C.A.U. Inter Counties Cross Country Championships

Prestwold Hall, Loughborough

Saturday 10^th March 2018

Around 3,000 of the UK’s top cross country runners descended on the tiny Leicestershire village of Prestwold near Loughborough for the National Inter Counties Cross Country Championships, staged in the picturesque grounds of Prestwold Hall. The recent heavy snow and rain had transformed the entire course into a sea of heavy, clinging mud, the likes of which few of the competitors had experienced before. Falls and lost shoes were a common sight around the varied course with its mix of long, gradual slopes and short steep ascents and descents.

Kingston upon Hull AC provided 2 of the 8 members of the Humberside under 15 girls team who took part in the 4km race over one full lap of the course. Being the 8^th event on the 9 race programme the condition of the course was almost at its worst with hardly a blade of grass visible from start to finish.  Reigning county champion Jodie Martin was competing in her 3^rd inter counties event. 120^th as an under 13 in 2016 she then improved to 109^th last year over the same course as a first year under 15. Her recent form suggested that a further improvement was due and Jodie didn’t disappoint, finishing in 49^th position from a field of well over 300 athletes. Such was the quality of her run that the second Humberside athlete across the line was some 90 seconds further down the field. In complete contrast it was Ella Shaw-Hall’s first cross country race outside the county, her previous biggest event being the Humberside Championships in Hull in January when she finished 7^th to clinch her inter-counties place. Putting the tough conditions and lack of experience behind her Ella ran a mature race, working her way through the field to finish as the counties’ 6^th scorer in 282^nd place. Both girls now move on to the English Schools Cross Country Championships in the grounds of another stately home, Temple Newsam House near Leeds, where another testing course awaits them.

The under 15 boy’s race contained a field of 303 runners and was run over a distance of 4.5 kilometres.  Thomas Smales who was running in his third consecutive Inter Counties championship event was Kingston’s representative in the race. He was the silver medallist at this January’s County championships at Costello and put in a great effort at the Northern championships at Harewood on the last weekend of January, finishing in 63rd place, inside the top 30%. He was the fourth member of the County team to cross the finishing line running the course in 21:41 sec for 228th place.

The senior men’s team contained six Hull based runners, four of them from Kingston, two from East Hull Harriers and the team was completed by two athletes from Scunthorpe & District AC. The race was contested over a 12 kilometre course and 284 athletes competed in the race. The first member of the County team and also the first Kingston athlete to cross the finishing line was second year under 23 Harry Powell, the reigning County champion put in yet another impressive performance covering the course in a time of 47:16 sec to take 63rd place, extending the excellent run of form he has maintained throughout the 2017/18 cross country season. The second team member to complete the course was Kingston’s Shaun Smith who has come back strongly over the current cross country season after injury problems ruled him out of the entire 2017 track & field season. He was the silver medallist at this year’s County championships and also put in solid performances at the English National championships as well as the Northern Counties and the BUCS championships. He ran the Prestwold course in 49:09 sec to take 121st place. The next Kingston athlete to finish the race was the two time World Biathle Champion Gregan Clarkson who was running his seventeenth race of 2018 at this event and the week before he had won the Barton & District cross country open. He ran the 12 kilometres in 53:39 sec and crossed the finishing line in 237th. (V40) athlete Simon Downs got a late call up for the County team in the week leading up to the championship meeting. He is a road runner and also competes in the Northern Senior track & field league where he is a steeplechaser, hurdler, javelin thrower and 5000 metre runner. He was the fourth Kingston athlete to complete the course, running a time of 58:15 sec. The other members of the team were Robert Weekes and David Green of East Hull Harriers along with Andrew Weaver and Gary Crompton of Scunthorpe & District AC.

Prolific competitor Gregan Clarkson stated (this was) ‘The hardest and muddiest cross country race in my 24 year running history, beating the National cross country championships at Alton Towers in 2011 and Durham cross country way back in 1995’.