Our senior women produced an outstanding team performance to take the silver medal and with the men’s team finishing an excellent sixth place, it meant that HHS were the most successful senior team at the National cross country championships. This was backed up once again by some excellent performances by the juniors.
Hatti Archer again proved her class battling at the front of the race on a course that proved a true test of cross country running. Hatti was in contention all the way to the line, finishing 5th in 31:09. Lizzie Adams improved again on her performance at the Northerns to finish 25th in 32:36. Hannah Fletcher continued her fine form with her best ever performance at the National, taking 45th in 33:33. Zanthe Wray then brought home the team to the silver medal in finishing 65th in 34:11.
It was great to see so many senior men then start the final race and witness another fine team performance. Steve Bayton had another excellent run to take 21st in 44:07. Bertie Houghton provided great support with a fine run to finish 34th in 44:54. Rob Little continued his good form with a strong run in 63rd in 45:51 with Dave Archer running really well, despite losing a shoe on the opening lap, to give the team a great start in 76th in 46:05. Andy Challenger produced a strong run for 117th in 46:59 and Aidan Smith came through the field on the final lap for 141st in 47:32 to bring the team home in 6th, the highest finish at the Nationals for many years.
Matt Hobbs ran well to take 173s in 48:12 with Tom Bains also running strongly in 189th in 48:38. Pete Hodges brought the 9-man team home with a fine run in 212th in 48:55. The scores for the 9-man team have still not been finalised.
Andy Thake and Nicholas Barber turned back the years with excellent runs for 227th in 49:11 and 241st in 49:29 respectively. Tom Jenkins came 243rd in 49:33. Ben Beattie, thankful it was not a flat course, battled through to 271st in 50:00 with Zak Mellard 297th in 50:21. John Birch ran well for 321st in 50:43 with Gavin Keight 371st in 51:23, Matt Payne 655th in 55:51 and Paul Faulkner 728th in 56:49.
Connor Milnes, after leading the field on the opening mile of the U20M race, finished 23rd in 39:00. Wyatt Hill, making his debut in the National, ran well for 56th in 40:54 with Josh Walton working hard to finish 78th in 42:27.
In the U20W race, Ellie Crownshaw ran well for 49th in 25:15 and Flora McNeill battled round to 129th in 39:03.
Cameron Bell produced a fine run in the U17M race to finish an excellent 7th in 20:04 with Jack Crownshaw running well for 137th in 23:06.
In the U17W race, Imani Wilson continued her return to fitness with a good run to take 72nd in 22:42 and Caitlin Tevendale worked hard to finish 140th in 24:31.
David Lewis also worked hard in difficult conditions to finish 180th in 19:05 in the U15B race.
Eve Crownshaw ran well to take 73rd in 18:13 in the U15G race with Laura Trask continuing her improvement to finish 77th in 18:18. Saskia Huxham battled hard to finish 117th in 18:48 and Kira Round finished 244th in 20:25.
Taylor Hill produced another fine run to finish 7th in 13:02 in the U13B race. Dylan Stevens made an excellent debut at the National running very strongly throughout to finish 148th in 14:42. Jacob Hartley came 366th in a time of 16:38.
Jodie Hill produced the outstanding individual performance of the day to finish 4th in 14:09. Jodie was in the leading group throughout the race, pushed the pace on in the middle of the race, and was narrowly run out of the medals in the final straight. Zena Hartley continued her excellent season with a fine debut at the National finishing 58th in 15:01. Tati Wilson showed good strength to take 126th in 15:35 with Mo Martin again finishing strongly in 144th in 15:46. May Quinn had a good run to finish 163rd in 15:55 and Katie Adams came 197th in 16:08. Holly Booker and Emily Hunter both ran well to finish 220th and 267th in 16:20 and 16:39 respectively. Lauren Chambers in her first National race came 369th in 17:33 and Jenna Hazard finished 414th in a time of 18:19.
Many thanks to our team managers Tina Wilson, Hannah Whitelam and Dave Archer who have helped to make this one of the most successful cross country seasons in many years for HHS
