Northamptonshire Cross Country Championship, Sat 7th January 2023

Northampton AC played host to the Northamptonshire Cross Country Championships held at Abington Park on a wet and soggy day over a testing parkland course.

The host club provided the only clean sweep of the day in the U17 Women’s race over 6k when Thea Oakey romped home to victory with a time of 28:03 and was backed up by Sophie Wood (2^nd in 28:52) and Hazel Dalley (3^rd in 29:12) for an easy team title. Rugby & Northampton AC claimed second through Jemima Lambert  (5^th), Marni Walker (8^th) and Lily Isaac (10^th).

In the U17 Men’s event over the same distance Louis Starr of R&N clinched the title by one second from clubmate Malachy Collins with 22:03 while Banbury’s Ruben Snelson took bronze (22:29). With Arthur Tilt in fourth (22:37) it was a team win for Rugby & Northampton. Following them home were Ollie Buchan (5^th), Freddie Cushing (7^th) and Joshua Robson (9^th), which gave Northampton AC the silver. Kettering Town Harriers with Lucas Rogers (8^th), Dylan White (10^th) and Ellis Johnson (13^th) took bronze.

The Senior and U20 Women also took in the same 6k course and Alice Belcher of Wellingborough &            District won her first Senior title by 30 seconds from R&N’s U20 athlete Megan Stenhouse in 23:44. Lucy Stevens (R&N) in third took Senior silver with 24:27, but it was Wellingborough that won their first ever ladies title with Kelly Barnett 4^th (Senior bronze in 25:58) and Francesca Molossi-Murphy (5^th in 26:55). Amy Rule of Corby AC in 6^th (27:00) won silver in the U20 section and clubmate Ashleigh Walters was one place and 12 seconds behind for Junior bronze. R&N’s Lorna Hession in 8^th spot on 27:34 gave their club the team silver medals and Junior athlete Erin Treacy in 9^th (27:40) gave Corby third position.

The longest race of the day was the 10k for Senior and U20 Men over four large laps of the park. It proved to be a battle between the top two from last year Haydn Arnall of R&N and Fynn Batkin of Kettering along with U20 athlete Skip Snelson of Banbury. Batkin held a lead approaching the finish, but he was overhauled by Arnall with one final sprint to the line to defend his title in a time of 35:04. Batkin was four seconds adrift with Snelson in third (35:30) claiming the Junior gold. Senior bronze went to Jack Bond in fourth (36:07) and this helped Rugby & Northampton AC to win the Senior Mens team trophy for the 6^th consecutive time. The scoring six was completed by Phil Melling (5^th), William Gardner (6^th), Duncan Birtwistle (8^th) and Matthew Everett (9^th).  Lucas Mansell of Kettering in 7^th won the U20 silver medal with 38:11 while Everett took bronze (39:03). Corby AC won the silver medals with Junior Harrison Thompson leading them home in 11^th place on 39:26. He had backing from Jacob Akers (13^th), Adam Brooks (16^th), Chris Curtis (20^th), Jack Green (21^st) and John Treacy (49^th). Northampton AC clinched third spot and were led by Matthew Howes in 10^th (39:07). Two U20 clubmates followed him with Stirling Green in 17^th and Thomas Bishton 23^rd. The team was completed by Adil Zbirou (27^th), Paul Wood (33^rd) and James Adams (37^th).

The U15 Boys competed over 5k and R&N’s Ollie Walls won the title by eight seconds from his clubmate Nathan Lamb in 18:44 with Daventry AC’s Joshua Orchard taking bronze in 18:56. With Dylan Mander in fourth for R&N (18:58) this gave them team gold while Kettering just pipped Northampton by one point to win silver with the team of Dylan Ransom (9^th), Zachary Scott (10^th) and Evan Willis (12^th). Arlo Bamford led home Northampton in 6^th with Jack Twining (11^th) and Daniel Wood (15^th).

Over the same distance Olivia McGhee had a convincing win for R&N in the U15 Girls race on 20:27. Evie Brooker of Daventry came second in 22:03 and Kettering’s Iona Ellwood in third (22:32). R&N took the team title with help from Jemima Cooper (4^th in 23:02) and Grace Cota (7^th in 29:21).

Northampton AC had an individual winner in the U13 Girls event over 3k when Imogen Bennetts took gold in 10:32. The next three places were all taken by R&N athletes who won the team event with Elsie Bennett ( 2^nd in 11:01), Jess Lamb (3^rd in 11:13) and Peyton Almond (4^th in 11:17). Northampton were second with Eve Taylor (6^th in 12:19) and Bella Fontenla (11^th in 14:44) completing the squad. The U13 Boys race was won by R&N’s Laike Favier when he covered the 3k in 10:31 and was followed by two Kettering Town Harriers with Harlee Hooker (10:48) and Oliver Smith (10:57). It was another team victory for Rugby & Northampton which was completed by Charlie Gercs (6^th in 11:35) and Harrison Kane (7^th in 11:42).

The first race of the day was the U11’s over 2k and R&N’s Bella Lamb helped her club to the team title when she took individual gold in the girls race with 6:47. Corby’s Kirrily Dubois won silver in 7:14. Backing up Lamb in the team was bronze medal winner Christabella Reitel (7:26) and Taya Young (5^th in 7:48). Banbury Harriers had a winner in the boys race with Reuben Gray recording 6:36. Oliver Groves of Northampton clinched second spot in 6:45 and Rugby & Northampton’s Freddie Hinton the bronze in 6:51, which helped them to win gold in the team event supported by Jan Hemmington (5^th in 7:02) and Ernie Windrum (6^th in 7:05). Backing up Groves for Northampton AC to win silver were Leonard Melczynska (7^th) and Riley Billingham (11^th).

Full results here NAA XC Entries & Results Final