English National Cross Country Championships

Parliament Hill Fields London

Saturday 24^th February 2018

Three Kingston athletes were in action at the English National cross country championships which were staged at Parliament Hill fields in London on Saturday afternoon the 24^th of February. There were ten races in all at the meeting which covered all age groups. From under 13 boys and under 13 girls who both ran a 3 kilometre course, under 15 boys 4.5 kilometres and the girls 4 kilometres, under 17 men 6 k and under 17 women 5 k, under 20 men 10 k and women 6 k and the senior men ran a 12 kilometre course and the senior women 8 kilometres. A total of 6444 of the best cross country runners in England finished the course on a bright and sunny but very cold day. Kingston had representatives in two of the races Harry Powell and Oliver Newton in the senior men’s 12 K and Shaun Smith in the under 20 men’s 10 k.

Harry Powell extended his excellent run of form which he has maintained throughout the autumn and winter of 2017/2018 where he has produced some outstanding performances both on the road and cross country. He won his 4^th consecutive County title on the 7^th of January and on the 27^th of that month he took 9^th place at the Northern championships, on February the 3^rd he ran at the BUCS championships at Brunel University where his 22^nd place saw him finish in the top 7% in the race. He was in competition in the senior men’s 12 kilometre race at the national championships among a field of 2328 of the country’s finest athletes. He put in another quality performance at Parliament Hill where he covered the 12 kilometres in 43:27 sec to finish in the top 5% in the race.

Oliver Newton has been with Kingston since 2012 and has given outstanding service to both the youth and the senior teams over that period. He is held in high esteem by his peers. The Imperial College student turns out regularly in the London Universities and Colleges League. Last October he came back to Yorkshire for the Northern cross country relay championships in Sheffield where he ran the 4^th leg for the Kingston senior team which took 8^th place at the championships. This February he ran in the senior men’s 10 k race at the BUCS cross country championships where he finished inside the top 25%. He ran in the senior men’s race at the English nationals covering the 12 kilometre course in a time of 45:30 sec to take 207^th place in the 2328 man field, finishing inside the top 10%.

Shaun Smith is another athlete studying in the south of England. The two time County champion was back on home ground this January for the first ever staging of the event at Kingston’s Costello home. He had to settle for the silver medal this year however behind his colleague Harry Powell. He also ran at the Northern Counties championships at Harewood where he finished in the top half of the field. Next on the agenda was the BUCS championships, where running in a field of 561 athletes he covered the 7.9 kilometre race in 28:45 sec for 52^nd place and a finish inside the top 10%. The English National championships saw him running in the under 20 men’s race where in a field of 220 contestants he ran the 10 kilometre race in 34:55 sec crossing the finish line in 24^th place a fraction outside the top 10%.