WADAC juniors smash record in incredible day at Hampshire XC Championships

January again already, and as always, on the calendar for the first weekend of the New Year, the Hampshire Cross Country Championships. The Championships have found a well-appointed home in the last few years, at Fairthorne Manor near Botley, and the course once again didn’t disappoint, though heavy and muddy after considerable recent rain. Unlike 2022 however, race day itself passed off largely without further rainfall.
nThe 88 junior athletes of Winchester (some 30% of the total participants in the junior races) took to the field as defending champions, having achieved in 2022 an impressive five team wins in the eight junior races held, a record total since the addition of U11 races to the event back in 2013.
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nFirst away were the U11 boys, and WADAC were on the board immediately, as Eddie Clegg (2nd place) led the team home to the gold medals, with Alfie Fox (8th), Timo Thomas Machleidt (10th) and Oliver Furby (11th) completing the scoring quartet. The second Winchester quartet all made the top 20 as well, Leo Davies-Pratt (12th), Evan Perry (15th), Ben Lee (18th) and Max Wadeson (20th). Congratulations to all of WADAC’s runners, including many making their first competitive start, full details can be found in the results published on the Hampshire Athletics website (link at the end of this report).
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nFollowing on from the boys, the U11 girls took to the 2000m course, in a race won by some distance by Florence Williams of Jersey. Black and gold vests, however, claimed four of the next five places, and with that a comfortable team victory. Millie Honan (2nd) replayed her impressive form from training, followed by Aoife Uniacke (4th), running with only one shoe for almost the whole distance, Frankie Bertacchini (5th) and Millie English (6th). To cap a fine day for the youngest Winchester girls, the club’s second foursome took the bronze medals, in the forms of Hallie Eldridge (10th), Isabelle Hoskins (13th), showing mum how to do it, Millie Morgan (15th) and Matilda Joslin (16th). There were strong runs too from Imogen Allbut, Daisy Savage, Annie Price, Isabella Penfold, Issy Goulding and Holly Martin.
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nRace three saw the U13 boys in action, with Winchester’s strong squad slightly weakened by key absentees. Not to be outdone, however, the boys edged a very tight contest with Guernsey to make it three team golds from three races. The impressive Luke Furby, from lower year, judged his race beautifully, working his way up to finish 6th, supported by Iosu Harfield (9th) with a brave late sprint, and the consistent Oliver Foden (12th) and Sam Parker (16th). Strong support came from Thomas Savill, Ed Duxbury, Felix Sclater, Mikel Harfield, Cooper Cripps and Daniel Instone.
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nThe U13 girls has been WADAC’s bogey race for several years, with only one team win (2005) this century, despite having fielded very strong teams overall in the latter part of that timeframe. This time round the girls battled determinedly again, but ultimately had to settle for team bronzes. Ellie Jepson (12th) led the way, edging out team-mate Elodie Gill (13th), with Rosanna Fox-Robinson (15th) and Amber Price (26th) completing the scoring team. Just behind were Evie Smith, Gwyneth Hunter, Amelia Tregillis, Amy Drabble and Arabella Byrne. So four races gone, with three sets of team gold and two sets of team bronze. Not bad, and 2022’s record still in our sights.
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nThe Winchester U15 boys’ team was also missing a couple of likely challengers for podium places, but the rest of the team stayed calm and got the job done with a bit to spare, with Ruben Price (3rd) picking up an individual bronze to add to his team gold. Stanley Phillips (6th) came next, with a strong second lap gaining him several places, Thomas Jacobs (8th) and the improving Sam Wilkinson (11th) making the scoring team. Here again, the second black and gold foursome was good enough to claim bronzes to go with the golds, with Seb Murray (13th), Aiden Furby (17th), Seth Noott (18th) returning after a long injury break, and Ivor Martin (23rd) being the recipients. Adam Perry, Billy Jones and William Dickinson completed a very strong-looking squad.
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nNext up were the U15 girls, also missing a couple of their number, but also brushing that aside, and taking the fifth team victory of the day. Two lower year runners were first home, Kate Atkinson (4th) and Poppy Taylor (7th), with Rosie Sharrock (11th) and Grace Baker (13th), also lower year, a great set of individual results which together were just enough to edge out a Portsmouth team that had started the day as defending champions and strong favourites. Francesca Joslin (18th) finished like a train, followed in a bunch by Kali Ruffell-Moreira, Isla McAulay (another member of the one-shoe club), Scarlett Anderson and Amelie Gill, then Alexandra Dickinson and Harriet Joslin. So now five team golds and two races left to break the record.
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nWe didn’t have to wait long. The Winchester U17 team was led by Annie Mann, who had a little to spare in easing home to individual gold, and she was followed in 2nd by Eve Bailey, whose form in League races has been eye-catching and was even better on Saturday. Recent recruit Jasmine Gosse made a fabulous debut, finishing 5th after working her way up from outside the top ten at halfway, and the team win was in the bag. The quintet was completed by Kaela Nixon running strongly, and Sofie Le Moignan as consistent as ever.
nThe U17 men were left with the task of improving the new record, and like their compatriots, they came up trumps. Will Atkins recently won his first Hampshire League race, and now he can’t stop, adding the Championships crown to his tally with a gun-to-tape victory. Newcomer Eddie Chambers will have enjoyed his debut, a strong finish propelling him to 4th place, and Ben Chesterfield (6th) ensured that another team gold would be added to his collection, edging out team-mate Oscar Newbery (7th), with Ieuan Thomas completing the team.
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nSo a remarkable day for the club’s juniors, with seven sets of team gold medals from the eight races, and three sets of bronzes to go with them, along with the individual gongs won by Annie M, Will A, Eddie C, Millie H, Eve and Ruben. Records are there to be broken but this one might survive for a while.
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nLast year, the report-writer overstepped boundaries by mentioning the winner of the U20 women’s race, in a report on age-groups U17 and younger. This was on the basis that the U20 winner was a member of the same training group as the younger athletes and we didn’t want to leave her out. So, using the same flimsy excuse again, it’s Well Done to longstanding (but no longer) WADAC junior Rose Chesterfield, who took her first Hants Champs title in this year’s U20 race.
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nThanks to Hampshire Athletics and all the volunteers for another great day out for our juniors. Links to both race results and Paul Hammond’s excellent photo gallery, are on this page from Hampshire Athletics : Hampshire Athletics Cross-Country Championships 2023