Small Chiltern League team produces some big individual performances
A smaller than usual Biggleswade AC team for this month’s Chiltern Cross Country League match − over grassy undulating courses at Campbell Park, Milton Keynes, on Saturday December 6 − produced some notable individual performances.
They included Nathan Cornwall winning the U-11M race for the second successive league meeting; Ben Morris, on his Chiltern League debut for the club, finishing 5th in the same race, only 10 seconds behind Nathan; Jacob Hegarty-Powell, another U-11M, finishing 16 places higher than in his previous league race; and Austin Milner making another big jump up the U-15M results list to crack the top 20 for the first time.
Clubs from Bedfordshire, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire, Middlesex, Oxfordshire and Northamptonshire compete in the Chiltern League which is organised into two divisions (except for U-11s), with all runners competing in the same races at the same venues. Scoring is done separately for each division. BAC compete in Division 2.
With some of BAC’s regular Chiltern League team absent for various reasons, the club’s largest representation in Milton Keynes was in the U-11M race. Nathan sprinted ahead from the start and held on well to win as Ben and some of other chasers tried to close the gap. Jacob also produced a fine run in only his second league race to finish 29th of the 68 runners, a notable improvement on the 45th place he achieved in his previous race. Together, the three finished 2nd in the U-11M team competition – only four points behind the winning team!
Prior to that race, Theia Freeston-Bull maintained her consistent finishing position in and around the top 10 in the league’s U-11F competition with a season’s best 9th place.
The U-15M race saw Austin, in his first year in that age group, move steadily through the field over the second half of the course to eventually finish 19th overall and 6th of the Division 2 runners. That was a notable step up on his overall 34th and 43rd place finishes in the previous two league races.
BAC’s other three runners at Campbell Park, who all put in good runs, were Theo Milner in the U-13M race (20th overall/5th in Division 2); and Sidney Hammond (24th/7th) and Henry Knox (55th/14th) in the U-17M race.
Big thanks go to BAC’s stand-in team manager for the event, Helen Milner, who kindly volunteered to cover for regular manager Alison Bone who had other commitments for that weekend.
After the meeting, Helen commented: “Many thanks to all the BAC runners and supporters who helped to fly the club flag in Campbell Park. A big 'well done' to all our runners, particularly of course Nathan on winning his second consecutive league race and Ben on such an impressive debut performance, but also to everyone else for putting in such great efforts.”
If you are interested in joining the club’s Chiltern League team for either or both the final two matches of this season, on January 10 (Watford) and February 7 (Luton), please contact Alison to let her know your availability.
RESULTS: https://chilternccl.co.uk/results/
PHOTOS: Thanks go to Helen Milner, Phil Hastings and Doug Hammond for the photos which accompany this report.