Kettering Town Harriers hosted the annual Northants Cross Country Championships at Wicksteed Park. With 14 individual titles and 12 team titles up for grabs it was Rugby & Northampton AC that came away with a total of 16.
The Senior Men were team champions for the 8th consecutive time when Luke Greer won his first County title by 16 secs from last year’s winner Finlay Ward over the 10k course. The scoring six from R&N was completed by Noah Bennett in 3rd, Haydn Arnall (5th), Phil Melling (6th) and Malachy Collins (7th). Melling also clinched the Masters title for the fourth time and won another gold with Richard Francis, Dave Conway and Steve Dixon for the R&N team. Collins won the U20 Men’s race with clubmate Arthur Tilt in second and Northampton AC’s Freddie Cushing third.
The overall winner of the Ladies race was U20 athlete Alice Bates from Kettering Town Harriers by a margin of 46 secs to successfully defend her junior title. She was followed by R&N’s Megan Stenhouse for Senior gold with Ellie Welch (Corby) and Lucy Stevens (R&N) in second and third respectively. Corby also won silver with Ashleigh Walters in the U20 event and Thea Oakey (Northampton AC) the bronze. Imogen Dee completed the Senior Women’s team for Corby AC and this proved to be the closest race of the day when they won the title on countback from R&N.
There was a1-2 for R&N in the Women’s Masters race when Kat Hemmington won gold from Jo Harris with Helen Heley (Silson AC ) in third. With Sophie Wilkinson-Hargate in 5th it ensured another team gold for R&N.
Daventry AC had an individual winner in the U17 Men’s race over the same course as the Ladies. Joshua Orchard clinched the title from Kettering’s Dylan Ransom. The team gold went to R&N with Nathan Lamb (3rd), Freddie Harris (4th) and Dylan Mander (5th). KTH had the first two in the U17 Women’s event with the title going to Iona Ellwood from Charlotte Jackson. The host club had an emphatic team victory in the U15 Girls event over 4.3k with a clean sweep of the medals. Marianna Owen took the title and was well clear of clubmates Millie Sharp (2nd) and Sabina Lawton (3rd). Laike Favier was first home for R&N in the U15 Boys race while KTH’S Ben Scott took silver. It was Finley Williams in third that helped Daventry AC win team gold. He was backed up by Craig Smith in fifth and William Combstock (6th).
Bella Lamb helped R&N win another team title when she took gold in the U13 Girls race over the 3k distance. Beatrice Brinza won silver for Daventry, but it was Freya Carty in third and Scarlett Nicklin (6th) that closed out the winning team. Reuben Gray of Banbury moved up from winning the U11’s last year to take gold in the U13 Boys race. Daventry AC’s Cruz Confue finished 2nd and Jake Macdonald of Corby AC was third. Henry Marriott (5th), Jan Hemmington (6th) and Thomas Cumberpatch (7th) won team gold for R&N.
The first race of the day saw a clean sweep of medals for Rugby & Northampton AC in the U11 Boys race. Freddie Hinton crossed the line first over the 2k course followed by Rex Nicklin and James Hancock. In the corresponding Girls race Northampton AC clinched their solitary gold medal with Manar Zbirou. With Mara Hamilton in second, Lena Holmes (3rd) and Ella Felstead (7th) it was another team victory for R&N.
