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The fourth round of the Chiltern League took place on Saturday at the Keysoe Equestrian Centre and the course included a run through the water feature for the younger athletes. A muddy, although largely dry day, saw Stevenage and North Herts U13 Calum Fairey have a great run. Not content with winning the division 2 race he also led the division one runners home as well, completing the 3km course in 11.10mins. Competing with him in this age group were Joseph Lee and Joe Raymont and the team finished second. U15 Tyler Wannerton also enjoyed the conditions, finishing second in division 2 covering the 4km course 14.17mins. Competing with him were Benedict Clark, William Galliford and Tom Malone giving the team another second-place finish. U13 girl Abigail Manson finished 6th completing her 3km course in 12.41 mins. Supported by Grace Hart and Violet Temple the team finished 4th. Laura Thompson was the first U15 girl home finishing 10th with Amelia Hobbs in 13th and Amy McCague in 17th with the team finishing fourth. U17 Katie Thompson finished 10th covering the 5km in 22.40mins and U20 Lizzie Raymont as 8th in 23.30min. U20 Charlie Major finished 8th U20 man in the division running 10.2 km in 49.29mins. Chris Feely continued her fine form in the Senior Race coming in third in the W55 age group running 6.1km in 29.55mins. Alex Gates and Jenny Cotter were also competing. Running for the men’s team Antonino Cuccharia, Edward Manson and Tony Carolan ran the 10.2 km in 50.12, 55.42 and 59.37 mins respectively.

Last Thursday saw the last coaching session from long-time member Len Albrighton. Len first came to SNHAC when he brought his daughter along in the 1980s. Jeanette was followed by Len’s grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Part of his legacy to the Club is his granddaughter as an athlete and pole vault coach. Len held many roles at the club over the years, Treasurer, Coach and Field Official as well as competing as a veteran athlete in recent years. He started coaching with the year 9 and 10 athletes, moving on to take the javelin squad when the previous coach retired. His first success here was with Alisha Levy who threw a U13 All-Time Record in 2012 (now ranked fifth on this age group’s All-Time List). Latterly he has been Lead coach with the steadily growing numbers of sprinters the club is attracting. The Club is indebted to Len for his 0000’s of hours of volunteering over the years. All members of the Club will miss his presence at training, matches, committee meetings, his humour, advice and cheerful demeanour. We are sorry to see you retire Len and wish you all the best future - enjoy that cruise!