Mud, glorious mud
Ankle-deep in mud, the Senior Men finished in eighth in the National Cross Country Championships on Parliament Hill on 22 February, the most iconic venue of them all. The sight of nearly 2,000 athletes charging up the steep slope at the start of the Men’s race is one of the great moments in sport.‘
‘I reckon over 12K of cross country we had 400m of firm running! It was crazy – a war of attrition, but I love it!’ said Freddie Slemeck, who came home was 54th of 1,781 finishers, overtaking cross-country captain James Stockings (67th) late in the race. George Mallett was next for the team in 85th, with Hayden Beauchemin in 89th. For American Hayden, more used to the manicured green cross country courses of California, it was a real baptism of fire. ‘I never even ran in mud before, but it was super-fun!’, he enthused. Oliver Carrington securing a top-100 finish in 99th with Ed Mallett completing the scoring six in 105th.
Sam Todd in 118th was just outside the six scoring places, but with Joe Clark in 354th and Richard Jones in 481st, finished the 9-to-score team.
There was a great individual run from Theo Creed to finish fifth in his first year as an U15, with the team finishing in fourth.
The U13 Girls were fifth, the U17 women and U13 Boys seventh (with many of the team having to pick themselves up and carry on after slithering over in the mud!) The U15 Girls were 14th and the U17 Men 19th.
In the U20 Women’s race Allegra Massey was 39th and Charlotte Lam 109th, while for the Senior Women Ruby Carter was 59th and Niamh Thompson 73rd.