Medal-fest for Winchester juniors at Hampshire Championships

The annual Hampshire Cross-Country Championships held at Fairthorne
nManor, Botley, saw just over 100 WADAC U11s, U13s, U15s & U17s take to this
npopular course; the equivalent of one in four of all junior athletes present.
nOn a cold, bright day, and with the course in much drier condition than in
nprevious years, the black and gold was everywhere as another
nfabulously-organised event played out.
nThe competition began with an unprecedented 46 Winchester
nentries in the Under-11 boys race. Will Hasan again lead the way, finishing 2nd,
nand the scoring team was completed by Ruben Price (9th), Sam Wilkinson
n(11th) and Haydn Moore (14th). To Southampton AC’s
ncredit, this was not enough to deny them the team gold medals, and in a
ntightly-fought contest throughout, WADAC’s boys had to settle for team silvers.
nThe Winchester ‘B’ team underlined the club’s strength in depth by finishing
nfourth, through Casper Wilson (18th), Sam Nicholson (19th),
nEthan Skipwith (23rd) and Felix Bowyer (24th). The race was notable
nalso for the excellent runs in their first-ever race by many year 4 and year 5
nWinchester juniors. Well Done to all of them.
nThe Under-11 girls race saw four clubs in the mix for the
nteam medals, and it was ultimately to be bronzes for Winchester, the scoring
nteam being Poppy Taylor (9th from lower year), Scarlett Anderson (10th),
nRebecca Hutchings (17th) and Hannah Lowe (18th, also from
nlower year). Here too, there were very promising debuts from several younger
nWADAC athletes.
nThe most eagerly-anticipated race of the day was perhaps the
nUnder-13 boys, a category which has been so closely contested in the Hampshire
nLeague this season. The Championship race lived up fully to that billing, with
nan incredible one point separating the top three teams at the end of the event.
nA rare second-place for James Lewis, behind Aldershot’s Dan Shattock, with
nGeorge Lambert of Southampton in 3rd, set the tone for the three-way
nclub tussle. Next home for WADAC was Ben Chesterfield (6th), and
nwith the medals in the balance, sprint finishes by Tom Grote (12th)
nand Stan Parkinson (13th) completed the scoring-team and left a
ntense wait for the arithmetic to be done. Crucially however, Winchester’s fifth
nfinisher, Ollie Withers (16th) had pushed the Southampton and
nAldershot fourth runners into 17th & 18th places
nrespectively, thus giving WADAC the gold medals by a single point ahead of the
nother two clubs. This was the first of two examples of the essential role
nplayed by all team members, not just the scorers, in a club’s team result.
nThe Under-13 girls category has been dominated this season
nby Southampton AC, and so it was again as they stormed to victory here. For
nWinchester, Emma Shedden gave arguably her best-ever performance in a
ndistance-race, with a well-paced run to finish 9th. Supported as
nusual by Jaz Jones (20th), Lara Bassett (26th) and
nAisling Hitchman (27th), the Winchester team came 5th on the
nday.
nJust as dominant as the Southampton U13 girls, and for two
nyears longer, has been the current Aldershot Under-15 boys cohort. And so the
nstory looked set to continue, as their top runners finished 1st and
n2nd again. Sam Roberts for Winchester has shown himself capable of
nsuperb performances on occasions, and this was one of them as he ran strongly
nfrom gun to tape to take 4th place, easily his most impressive XC
nrun to date. With Doug Scally finishing well to move up to 8th on
nthe run-in, silver medals looked nailed-on for WADAC, especially as James
nMedley (12th) and Dominic Exworthy (13th) also produced
nreally strong runs to finish just behind Aldershot’s third runner. So a
nten-point deficit for WADAC with three runners home, but a seven-point cushion
nover 3rd placed Jersey Spartans. But the late drama was yet to
nunfold, as once again the fifth runner came into play. Harry Harvey (21st),
nin his best display for over a year, held off Aldershot’s fourth finisher (23rd),
nto take the team medal contest to 37 points each and a countback. With Dominic’s
n13th beating Aldershot’s 23rd in the tie-breaker, the implausible
nhad happened, and Winchester had another set of team golds to their name. And
nthere was more to come…
nWinchester’s U15 girls had recorded three team victories to
ndate in this season’s Hampshire League, and the move from three to four scoring
nrunners in the Championships proved no obstacle, as once again the rock-solid squad
ncame through with multiple top-ten finishes. First home for individual bronze
nwas Rose Chesterfield (3rd), followed closely by Amelia Moore (4th)
nrunning superbly again, a rejuvenated Lily Neate (6th), Hannah Foster
n(7th) and Millie Burgess (10th), all finishing ahead of
nnearly every athlete from either the second- or third-placed clubs and
nrecording a dominant team win.
nThe WADAC U17 girls team has endured a season of misfortune
nin that one or another of a small squad has been unavailable for each Hampshire
nLeague race to date. But on Championship day, they had the three needed to form
na scoring team. Aisling Dunne, in the form of her life, stormed home to
nindividual silver in 2nd place, and with Alice Calder 4th
nand Sasha Tydeman 5th, Winchester’s fourth gold-medal haul of the
nday was assured.
nOn a day of great club success, however, one of the
nhighlights was the huge turnout not just of athletes, by far the biggest
ncontingent of juniors from any club, but also of coaches and parent-helpers, whose
ncontribution was essential in managing a packed programme of races. So grateful
nthanks to all in a great team effort.
nMedals :
nGold : U13 boys team, U15 boys team, U15 girls team, U17
ngirls team.
nSilver : Will Hasan (U11), James Lewis (U13), Aisling Dunne
n(U17), U11 boys team.
nBronze : Rose Chesterfield (U15), U11 girls team.
nPicture credit : "Copyright: hammy8241"