Team triumph at the Roeselare EnergyVision Cross Cup

Roeselare was the setting for the first round of the Belgium Cross Cup and the first trip for the England Cross Country team this winter. This was a great opportunity for athletes to show some early season form ahead of the trial race in Liverpool in November. 

The athletes were greeted by sunny conditions, but there was a strong breeze to contend with. 

Junior women

The junior women were represented by Sabrina Coppola Johansen (Aldershot, Mick Woods), Zoe Gilbody (Telford, Sarah Benson), Isabel Holt (Blackburn, Andy Henderson) and Katie Pye (AFD, Mick Woods). Sabrina and Katie were making their England cross country debuts.

The race started with the normal frantic charge to secure a prime position before the hairpin bend.  At the head of the pack was Zoe, closely followed by Isabel, Sabrina and Katie. As the first large lap progressed, Isabel joined Zoe at the front and the two athletes began to battle and pull away from the rest of the field. Meanwhile Katie had moved up to 4th with Sabrina three places behind in 7th. 

As the bell rang for the third and final lap Zoe and Isabel were still locked together, but as the athletes entered the wooded area for the final time Zoe made a decisive move and quickly pulled away from Isabel to go on to claim victory by a margin of eight seconds. Meanwhile Katie was continuing to work hard but couldn’t close the gap on Belgium’s, Kyra Verdonck and missed out of a podium spot finishing 4th. Sabrina maintained her form and crossed the line in 7th on her debut.

• 1st Zoe Gilbody, 16:19
• 2nd Isabel Holt, 16:27
• 4th Katie Pye, 16:44
• 7th Sabrina Coppola Johansen, 17:28

Junior men

The race started with the normal frantic charge which caught out most of the England runners, however 17-year-old debutant, Alex Lennon (Sutton & District, Nick Hancock), had managed to get out quickly and was on the heels of Belgium favourite Sem Serrano as they climbed the double hill feature for the first time. Further back the England team were pacing well and quickly moving through the field. It wasn’t long before the experienced Will Rabjohns (Poole AC, Mark Pauley) started to close in on Lennon.

Over the final two laps, it became clear that a podium position was looking certain for Rabjohns. He had caught and passed his younger team mate and was now in a battle with Belgium 17-year-old Llyes Druez.

With only the final lap to negotiate, Rabjohns had moved alongside the determined Druez with the U17 National Cross Country champion, Alex Lennon now relegated into 4th place. Further back Jake Stevens (Invicta East Kent, Donald Carter) was running hard to maintain 5th place with Myles Fraser (Blackburn, Andy Bibby) battling to get into the top ten.

As the athletes turned into the finishing straight Serrano had extended his lead to six seconds and finished a clear winner. Second home was the fast finishing Will Rabjohns who finally broke Druez relegating him to a very creditable 3rd. Fellow youngster Alex Lennon earned a well-deserved 4th place followed home by Jake Stevens 5th and the fast-finishing Myles Fraser in 8th place.

• 2nd Will Rabjohns, 14:13
• 4th Alex Lennon, 14:20
• 5th Jake Stevens, 14:26
• 8th Myles Fraser, 14:40

Senior Men

A tight start and a sharp turn saw the four English athletes all well down on the lead but with one small lap and four large laps to come they started to work their way through.

Jacob Cann (Weston Tempo/Horsham Blue Star) got away the best of the team with Richard Slade (Chiltern, Matt Seddon/Richard Slade) next followed by James Kingston (Tonbridge AC, Mark Hookway) and then Chris Coulson (Morpeth/Newcastle Uni, Nathan Shrubb).

As the race progressed Cann, Slade and Kingston were 6th, 7th and 8th respectively by the 2nd lap as they tried to undo their start and make inroads on the leaders. By half way Kingston had got himself into the lead with Cann 8th and Slade 9th not too far behind and Coulson now further back in 18th place.

As Kingston pushed on, he swapped the lead for several of the latter laps but looking very strong and assured after his 3rd place last year. The lead pack gradually got reduced to two with Kingston and Guillaume Grimard battling it out for top spot, eventually coming home in 2nd. Cann had stuck to his task well and came in 4th, and current National Cross Country champion, Slade, came 8th. Chris Coulson finished in 21st on his England cross country debut, an excellent experience for the 21 year-old.

• 2nd James Kingston 23:22
• 4th Jacob Cann 23:34
• 8th Richard Slade 23:58
• 21st Chris Coulson 24:58

Senior women

The senior women raced over 7.8k, the same distance as the senior men’s race. This included 4 laps of a very twisty course with several hairpin bends, the now traditional Belgian barriers to jump and a double hump style hill on each lap.

The race started with a frantic fast start all vying for a good position before a very tight turn after around 100m. All the ladies were well to the fore early on, with Charlotte Dannatt (Camberley, Kyle Bennett) getting out hard from the start and taking the early lead. 

Once the race had settled down a bit after the frantic start, all the team placed into the top 10 and were working well together. By this time there was a significant break at the front with the Belgium athlete, Lisa Rooms, making an effort to break away from the rest of the field. She put a bit of daylight between herself and the rest of the field stretching her lead all the way to the finish, with two of her Belgian team mates finishing strongly to take 2nd and 3rd.

After a good strong start by Charlotte, she battled the twists and turns to finish in 4th and lead the team home. A great run flowing her 10k PB the previous weekend. 

Kate O'Neill (Havering, Patrick Gahagan) ran a brilliant second half of the race moving through strongly to take 6th position. Holly Weedall (Vale Royal, Dean Miller) who had started strongly running with Charlotte early on, kept consistent as the race progressed and finished up in 9th position, a great improvement on her 16th place from last year. Elle Twentyman (Rugby & Northampton AC) made a steadier start but used her strength from fell running to move through the field just missing out on top 10 with an 11th place finish. 

• 4th Charlotte Dannatt, 27:32
• 6th Kate O’Neill, 27:46
• 9th Holly Weedall, 27:59
• 11th Elle Twentyman, 28:10

Represent England this season

Would you like to represent England later this season? We have lots of upcoming cross country and road running opportunities for you to get involved with!