ON Saturday 12th March 2016 five super talented young athletes from Harlow AC (HAC) travelled to Cofton Park in Birmingham to compete for their County Teams at the National Inter Counties Cross Country Championships following their selections earlier in the season.

Bright sunshine greeted the athletes on the day and the courses at Cofton are extremely challenging with long hilly and undulating sections although conditions underfoot were fine.

The event sees the cream of Britain’s endurance club athletes compete against each other and athletes have to be selected by their counties to compete, so the standard is fierce. This really is the ‘best of the best’.

In the U13 girls 3k Savanna Sirkett was 165th (14.15) and Charlotte Pratt who was still suffering with a heavy cold was 251st (14.54) from 302 finishers. Both girls were representing Essex. It was touch and go as to whether Charlotte would compete but she bravely chose to ‘give it a go’.

In the U13 boys 3k Joe Morgan was 160th (13.01) from 306 finishers, representing Essex.

In the U15 girls 4.5k, Hertfordshire’s Lottie Roweddwer had a terrific run to finish in a highly respectable 55th place (18.29) from 302 finishers.

In the U15 boys 5k Lewis Harknett had a tough day at the office to finish in 82nd place (17.19) albeit with a very fast time.

The HAC junior endurance team will be helping out at the Harlow Primary School XC Champs on Monday 14th March 2016 at Parringdon acting as ‘hares’ for the races. HAC Coach Paul Bailey has been asked to start the races on the day.

Meanwhile, HAC superstar Dawn Jones was in stellar firm at the British Masters Indoor Champs at Lee Valley on Sunday 13th March 2016. Dawn secured a fantastic silver in the W45 60m hurdles. Dawn was 4th in the finals of the 60m sprint and 400m sprint also.