Busy weekend for Huntingdonshire’s athletes at the Cambs Cross Country Championships
AFTER winning two silver medals in last year’s Cambridgeshire County Cross Country Championship, Huntingdonshire Athletics Club tripled its medal haul this year at Priory Park in St Neots.
In cool and muddy conditions, Andrew Worrall stood out when he won the boys’ under-11s title. Overtaken in the last half mile of his 1,700 metre race, Worrall picked up the pace, regained the lead, and held off a strong challenge to win the gold.
The young runner was superbly backed up by Charlie Evans, who came in eight, and Seb Darnell, who finished 20th, with the three boys comfortably winning the team event for further gold medals all round.
In the girls’ under-13s event, Francesca Worrall, CC Hime, and Emily Purbrick picked up the team bronze medal. This was Hime’s second competition in as many days, as she competed in final Sportshall of the season the previous day.
Similarly, Polly Smith, Ella Blake, and Amelia Darnell won bronze medals in the girls’ under-15s team competition.
In the veteran men’s race, Shane Hunt repeated his achievement from last year by winning an individual silver, and he was joined by Andy Richardson and Steve Church for the bronze in the men’s-40 team event.
Qualifiers for the Inter-County Cross Country Championships include Eleanor Smith, Rebecca Pedley, Smith, Blake, Francesca Worrall and Joey Croft, with Hime being selected as a reserve.
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Riverside Runners had 31 runners over all the categories and Alan Turnbull, Chris Wright, Emma Evans and Kurt Sanders and Evan Hosking (reserve) have qualified for the Inter-County squad. BRJ runner Lauren Elliot won the bronze in the under-11s girls’ race.
Forty-four Hunts AC athletes turned out for the season’s final Cambridgeshire County Sportshall contest, which was held at the St Ivo Indoor Centre.
The team racked up 10 victories with eight athletes gaining selection for the regional finals. Double individual winners on the day included Frannie Chapman and Harriet Bruce. In the girls’ under-11s competition, Chapman won the vertical jump with a leap of 42 inches, and also took the gold in the ball throw with a fling of 6.07 metres.
Bruce notched up wins in the under-13s standing long jump with a two-metre leap and the standing triple jump with 6.28 metres.
Chapman and Bruce have now been selected to represent the county at the regional championships which will take place in Norwich on Monday January 21.
