We had 8 Juniors competing at Saturdays Intercounties Cross Country Championships at Prestwold Hall near Loughborough. Following selection after the County Cross Country Championships back in January, Elizabeth Clarkson, Elliot Smith, Lewis Nagington, Louis Wakefield, Molly Ibbs, Misha Twardochleb, Nadine Tomkinson and Poppy Ranford all represented Staffordshire (along with Jacob Droogmans, Rebecca Twardochleb and Sophie Goodfellow who also competed in the Senior Races – REPORT HERE).
The undulating course at Prestwold started off the day in reasonable condition but steadily worsened as more footfall went over it throughout the day meaning the earlier races had the better conditions but our athletes all raced well to conquer the course when taking on the top 8 athletes from across the counties of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
U/15 Girls – Molly was representing Staffordshire for the first time having finished 8th at the trial but had a very strong race completing the Staffordshire team and finishing as 4th counter in 234th position in 20:58 over the 4.3km course.
U/17 Women – We had 3 of the 8 strong Staffordshire team competing over the 5.3km course. Nadine finished as 4th Staffs counter in 135th position in 25:17, Misha was 222nd in 27:30 and Poppy finished in 230th in 27:48. The girls helped Staffordshire finish in 16th position on the day.
U/20 Women – Lizzie was competing over 6km and finished as the 3rd Staffs Counter in 64th position in a time of 29:04. Staffordshires U/20 Women finished in 14th position.
U/17 Men – Elliot and Louis both competed over the 6km course with Elliot finishing as first Staffs counter in 74th position 23:08 with Louis finishing in 208th in a time of 25:29. They helped Staffordshire to a 31st place finish on the day.
U/20 Men – Lewis was racing over the 9.1km route and despite it being his first year as an U/20 was the first Staffordshire athlete back following a fine run in 48th position (39:05). Unfortunately there was not enough Staffs athletes for a team position.
Congratulations to all our athletes who represented the county at these championships!
