ON Saturday 6th Oct at One Tree Hill Country Park at Stanford Le Hope, Harlow AC’s (HAC) endurance contingent got the the Essex Cross Country League fixtures underway in fine and dominant style.

The conditions were wet and warm on the day and the courses at One Tree Hill are very hilly providing excellent and testing cross country running. HAC’s runners were facing the toughest competition in Essex and the surrounding counties on the day.

Pride of place on the day went to HAC’s U11 girl Elizabeth Woods who won the 1500m XC race in fine style out sprinting her nearest rival by 1 second !

We also had three other superb podium finishes on the day;

A fine 3rd place in the U11 boys 1500m XC was HAC debutant Jake Lacey in 5.05.
A fantastic 3rd place in the U15 girls over 4.5K went to a hugely improving Savanna Sirkett in a fast 16.34 with a superb run.
A very hard fought 3rd place in U17 men over a gruelling 6.5K went to Lewis Harknett in 22.43.
Our other results on the day were;

U11 girls 1500m XC;
6th Lilly Smith 6.09
14th Sophie Brennan 9.04
U11 boys 1500m XC;
7th Josh Knightbridge 5.30
8th Freddie Sperring 5.34
16th Sam Putt 6.06
U13 girls 3.5K
13th Ellen Savidge 14.31
27th Mackenzie Cranfield 15.37
40th Katie Brennan 17.04
The girls were 5th from 13 teams in the team event.

U13 boys 3.5K
20th Daryn Gerty 14.31
32nd Oliver Nelson 16.03
U15 boys 4.5K
15th Joe Morgan 14.47
22nd Jamie Putt 15.11
U17 women 5K
11th Lottie Rowedder 20.41
U17 men 6.5K
16th Owen Harknett 25.06

All of our athletes acquitted themselves with distinction and they are a credit to their club, their coaches and all the many volunteers that help out at HAC, I could not be prouder of them!

We head off to the next Essex League fixture on the 29th October at Hylands Park in Chelmsford. This fixture will also double up as a trial meeting for selecting the Essex XC teams for the SEAA InterCounties meeting in December.