The end of February certainly saw lots of mud but our Beagles handled the conditions brilliantly and continued to show great running. We also had more schools and track success!
National Cross Country
One of the biggest races of the year – the English National Cross Country which took place at Parliament Hill in London. The many hills of the course were made more challenging by the copious amounts of mud but our Beagles did us proud as always!
First race of the day was the 5k U17 girls and it saw great consistency from our Beagles team who all ran close together swapping places through out. Ultimately, Evie Warn had the best run finishing in 19th (21:35), Olivia Forrest was 20th (21:40) and Mara Thomas 25th (21:50).
The U15 boys followed over 4km with our four boys producing a team finish to put them 34th in the country. All gaining valuable experience in their first nationals, it was Orly Morton who finished as first Beagle in 145th (17:32). George Alder was 295th (19:57), Frankie Edwards 324th (21:45) and Joshua Lever 325th (21:48).
In the under 13 girls 3k race there was some great running from our girls in the leading pack with Sophie Bickerstaff finishing a brilliant 4th overall (13:22). Also running well were Madison Kindler in 12th (13:42) and Aria Sabado in 43rd (14:26). Well done too to Amalie Twydell whose spiked leg from her last cross country caused her to pull up mid way round.
Just the one U17 male Beagle over 6k – the ever present Max Sanderson. Max once again put in a great effort to finish 60th (24:35).
Our u13 boys, who also ran over 3k, all had a great national debut and put in real effort up the hills. First Beagle back was Adam Armour in 160th (14:31) with Cameron Young in 233rd (15:18) and Jamie Murphy 264th (15:53).
The u15 girls completed the junior races running over 4k and again we saw our Beagles in the leading pack. Heidi Woodley had a brilliant run to finish 5th overall (17:11). Summer Smith was also very strong in 10th (17:47). Also doing a great job were Izzy Young 80th (20:01), Isabel Forrest 85th (20:07), Esme Thomas 91st (20:13) and Amber Walker 215th (22:48). The team came an incredible 5th overall too!
Finally, when the sun came out and the course was at its muddiest, it was the turn of the senior men who ran 12k. In a field of almost 2000 runners, Alex Young did a great job to come 471st (56:56) and also getting in under the hour was Robin Smith in 592nd (59:12).
Well done to everyone who came along – our biggest national turn out yet and some brilliant results. Thank you too to all of the supporters.
Middle Distance Open
Another brilliant night of Beagles action at Lee Valley – this time at the Middle Distance Open. With athletes running either 800 or 1500m it was an entertaining evening with some more great new personal bests!
First up were the 800m races and it was a Beagles one / two finish in the first race with Lianne Esterhuysen and Austin Lever running brilliantly in 2:40.72 and 2:46.47 respectively. A new PB for Austin. The next race saw Joshua Lever have a great run for his own new PB – 2:41.26. Daniel East has had a great run of races recently and last night saw that streak continue with another brilliant PB – 2:03.86. Finally in the 800s, Max Sanderson had a good run in a competitive race – 1:57.52.
The 1500m races started with a superb effort from Aria Sabado who ran a wonderful strategic race sitting on her competitors shoulder and outsprinting her for the line to take the race win and a new PB – 5:22.23. Isabel Forrest put in a good effort in her race – 5:26.34. And finally Olivia Forrest ran her first 1500m of the year with a very strong final 300m to finish in 4:33.43.
Wokingham Half
Congratulations to Scott Brooks who picked up a new half marathon PB at this weekend’s Wokingham half. A great run of 1:19.24 to finish inside the top 100 out of almost 2000 men!
Scott is an excellent example of someone who has followed his data driven training plan and seen amazing results. If you’re interested in learning more about our adult distance plans then please get in touch at hello@beagles.org.uk
Photos via Scott.
Essex Schools Year 7 & 8 Cross Country
It was brilliant to see so many Beagles running for their schools at the Essex Schools Cross Country Event for those in year 7 & 8.
The year 7 girls race saw a good win for Madison Kindler (12:03). Also doing a great job were Honey Walmsley 53rd (14:47), Sienna Linnen 88th (15:31), Sofia Ewen 110th (15:54), Ava Taylor 133rd (16:20), Sophia Crook 161st (17:08) and Madeline Carroll 173rd (17:22).
First Beagles boy in the year 7 race was Max Cheetham in a brilliant 11th (12:14). Also running well were Hugo Wilks 15th (12:19), Mitchell Evans 16th (12:20), George Smith 48th (13:10), Finlay Lethbridge 59th (13:20), Jamie Murphy 76th (13:31), Max Massarella 79th (13:34), David Mikolajczyk 86th (13:40), Harry Kyprianou 93rd (13:44), Toby Baker 105th (13:50), Robert Pearson 129th (14:04), Finn Taylor 137th (14:12), Henry Pinato 144th (14:20) and Cameron Kidd 166th (14:49).
In the year 8 girls race there were two Beagles on the podium – Sophie Bickerstaff was 2nd (12:17) and Aria Sabado 3rd (12:45). Also doing a great job were Amalie Twydell 5th (12:53), Belle Bazeley 15th (13:22), Allegra Sawkins 35th (14:37), Isobel McLennan 42nd (14:49), Lois Watson 45th (14:54), Dia Paul 48th (15:06) and Ava O’Neal 106th (16:46).
And in the year 8 boys race we say excellent running from Joe Sandford 32nd (12:32), Adam Armour 42nd (13:03) and Mason Grindrod 82nd (13:38).
Well done all and congratulations to everyone selected for the Intercounties event!
Parkrun & junior parkrun roundup (15/16 Feb)
There was a strong turnout of Beagles at Raphael on Saturday with 7 runners taking part. Simon Knightbridge (17:44) finished 4th and comfortably under 18 minutes again, while also running strongly was Evie Warn (18:45 PB) who took 9th and 1st female, taking a new course PB by over 20 seconds. Also running superbly was Lianne Esterhuysen (19:50 PB) who cracked sub-20 for the first time and finished 19th overall, while Callum Goodey (20:05) and Elliot Worth (20:06) were next across the line. Daniel Esterhuysen (21:11) took 29th closely followed by Matthew Jones (21:38) in 33rd.
More impressive performances at Billericay as Scott Brooks (17:40) took 1st by 2 seconds, while another strong effort by Sophie Bickerstaff (18:56 PB) saw her take 5th and 1st female. Mason Grindrod* (22:45) and Nora Heidemans (29:08) also ran, finishing 37th female out of 140.
Just the one runner at Chelmsford as Will Gazzard (19:37) took 13th while at Shorne Woods, Keith Thornton (21:51) took 13th. Finally, at Brentwood, Max Sanderson (19:08) took 1st, with Adam Armour (23:35) finishing 15th.
On Sunday, we had a good number of juniors running their 2k’s. At Chelmsford, Camilla Nash (09:46) took 18th in her first attempt at the event. Over at Hutton Rec. it was a Beagles 1-2 with Jamie Murphy (08:23) and Nadia Price (09:23) running well. Jessica Thomson* (10:44) was 7th, Max Morris (10:54) 8th, Chloe Thomson*(10:5) 9th and Joshua Thomson* (11:41) 12th.
Just the one runner at Lake Meadows as Isobel Larner (08:37) took 3rd while making a winning debut at Northlands was Willow Smith (09:10).
Parkrun & junior parkrun roundup (22/23 Feb)
Raphael was once again a popular destination for our 5k runners with 7 Beagles on show. Simon Knightbridge (17:52) kept up his sub-18 sequence finishing 3rd, while Will Gazzard (18:29) also ran strongly to take 7th. Lianne Esterhuysen (19:44 PB) once again impressed, taking 6 more seconds off her course best and finishing 14th overall! Also taking part were Keith Thornton (20:37) in 20th, Liam Worth (28:35), Elliot Worth (28:37) and Freya Brewington (30:17).
Three runners at Billericay with Kurt Brooks (21:20) 12th, Scott Brooks (22:56) 25th and Mason Grindrod* (23:44) 41st. Finally at Chelmsford, Demi Eves (21:41) ran well to take 26th (2nd female) with Nadia Price (24:34) and Phil Price (24:35) marginally outside the top 100.
On Sunday at Hutton Rec., Alexandra Johnston (09:21) ran well to take 2nd, with Camilla Nash (10:04) 4th. Nora Heidemans (10:08)was 5th, Max Morris (10:38) 6th with Nadia Price (25:01) tail-walking. Just the one runner at Lake Meadows as Liam Worth (10:06) finished 3rd. At Harrow Lodge, Emily Brewington (08:27) finished 2nd overall, with Willow Smith (08:40 PB) setting a new course best in 5th. Harry Collier (09:33) took 14th. Finally at Harlow, Adam Armour (07:42) took 1st place.
Well done to all our representatives at parkrun. Can we please remind you that we can only pick up your results in the parkun club report if you register yourself as being part of the club in your parkrun profile. Unfortunately, the automatic club report only works on the Saturday parkruns so we are unable to spot performances at junior parkruns beyond the local ones we monitor (Harrow Lodge, Hutton Rec., Chelmsford, Lake Meadows, Great Notley and Northlands). Feel free to contact us if you need help setting up your profile or if you want to tell us about your runs further afield.
Coming up
It’s a busy start to March with the running of the postponed English Schools Cross Country Cup. Indoors, it’s the Essex and Eastern championships with a superb number of Beagles set to take part. Good luck to everyone!
