REPORT ON NATIONAL CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPOINSHIPS

Southampton Athletics Club's athletes put in some good performances at the English National Cross Country Championships at Alton Towers on Saturday.
Atrocious conditions made for a difficult day as events were delayed and the courses changed across various age groups for safety reasons. Athletes and spectators were ankle deep in mud and it was not a day for faint hearts.
The best results came in the Senior Women’s race. In a field of over 500, Southampton's Ceri Mitchell ran an excellent race to come home 26th, closely followed by team mate Laura Brenton in 41st. Nicola Blandford was 86th and Natalie Burke completed the team coming home 183rd. This gave the team a top ten finish to come home 10th and be the first Hampshire Team to finish.
A single competitor braved the elements in the Senior Men's race with Faul Fotherby coming home 466th out of a field of more than 1300 competitors.
Jamie Knapp ran a fine race to come home 30th in the Junior Mens race as did Caitlin Stewart who finished 59th in the U15 girls race.
In the u15 boys race, Peter Ellis continued his fine form of late finishing 60th and he was followed home by team mates Niall Holt in 110th and Alex Ruggles in 164th with over 300 boys taking part.
Finally, in the U13 girls race, Alana Spiers maintained her fine season with a 55th place finish, followed by Briallen Taylor who was 98th and Abbie Fisher 115th in another field of over 300 runners.

The Senior Womens team in the mud;