The English National Cross-country Championships was held at Nottingham on Saturday. After all the recent rain the course was extremely wet and deep in mud throughout the 12km course.
The winning team was Tonbridge, followed by Leeds and Bristol. Medway & Maidstone AC had a superb team result finishing the 6-to-score team in 22nd place out of 210 teams taking part. The club’s top individual was Robert Meyer in a fantastic 34th place, the club’s highest individual runner for many years. This followed Meyer recently winning the Kent League cross-country title. Tewelde Menges was 2nd runner in 85th, followed by Tom Collins 203rd, Marley Godden 222nd, a great result in his first senior championship, Jack Crossley 479th, Barry Royden 536th, Alun Rodgers 784th and Adam Featherstone 928th. There were 1710 finishers.
In the U17 men’s race Ethan Gear finished strong in 70th with Luke Stringer 199th.
The U15 boys were second to race and therefore had amongst the better conditions on the day, that wasn’t to say that they got off lightly though. Hayden Gear continued his excellent form this winter, running strongly throughout and leading the team home in 14th place, Cameron Featherstone was next home in 162nd, followed closely by Kaz Gogol in 173rd and Callum Featherstone closing the team in 240th. The boys were rewarded with 16th place overall out of 40 teams.
The U13 boys were represented by Henry Gibson who finished in 256th place and Matthew Sherry who finished in 265th place, both making their debuts in the National competition.
Ten M&M junior female athletes competed in the tough running conditions. Two athletes competing in the Under 17 Women’s race, with Charlotte Young continuing her recent improvements to finish in 67th place. Billie Rouse returned to national cross country action once again, and finished in 134th.
In the Under 15 Girls race, M&M had 6 athletes competing and were rewarded with an excellent 8th place out of 39 scoring teams, an excellent result for the girls in such a prestigious national event. In the individual event, Anna Palmer continued her impressive season by finishing in 34th place. She was followed home by Emma Ryan who finished in an excellent 84th place, followed closely by Annabel Young in 87th place. Next home was Abigail Royden in 207th, followed by Lily Crossley (215) and Sarah Mitchell (363).
In the Under 13 Girls event, Iris Crossley finished first for M&M in an excellent 59th place, followed by Beth Palmer in 211th place.
This concludes the winter cross-country season for most which, once again, has been a great success for the club. The team was second in the Kent League as well as winning the Kent Fitness League men and combined trophies. In addition, the club won numerous team and individual medals at the Kent Championships and Kent Masters Championships. However some M&M athletes will be representing Kent at intercounty level and /or representing their schools’ county; Charlotte Young, Hamish Reilly, Annabel Young, Anna Palmer, Hayden Gear and Kaz Gogol.
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