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This weekend saw the much awaited return of the Chiltern Cross Country League. Around 40 SNHAC athletes made the short trip to St Albans for the season opener, and it was great to see so many making their cross country debut for the club.

Verulamium Park is a new venue for the league this season and has a reputation for challenging cross country courses that feel more uphill than down. There were many great performances as

conditions were perfect with mild weather and so dry underfoot that some athletes even opted to race in road shoes.

Individually, Murray Heal had a great run to win the U17M Division 2 race and Kieran Kealey ran to a strong second-place finish in the U13B event.

There was plenty of effort and team spirit on show and numerous top ten finishes making for a superb start to the season leaving the Juniors sitting in 3rd place overall.

Team results for men

SM 8th

U20M 1st

U17M 3rd

U15B 2nd

U13B 2nd

U11B 10th

Team results for women

SW 11th

U17/20W 3rd

U15G 3rd

U13G 5th

U11G 7th

Well done to all our runners you should be proud of your performances and remember even if you don’t score for the team you are still helping by taking places from other teams as every place counts!

It was also our turn to supply two course marshals for the day, so many thanks to those who stepped up to volunteer we are incredibly grateful for your help. These events just couldn’t happen without your support. Also many thanks to our cross country captain Adam Searle for organising everything so brilliantly.

The next match is 15 November at Shotover Park, Oxford. Lets keep the momentum going!

(photos credit Lindsay Cook)

Making SNHAC's debut in the SEAA road relays the U13 boys all ran really well and finished 32nd. A really good performance for 3 1st year under 13s.

Luke ran a strong 1st leg coming home in 43rd place in 11:33, handing over to Kieran on the second leg, with Kieran bringing the team up to 33rd in 11:11, before Connor ran the final leg also in 11:33, gaining one place to finish 32nd.

Overheard at the Oxford X-country fixture yesterday “It’s not really better than last year”. Agreed,…. it was probably worse. It was cold and dank, with intermittent rain. And boy was the ground wet and muddy. This year, the organisers recommended 12mm spikes minimum for all runners “as in January, some runners in trainers were failing to get out of the ditch!”.

With more fallers than the Grand National (despite spikes) our hats must come off to everyone who got round. It was brutal, but so good to see so many smiling (muddy) faces at the end of the races!

Impressive grit, strength and determination was seen with some great runs. Medals were won for many – both by individuals and teams. It is worth saying that it was our good turnout yesterday that pushed some into those medal positions, so it was a real team effort, and has been all year. In so many ways, a perfect ending to another Cross-Country season for the Club.

Well done everyone!!!

Cassiobury Park really is a testing course, and it is great to see it as a regular fixture again in the Chiltern League. The grasslands for the younger years make way for predominately gravel paths and woodland tracks for the older age groups, so as ever footwear choice is really tricky. It was even more challenging as the sun had melted the ice on the top, but the ground underneath was absolutely rock solid.

Of course, nothing gets in the way of our athletes, and although unfortunately there was a lot of illness about, we still had good numbers out. Their good spirit and efforts never fail to impress, and it was so pleasing to see that some were really happy with their runs – so they should be! As you will see from the results, there were some really great performances (and remember that some of our runners are a year down in their age-groups too!). But all of our athletes should be proud of what they did and getting round!

Oxford next, the last match of the season, on February the 8th. Hopefully all the coughs and colds will be long gone, and the injuries will have all healed up by then….and there will be a coach! It might even be less muddy than last time (surely it has to be!)?

A small team of SNHAC athletes made the journey down to Trent Park on Saturday to take part in the county cross country championships. Top performer was Sarena So who took bronze in the U15 girls race. Also competing in the same race were Neve Sayers (7th), Hannah Cook (8th) and Indiya Quinlan 9th. U17 woman Esme Searle was 4th in her race, with U17 man Aubrey Murray 7th. In the U13 races Haysan So was 9th in the girls' race and James Cook 13th for the boys. Under 11 boy Matthew Cook was 11th and finally Senior Man Adam Searle came 41st.

Full results can be found on the county website at http://www.hertscaaa.org.uk/2020results.html