2016 British Athletics Inter Counties Cross Country Championships
Cofton Park, Birmingham – Saturday 12th March
The 2016 British Athletics Inter Counties Cross Country Championships were held at Cofton Park in Birmingham. The event also constituted the final leg of the British Cross Challenge, a series of races staged over the 2015/16 cross country season.
Eight Kingston athletes were in competition at the championship meeting, and their ages ranged from 12 year old juniors up to a 20 year old who ran in the senior men’s race.
20 year old Oliver Newton is a student at Loughborough University, and he has had a busy autumn and winter out on the cross country circuits. He is a well respected athlete and he has been a key member of Kingston’s youth and senior teams for several years.
He ran the 12 kilometre senior men’s race at Cofton Park, where he completed the course in a time of 43:12s, and finished in the top half of a field of 261 athletes in the race.
The under 20 men’s 8 kilometre race saw two members of our distance training groups Josh Taylor-Brown and Harry Powell line up in a field of 164 runners.
Harry Powell has had a fabulous cross country season. At Liverpool last November he had a great run in the British cross challenge race, he won the County title at January’s championship meeting. He was selected for England North at the Antrim International, where he finished 5th in a race which constituted another leg of the British cross challenge and followed this with a huge performance at Blackburn’s Northern championships.
Harry pulled out another mighty performance at these championships, which saw him cover the Cofton Park course in a time of 27:50s, and take 9th place in the race which was the final leg of the 2015/16 British Cross Challenge, where his overall position at the end of the series was 8th.
18 year old Josh Taylor-Brown came to the club at the age of 13 year he is an accomplished middle distance and distance runner and a steeplechaser. He is a real ‘team player’, who gives excellent service to the clubs youth and senior teams. On the track he is the reigning County 800 metre champion, and is also the holder of the Humberside Schools 800 metre title. He was a 4th place finisher at this year’s County cross country championships.
A huge effort from Josh over the Birmingham course saw him register a good time of 29:20s, and cross the finish line in 32nd place, a terrific result.
Two more of our distance runners Baldvin Magnusson and Jack Brothwell went in the under 17 men’s 6 kilometre race which fielded a total 250 contestants.
Baldvin Magnusson has been in very good form over the cross country season and has had some notable results. A top notch run over at Liverpool in November was backed up with another at January’s Northern Championships, and outstanding efforts at both the English National and the English Schools Championships.
He finished well inside the top third of the field at Birmingham, where he completed the course in a time of 20:34s.
Jack Brothwell has kept himself busy throughout the autumn and winter months, he has run strongly and shown some decent form. He won the County cross country title at January’s Championship meeting, and made another strong showing at Blackburn’s Northern Championships, as well as finishing in the top half of the field at the English National Championships.
Jack gave his all at Birmingham, as he always does, he completed the course in a time of 22:29s, and finished in the lower half of the field.
Adam Fox and Thomas Smales, two of our 12 year olds, joined in the action in the under 13 boys 3 kilometre race. Both of them have been with Kingston since July of last year and they show promise for the future. Adam is a prolific competitor and is out racing at every opportunity. Thomas too has got the running bug and the two of them are often together at competitions. Adam took 4th place at January’s County Championships and Thomas came home in 6th.
Birmingham was a real eye opener for them. Their first national competition, running against the best young athletes in the UK, and most of them were at least a year older than the boy’s, and they were also stronger and more experienced.
They both finished in the lower half of the race, with Adam covering the course in 13:39s, and Thomas crossing the finishing line in 14:15s.
The under 13 girl’s race brought Jodie Martin to the start line, where she was one of the 304 runners over the 3 kilometre course. 2016 is Jodie’s third year with Kingston and she is at home either on the track, the boards, or cross country. She has competed regularly throughout the autumn and winter at indoor meetings and out on the cross country course. She was the silver medallist at the recent County cross country championships.
Jodie finished inside the top 40% of the runners and she covered the course in a time of 13:59s.
