapman (24:15)
12th: Tilly Nickell (24:41)
14th: Jasmine Wright (24: 52)
Junior men
The pre-race favourite Michael Clark (City of Norwich, Jane Clarke) woke with cold symptoms, and it soon became clear that he would not be able to challenge for a podium spot. England athlete Jack Marwood (Salford Harriers and AC, Ian Grime) pictured top, who had finished a close second to Clark in Hannut, moved effortlessly to the front of the race and set about establishing an early lead. Hot on his heels was South of England athlete, Cosmo Benyan (Cambridge & Coleridge AC, Richard Park) and Jack Sanderson of Settle Harriers. Cosmo fresh from his impressive win in the South of England championships was looking determined to make his mark and gave chase. With these three setting such a strong pace at the front of the race, the impact on the rest of the field was clear to see as athletes started to fall back.
The 8km, four-lap course was much longer than the distance many of the athletes had been racing over this season. This added another interesting element to the challenge, had Marwood gone too soon, would he be able to maintain his lead over the final kilometres?
Marwood’s tactic of running hard down the hills was having a real impact on the chasers giving him a gap that was going to be hard to close. However, with Sanderson and Benyan racing each other the gap was shortening. It was clear that if Marwood could get to the final downhill section with his lead intact he would be able to take the victory. Storming down the hill for the final time and with just the finish straight to negotiate, the top spot on the podium was safe. The race between Sanderson and Benyan drew them closer to Marwood, but his victory was never in doubt. Sanderson finally broke the challenge of his Southern advisory to secure second place on the podium.
With the top three places decided the only question was who would win the International challenge. With two of the England team finding the conditions challenging, the South of England closed in on a fine victory. Representing England, Ewan Busfield finished just one second behind Michael Clark and England's Jonson Hughes (Rotherham Harriers and AC) and Jacob Hurrell (Chelmsford AC, Richard Nation) came in 13th and 14th respectively.
Results
1st: Jack Marwood (26:43)
6th: Ewan Busfield (27:24)
13th: Jonson Hughes (27:56)
14th: Jacob Hurrell (28:09)