Autumn/Winter 2023/24 Cross Country & Road Running Update – Another successful winter season for WSEH AC

Road Relays: South of England Road Relays

The winter season always starts with the road relays. The South Of England Road Relays were back to the traditional venue of Rushmore Arena in Aldershot on 23rd September 2023.

Although the club didn’t manage to win any medals, it was a great opportunity for different combinations of runners to be tried out across various age groups and teams and with many athletes making their debut in a road relay, there were valuable lessons learned for future races.

Our A team of U13 Boys, all of whom were running their 1^st club relay race, came in 7^th with Archie Charles on leg 1, Ted Bainbridge on leg 2 and Joseph Brooker on the 3^rd, final leg. The B team of Thomas Fay, Barney Hilliar and Frankie Fraser was 17^th, the C team of Arthur Evans, Harry Welch and Mark Bourne 33^rd and Matthew Robson ran the 1^st leg for the D team.

Our U13 Girls A team was 9^th with Zoe Allan running leg 1, followed by Zlata Osipova and Olivia Watson. The B team of Quinn Bookless, Freya Wouters and Mia Lennox-Imbastari were 24^th, the D team of Megan Bond, Betty Kellerman and April Dodson were 29^th and the C team of Roxanna Heffer, Lyra Banham and Ellouise James   were 34^th.

We fielded 2 U15 Boys’ teams. Our A team of Teddy Silvey, Geroge Hilliar and Toby Holmes came 18^th while Jack Regan and Euan Totays ran for the B team. Grace Colley ran the 1^st leg for our U15 Girls A team that finished 13^th. Grace was followed by Tara Ferguson and Chloe Bullock. The B team of Chloe Bavazzano, Sofia Sabbah and Nihaal Rasheed were 51^st.

Dylan Bavazzano, Sarim Toqeer and Callum Welch came 25^th in the U17 Boys’ race and Sohan Nath ran the 1^st leg for the B team. Our U17 Women’s team of Eva Bartlett, Stephanie Massie and Ella Davey finished in 6^th place and the B team of Asmi Saha, Marnie Fieldsend and Yasmin Grant were 14^th.

Our best result of the day came in the Senior Women’s race (which includes U20 runners). 1^st year U20 Rachel Clutterbuck came in 19^th and Alex Barbour moved the team up to 11^th. Jemima Ridley, also an U20 moved up to 6^th on leg 3 with triathlete Izzie Shirley bringing the team up to a well-deserved 5^th position.

Our Senior Men’s team was again a mix of seniors and U20s and did well to finish 44^th out of 106 teams. George Thomas ran leg 1 and he was followed by Henry Johnston, Matthew Clutterbuck, Will Goddard (U20), Marcus Shantry and Tom Baines.

Will Goddard running in the Senior Men’s Team at the Southern Road Relays

Road Relays: National Road Relays

On 7th October 2023, the National Road Relays were held in Sutton Park, Birmingham. In the U17 Men’s race, Alden Collier ran the fastest time of the day when coming in 1^st on leg 1 (11.29) which helped the team of Sarim Toqeer on leg 2 and Callum Welch on leg 3 to a fantastic 6^th place.

U17 Men Sarim Toqeer, Alden Collier and Callum Welch at the National Road Relays

Improving on their 7^th place in the SEAA road relays, our U13 Boys’ A team of Ted Bainbridge, Joseph Brooker and Thomas Fay were a fantastic 4^th with the B team of Arthur Evans, Archie Charles and Barney Hilliar not far behind in 10^th. Our C team of Frankie Fraser, Mark Bourne and Harry Welch was 42^nd.

Zoe Allan, running the 8th fastest time of the day, Olivia Watson and Quinn Bookless were 11^th in the U13 Girls’ race with the B team of Zlata Osipova, Megan Bond and Freya Wouters 28^th and the C team of April Dodson, Betty Kellerman and Ellouise James 46^th.

WSEH AC U13 Girls at the National Road Relays

In the U15 Girls’ race, Tara Ferguson ran the 4^th fastest leg (13:22) and overtook 21 runners on leg 2 with the team including Grace Colley and Chloe Bullock finishing in 14^th place.

Our U15 Boys’ A team of William Hapgood, Toby Holmes and George Hilliar were 41st.

Ella Davey, Ana Passos and Aashni Manek were 12^th in the U17 Women’s race and Stephanie Massie ran the 1^st leg for the B team.

The Senior Women’s race comprised 4 legs rather than 3 and our A team of Alex Barbour, Amber Clarke, Natalie Thompson and Simran Dhillon were 35^th. Keshni Manek, Izzy Rayner and Charlotte Adamo ran legs 1 to 3 for the Senior Women’s B team.

Cross Country Relays: South of England Cross Country Relays

The cross country season started with the South of England Cross Country Relays at Wormwood Scrubs on 21st October 2023 and resulted in a brilliant 4 team medals for the club.

Our Senior Men’s team of Hugo Donovan, Blake Moore, Dan Brookling and Alex Tovey SEAA CC Men’s Champions retained their title with a 40 second margin over 2nd placed placed Dulwich Runners.

Hugo Donovan, Blake Moore, Dan Brookling and Alex Tovey SEAA CC Men’s Champions

Their win was followed by another win for our U20 Women’s team of Simran Dhillon, Rachel Clutterbuck and Keshni Manek who won their race by nearly a minute with Rachel Clutterbuck running the fastest time of the day.

Eva Bartlett, Ella Davey and Asmi Saha won silver in the U17 Women’s race. The B team of Stephanie Massie, Ana Passos and Aashni Manek were 6^th and Honey Fitzgerald and Yasmin Grant ran for the C team.

The U20 men’s team of George Thomas, Will Goddard and Josh Mingoia also took silver.

Our U13 Boys’ A team of Joseph Brooker, Ted Bainbridge and Arthur Evans were 4^th with the B team of Thomas Fay, Archie Charles and Barney Hilliar not far behind in 8^th. The C team of Frankie Fraser, Harry Welch and Mark Bourne were 18^th and Matthew Robson ran the 1^st leg for the D team.

Also 4^th were our U15 Girls with Tara Ferguson, Grace Colley and Chloe Bullock. The B team of Chloe Bavazzano, Sofia Sabbah and Nihaal Rasheed finished 16^th while Lola Williamson ran leg 1 for the C team.

Olivia Watson, Quinn Bookless and Zoe Allan were 5^th in the U13 Girls’ race with Zoe running the 2^nd fastest time. The B team of Roxanna Heffer, Zlata Osipova and Megan Bond were 16^th, the C team of Freya Wouters, Mia Lennox-Imbastari and Betty Kellerman were 18^th and Ellouise James and Lyra Banham ran legs 1 and 2 for the D team.

Callum Welch, Sarim Toqeer and Sam Thuo were 8^th in the U17 Men’s race supported by Dylan Bavazzano who ran  the 1^st leg for the B team.

George Hilliar, Henry Keen, and Toby Holmes were 14^th in the U15 Boys’ race. Euan Totays and Ben Young ran 2 legs for the B team.

Asmi Saha, Ella Davey and Eva Bartlett 2nd U17 W at the SEAA CC Relays

U15 Girls Chloe Bullock, Tara Ferguson and Grace Colley were 4th at the SEAA Cross Country Relays

Cross Country Relays: Saucony English Cross Country Relays

After the successes at the South of England AA Cross Country Relays, the club took a number of teams of 3 runners to the Saucony English Cross Country Relays in Mansfield on 4th November 2023.

A great team effort by our U13 Boys (Joe Brooker, Ted Bainbridge and AJ Evans) saw them improve on their 4^th places in the road relays to take the bronze medals. The B team of Barney Hilliar, Thomas Fay and Frankie Fraser 14^th and Mark Bourne and Harry Welch ran the 1^st 2 legs for the C team.

Joe Brooker, Ted Bainbridge and AJ Evans National CC Relay bronze U13 Boys

Alden Collier ran the overall fastest lap (09:05.55) in the U17 Men’s race with the team including Callum Welch and Sarim Toqeer coming in 18^th. Dylan Bavazzano ran the 1^st leg for the B team.

Zoe Allan ran the 3^rd fastest leg for the U13 Girls’ team with Olivia Watson and Freya Wouters taking the team to a fine 5^th place. The B team of Quinn Bookless, Megan Bond and Roxanna Heffer were 33^rd and Zlata Osipova and April Dodson ran 2 of the 3 legs for the C team.

A good team effort by our U17 Women saw them finish 7^th with Eva Bartlett on the 1^st leg, Stephanie Massie 2^nd leg and Ella Davey the final leg. The B team of Asmi Saha, Ana Passos and Aashni Manek finished a creditable 20^th.

Our U15 Boys’ team of George Hilliar, William Hapgood and Henry Keen finished 41^st.

Our U15 Girls team of Tara Ferguson, Grace Colley and Chloe Bavazzano were 24^th with Sofia Sabbah running the 1^st leg for the B team.

In the U20 Women’s race Jemima Ridley came in 4^th on leg 1 in a time that stayed as the 4^th fastest of the day. Rachel Clutterbuck finished leg 2 in 2^nd place but sadly the team didn’t have a 3^rd leg runner.

Jemima Ridley 4th fastest U20 Woman in the National CC Relays

Our U20 Men’s team of Henry Johnston, Will Goddard and George Thomas finished 14^th while Jack Campbell and Josh Mingoia ran legs 1 and 2 in the B team.

Alex Barbour was our sole representative in the Senior Women’s relay coming in 9^th on the 1^st leg while Ross Van Heerde ran the 1^st leg for our Senior Men’s team.

Cross Country: GB Call up for Sam Hodgson

After winning the Cardiff Cross Challenge on 11th November 2023 and finishing 2nd at the British Athletics Cross Challenge in Liverpool which included the European Trials, Sam Hodgson earned a well-deserved GB vest when he was part of the GB U20 Men’s team at the European Cross Country Championships in Brussels on 10th December 2023. Finishing in a fine 25th place, Sam was part of the gold medal winning GB team.

Sam Hodgson 2nd from right at the European Cross Country Championships 2023 U20 Men Team GB

Sam Hodgson brought his European Cross Country Gold Medal for the U20 Men’s Great Britain team to the club

Cross Country: County Cross Country Championships

Sadly, the Berkshire County Championships were cancelled at the last minute due to flooding on the course, but Rachel Clutterbuck won the U20 Women’s race at the Surrey County Championships and Freya Wouters was 3^rd U13 Girl in the Oxfordshire County Championships.

Rachel Clutterbuck U20 Women’s winner in the Surrey County Cross Country Championships

Freya Wouters, 3^rd U13 Girl in the Oxfordshire County Championships

Cross Country: South of England Cross Country Championships

The club sent a large team of 53 athletes to the South of England Cross Country Championships at Beckenham Place Park, Beckenham on 27th January. After a successful day’s racing, we had won 2 team titles and a team and individual bronze.

The U17 Women had an outstanding race with 3 runners in the top 10 to take the gold team medals. They were led home by Lucy Wilkinson in 3^rd, closely followed by Eva Bartlett 7^th, Jaq Heller 9^th, Ella Davey 23^rd, Yasmin Grant 46^th, Aashni Manek 57^th  and Ana Passos 70^th.

Lucy Wilkinson, 3^rd in the U17 Women’s Race at the SEAA Cros Country Championships

Gold Medallist U17 Women’s Team SEAA CC (back row Lucy Wilkinson and Jaq Heller, front row Eva Bartlett and Ella Davey)

The U13 Boys’ team of Ted Bainbridge (7^th), AJ Evans (18^th), Joe Brooker (20^th) and Barney Hilliar (21^st) also won fantastic gold team medals. In addition, Thomas Faye was 39^th, Archie Charles 43^rd, Frankie Fraser 103^rd, Harry Welch 135^th, Mark Bourne 154^th, Toby Hirst 156^th and Charlie Orywal-Sykes 158^th.

Our U13 Boys’ Team Celebrate their SEAA Bronze Medal. L-R Thomas Fay, Charlie Orywal-Sykes, Harry Welch, Barney Hilliar, Ted Bainbridge (back row), AJ (Arthur) Evans, Joe Brooker, Mark Bourne, Toby Hirst and Frankie Fraser.

Our U13 Girls’ team took an unexpected bronze medal with Zoe Allan 6^th, Quinn Bookless 44^th, Megan Bond 51^st and Mia Lennox-Imbastari 64^th. Other finishers were Roxanna Heffer in 77^th, Lyra Banham 104^th, Betty Kellerman 124^th and Ellouise James 145^th.

A Bronze Medal for our U13 Girls’ Team. Back row Quinn Bookless and Zoe Allan and front row Mia Lennox-Imbastari and Megan Bond.

Isaac Collier was the club’s 1^st finisher in 16^th Place in the U15 Boys’ Race where the team finished 9^th. He was followed closely by Teddy Silvey 21^st, Toby Holmes 67^th, Henry Keen 130^th, Euan Totays 152^nd  and Ben Young 153^rd.

Tara Ferguson was a great 6^th in the U15 Girls’ race with Chloe Bavazzano 139^th, Sofia Sabbah 172^nd and Nihall Rasheed 174^th.

Tara Ferguson 6^th U15 Girl SEAA CC

Our U17 Men’s team finished 13^th, led home by Sarim Toqeer in 45^th, Dylan Bavazzano 76^th, Sam Thuo 107^th nd Sohan Nath 116^th.

Rachel Clutterbuck had a strong run in the U20 Women’s race finishing 5^th with Jemima Ridley 12^th, Simran Dhillon 44^th and Keshni Manek 57^th.

As a result of her good placing, Rachel Clutterbuck was selected to represent the South of England at the Energy Vision Cross Cup in Belgium on 10^th February where she finished a fantastic 8^th.

Ou U20 Men’s team was just outside the medals in 4^th. Henry Johnston was 18^th, Will Goddard 21^st, George Thomas 35^th, Josh Mingoia 51^st and Luke Hynes 60^th.

The club fielded 2 runners in the Senior Women’s race where Alex Barbour was an impressive 11^th and Natalie Thompson 64^th.

Alex Barbour 11^th in the Senior Women’s Race SEAA Cross Country (Photo Mark Hookway)

Cross Country: Met League Cross Country

Throughout the season our U11 and U13 athletes represented the club in the Met Cross Country League which had 5 races throughout the season. As a result, our U13 Boys were 3^rd team overall. In addition, Eva Bartlett won the U17 Women’s race at Trent Park.

Eva Bartlett wins the U17 Women’s Met League Race at Trent Park

Our U11s and U13s enjoyed running in the Met League

Cross Country: Schools Cross Country Championships

The last major English cross country championships are the county and English Schools (ESAA) competitions. To qualify for the national ESAA final, athletes have to compete for their schools in county (and regional) championships after which the top 8 in each age group (Junior, Intermediate and Senior) are selected to compete for their county against the 45 other counties in the English Schools final.

The Berkshire Schools cross country championships were held in Newbury on 20th January where George Thomas won the Senior Boys’ race by a clear margin and Jaq Heller won the Senior Girls race.

George Thomas and Jaq Heller – Senior Winners at the Berkshire Schools Cross Country

The English Schools Championships, held in Pontefract, on 16th March where athletes represent their county schools rather than their athletics club, were the last major cross country race of the season. The club had 22 athletes racing at this prestigious event and an additional 5 ran in the earlier South East Schools championships.

The two outstanding results from the English Schools were from Jake Meyburgh who won the Intermediate Men’s race running for Surrey Schools and Junior Girl Zoe Allan who came 8^th  running for Berkshire Schools. Both athletes earned themselves England vests for the Schools International Cross Country (against Ireland, Wales and Scotland) in Dublin the following Saturday where Jake won the Intermediate Boys’ race and Zoe was 9^th Junior Girl, both helping their respective England Schools teams to win the gold medals.

Jake Meyburgh and Zoe Allan – success at the English Schools Championships

The other 20 WSEH athletes who raced at the ESAA Championships were Eva Bartlett, Dylan Bavazzano, Joe Brooker, Chloe Bullock, Archie Charles, Isaac Collier, Tara Ferguson, Will Hapgood,  Jaq Heller, George Hilliar, Toby Holmes, Henry Johnston, Aashni Manek, Steph Massie, Ana Passos, Asmi Saha, Ted Silvey, George Thomas, Lucy Wilkinson and Freya Wouters.

Road Running: South of England 5K Championships

The SEAA 5K Championships were held in Milton Keynes on 24th March 2024. The U17 Women’s team stormed to victory with Marnie Fieldsend winning the race, closely followed by Eva Bartlett in 2^nd and Asmi Saha 4^th.

Marnie Fieldsend, winner of the SEAA U17 Women’s 5K with gold medal winning team mates Eva Bartlett and Asmi Saha

In the U15 Boys’ 5K Teddy Silvey was 5^th and Toby Holmes 13^th while Tara Ferguson was 2^nd to South of England and English Schools champion Olivia Forrest in the U15 Girls’ race and Chloe Bavazzano was 11^th.

Road Running: South of England 12 Stage Road Relays

Held on the same date and at the same venue as the 5K championships, our men’s team which was a mixture of U20 and U23 athletes and senior men finished a fine 17th place which qualified the team for the national 12 stage relay championships in April.

Short leg runners: George Thomas (U20), Will Goddard(U23), Jordi Evans-Rodriguez (U23), Ross Van Heerde (U23), Jack Campbell (U23), Joshua Mingoia (U20)

Long leg runners: Sam Hodgson (U23), Daniel Brookling, Marcus Shantry, Ben Reynolds, Tom Bains, Simon Millett.

Road Running: TCS London Marathon Mini Marathon

The prestigious TCS Mini London Marathon championships held the day before the main London Marathon on 20th April, give the UK’s most promising young athletes the chance to compete against the best new talent in British road running. Based on results from high-level races during the cross country season, athletes aged U13, U15 and U17 are selected to compete for their region (or a London Borough).

WSEH had 9 athletes selected to run for their regions with at least 1 in every age group: Alden Collier (U17M), Eva Bartlett, Jaq Heller and Lucy Wilkinson  (U17W), Isaac Collier (U15B), Tara Ferguson (U15G), Zoe Allan (U13G) and Ted Bainbridge (U13B).  In addition, Frankie Fraser was selected to run for his local London Borough.

Some of our Mini Marathon Athletes (L-R Alden Collier, Jaq Heller, Lucy Wilkinson, Tara Ferguson, Zoe Allan, Ted Bainbridge)

Thanks of course must go to our head coaches Shireen Higgins and Peta Bee and all the assistant coaches without whom these amazing results wouldn’t be possible.

In marathon news, after winning the Edinburgh Marathon in May 2023 Alex Gladley went to Valencia on 3rd December 2023 and improved his PB to 2hrs 20.26. On 17th March 2024 he won the Colchester Half Marathon setting both a new PB and course record. In thr London Marathon, Alex Tovey ran his first ever marathon in a great time of 2.25.46