Opening Statement

The irrepressible Theo Creed opened his 2026 racing account in emphatic fashion, taking the U15 Boys title at the Surrey Cross Country Championships at Denbies Vineyard on 4 January, and leading his regular team mates, James Fraser, Thomas Hennigan and Max Harrison (in ninth, 10th and 11th), to team gold (below right).

Charlie Pearl (below left) achieved the only other individual medal of the day, taking bronze in the U13 Boys race, with the team, completed by Daniel Fitzsimmons in eighth, Rafael Garcia-Davis in 14th, and Thomas Smith in 30th, finishing in fourth. There was a team bronze, however, for the U15 Girls with Anna Wait finishing in fourth, Freia Harper-Tee in seventh, and Jessica Wood ninth.

Across the age categories there was a cluster of fourth-place team results and more individual top ten finishes. Alex Milne came home in fourth in the Senior Men’s race with George Mallett in 10th. Henry Silverstein announced his return after injury with a 15th place, with Sam Todd in 26th, Sonny Nicoll in 50th, and Austin Hall in 92nd bringing the team home in fourth. Rose Evans and Ava Mcandie were eighth and ninth respectively in the U17W race, with Iona Alexander (28th) securing fifth place for the team. Dillan Quinn finished in sixth in the U20 Women's race, with Charlotte Lam in 17th in a category in which only two clubs completed a team. Pancho Panchev and Alex McGuigan were seventh and 10th respectively in the U20 Men's race, with Noah Fernandez in 16th helping the team to fourth.

For the Senior Women, Claire Grima (W45) was the first home in 15th, with U20 Eloise Davies just one place behind. Rebecca Schofield in 24th and Alex Binley in 27th helped the team to yet another fourth place.

The U17 Men were also fourth, as Harry Allen finished in 13th, Sam Dyson in 14th in Owen Xu in 22nd; while the U13 Girls team of Elena Monteza-Pringle in 23rd, Chloe Mason and Meis Sultan in 27th and 28th respectively, and Cassidy Cooper in 32nd, were fifth.

Elsewhere

On New Year's Eve in the Friday Night Under the Lights/Mizuno 5K in Battersea Park, U23 Sonny Nicol improved his best by 36 seconds to finish sixth in 15:23. George Sheridan was 12th in a PB of 15:36, with U17 Sam Dyson also setting a new best time of 15:48.

On New Year's Day, Charlie Sandison was a comfortable winner of the Serpentine New 10k in Hyde Park in 30:41.