Bourton Juniors

Gloucestershire Cross Country Championships – Rencomb College – 5th January 2019.

The Gloucestershire Cross Country Championships took place for the first time at Rendcomb College, near Cirencester and was hosted by Cirencester Athletics Club.

With the exception of the U11 age group, this is the race that selects a team of eight, in each age group, to represent Gloucestershire, in the Inter Counties Championships in March.

Usually the top six who finish on the day are automatically selected, but the next four to six runners may be picked, or held as reserves if other runners have to pull out.

On the day the weather was good and the conditions dry.

The course was quite demanding with a steep hill to contend with, and for the under 15 age group and older, at least two river crossings with the water over thirty centimetres deep and cold.

Bourton Roadrunner Junior’s were again well supported with over twenty runners taking part and producing the club’s best results at a County Championship in recent years.

The first race was the U11 girls and unfortunately this year we have not been able to assemble a team of three, but Grace Barrington Cramp ran well for 14th and was closely followed at the end by Bella Harrison who started at the back and made her way up through the field.

This year the under 11 boys have been getting better with every race.

Michael Astor, has made massive strides this year, regularly finishing in the top three in the Gloucestershire Cross Country League.

He finished second on the day with another strong performance closely followed by his older brother Charlie in third.

Ned Harrison was the club's third runner home in an excellent seventh place.

These three boys bought the first team home in first place and County Gold Medals for all three.

Alfie Sansom who is still only just nine years old, has trained hard since he joined and this showed with a superb eighth place just behind Ned.

Harry Bradley has not raced too many times this year but he's starting to show his potential and finished 11th.

Arthur Quli is another member who has not trained regularly due to other commitments but put in a strong run for 21st.

A third place overall and County Bronze Medals for all, was a well-deserved reward, and the first time in many years that the club has had a first and third in the same race.

In the U13 girl’s race, a team medal was not expected but the girls rose to the occasion finishing third team overall and County Bronze Medals for all three.

Maite Capper has always trained hard but often during races, her nerves get the better of her.

but they didn't as she finished sixth and secured a place in the County team.

Ella Gray is another with massive potential and although she found it tough, she put in a strong team performance for 12th.

Abigail Barnett was close behind again running well for 14th.

The U13 boys were strong medal contenders at the start of the race, but a first team place overall was a massive surprise on the day but again very well deserved.

Kian Dee has been putting in a great deal of hard work over the year and is now reaping the rewards with a well deserved sixth place and a place in the County team. George Quli has also been working hard to get back to full fitness and put in one of his best performances to date for 9th place.

Wilf Harrison is another with massive potential but often struggles slightly in races but not today with an excellent 15th place.

George Swayne 17th, Jonathan Cook 18th and Edward Jones 26th all ran well but just missed out on third team place, finishing fourth.

George only joined the club recently so this was an excellent result.

Jonathan always puts in a strong performance as he did today and Edward Jones also did well.

Kiya Dee has only just moved up from the U13 girls but easily won the U15 girl’s race.

Twin sister Taya has also been on the up recently and ran well for fourth just six seconds behind third place.

Helena West was the clubs third runner home in 12th.

They still managed to hold onto a well deserved second place and Silver Medals for all three.

They were well supported by Heidi Mundinano and Isobel Barnett in 13th and 14th place respectively.

Both girls have suffered from the winter colds recently but both are on the up again with strong performances and will only get better.

Barney Hall was the clubs only runner in the U15 boys and ran well for 11th overall.

He missed a great deal of summer training due to other commitments but has been training well recently but was hampered due to running in trainers rather than spikes especially as there were several muddy sections.

Emily Field ran one of her best races to date with a fantastic first place, individual County Gold Medal and a place in the County Team in the U17 girl’s Competition.

Jake Astor has just moved up to the U17 age group he managed an excellent fifth place and a place in the County team on the day.

Our final runner was Gabby Jones who again ran well with a very good 6th place in the U20 girls and again a place in the County team.

Overall a great set of results for Bourton Roadrunners Juniors and one of the best results in recent times.

Bourton are keen to have more runners signed up. Anyone aged seven plus interested in a trial should visit bourtonroadrunners.co.uk (under Junior Section).