BAC runners win individual and team golds at County XC Championships
A 16-strong Biggleswade AC team of juniors, seniors and veterans won two individual gold medals and three team golds at the annual Bedfordshire AAA County Cross Country Championships. They also won three individual bronzes.
The 2025/26 XC season championships, which as usual were combined with those of Buckinghamshire AA, were held at Southill Park, Bedfordshire, on Saturday January 3. The day was sunny but very cold and the underfoot obstacles included tussock grass, frozen molehills, the odd stretch of mud and a testing hill right at the end of the course!
The first of BAC’s two individual golds was won by Ben Morris in the U11B race. He, Nathan Cornwall (3rd) and Jacob Hegarty-Powell (5th) also won the first team gold. A fourth U11B runner, Leo Spence, also had a great run on his debut cross country appearance for the club, finishing 6th to make it four BAC runners in the first six!
The second BAC individual gold was won by Lauren Bone in the U15G race, so retaining her 2024/25 season title and winner’s shield where her name appears alongside that of famous English marathon runner and track athlete Paula Radcliffe who won the same event in 1988.
The second and third BAC team golds were won by the trio of Rosanna Bartlett, Natalie Morgan and Caroline Donaldson who finished 5th, 10th and 11th, respectively, in the Senior/Veteran (Under 50) Women’s race to win both the senior/veteran and veteran team categories.
The three BAC individual bronze medals were won by Nathan Cornwall in the U11B; Ross Bone in the U13B and Sidney Hammond in the U17M.
BAC’s other runners at Southill Park were Austin Milner, 8th in the U15B; Henry Knox (7th) U17M; Robert Morgan (13th) and Phil Rowlett (17th) Senior/Veteran (Under 60) Men; and Charles Arnold (6th) and Keith Yaxley (16th) Veteran (Over 60) Men. Charles was also the highest placed M70 or older runner.
With their top three finishes, Lauren, Ross and Sid all secured automatic selection for their respective junior teams in the Bedfordshire squad which will compete at the 2026 UK Inter Counties Cross Country Championships due to be held in Nottingham on Saturday March 7.
The same applies to Rosanna in respect of the county senior women’s team as the first five home in the county senior races also secured automatic selection for the UK Inter Counties.
They could be joined by one or two more BAC runners when the Bedfordshire AAA selects the other members of the county’s teams for each race.
Photos: Thanks to Phil Hastings, Doug Hammond, Alison Bone, John Morris and Julia Spence for supplying the photos to go with this report.
Bedfordshire Results: http://bedfordshireaaa.org.uk/Beds%20AAA%20Website/bedsaaa/2025/XC/Beds%20XC%20Champs%20Results%202025-2026.pdf
Combined Bedfordshire & Buckinghamshire Results should be published shortly on the Power of 10 results website: https://www.thepowerof10.info/results/resultslookup.aspx