News: October 2023

The going was good at Keysoe in Bedfordshire this Saturday for the first Chiltern Cross Country League match of the season! All the components for a successful match were there: the weather was ideal and the course was exciting, with the added jeopardy of an equestrian water jump for the athletes to run through. A strong contingency came out to represent SNHAC with a number of first- time runners amongst them. Well done to everyone who ran; each of you played a significant part in the club’s success. We came 6th out of 25 in the overall team scoring: 4th in the male category, 11th in the female, 8th in the seniors and, most impressive of all, 2nd in the juniors.
…And they were off! Just to explain how the results listed below are recorded: positions for Under 11s show where they came overall in the race, whereas all other age categories are shown within the two divisions entering the races. SNHAC are in Division 2.
U11G: Haysan (7th) and Harriet (30th) U11B: Daniel (49th) and Ralph (52nd) U13G: Hazel (5th), Evie (13th) and Neve (15th) U13B: Oliver (10th), James (12th) and Luke (13th) U15G: Sarena (4th), Eleanor (5th), Juliet (9th), Esme (11th) and Hannah (13th) U15B: Aubrey (2nd), Karol (4th), Matthew (7th) and Evan (10th) U17G: Abigail (2nd) U17B: Tommy (5th), Daniel (16th), Calum (17th), George (18th), Thomas (19th) and Edward (21st) U20F: Amelie (4th) U20M: Will (1st), Isaac (2nd) and Owen (3rd) Senior Female: Chris (32nd) Senior Men: Adam (17th), Phil (96th) and Ed (98th)
So many thoroughbred performances: 11 top five placings; impressive first-time runners; a magnificent U17B team and a photo-finish between our top two U20M with just two seconds separating them over the 49.71 furlongs (or 10K in running terms)!
Got plenty more ‘horsey’ puns in the (nose)bag, but don’t want to ‘stirrup’ any trouble! See you in Milton Keynes for next month’s race.

Jockeying for position

On a warm Sunday morning 9 SNHAC athletes lined up amongst over 1000 local runners in the Standalone 10k race in Letchworth. First home was Adam Searle (40 mins 44 secs). He was just 3 seconds ahead of under 20 man Daniel Gill who was making his debut in SNHAC colours.

Next to finish was U20 woman Abigail Manson who followed up her impressive performances in the Midweek League with a win in her category (44.41). Senior woman Alex Gates (46.51), under 20 men Edward Turner (48.51) and Oscar Whitley (50.34), senior woman Rebecca Pickard (51.50), V40 Phil Turner (57.24) and V50 Paul Pickard (58.53) made up the rest of the SNHAC contingent.

Thanks as always to North Herts Road Runners for their excellent organisation and our own Alan Ephgrave who marshalled and offered encouragement, and Eleanor who popped up to take the photos!