The cross country season got off to a flying start with five team victories out of six in the young athletes' age groups and bumper turn outs from club athletes at One Tree Hill, Corringham on Saturday.

The warm and mainly sunny conditions gave an unseasonable air to this winter fixture but the challenging hilly conditions and over-distance courses made for a difficult introduction to cross country for some newcomers, while several seasoned athletes took tumbles.

The victory roll started with the youngest age groups as U13 squads both won. Impressive runs by Eleanor Bounds in third place Rebecca O'Neill (5th), Nicola Peachey (7th) & Becky Stanley (11th) led the winning Under 13 girls' team. They received excellent support from 10 other finishers - 14 in total - many of them competing in their first event and who will benefit from the experience to continue to improve over the course of the season.

Ryan O'Mahoney's third place for the Under 13 boys was well supported by Tyler Bennett (9th), Jon Seekings (10th) and Thomas Davies (22nd) to give the team a seven point advantage over Thurrock. Seven other athletes pulled on a club vest for the cause.

Excellent runs from three girls in the top five provided the base for an Under 15 girls' victory. Jennifer Holland ran strongly for third, closely followed by Zoey Littlechild (4th), Sidnie Sales (5th) but without Emma Fox's 17th place and Michelle Lovell's supporting run it all would have been to no avail as the team edged out Chelmsford by three points.

Yet another third place went to Matt Bloy in the Under 17 men with Rob Jones (7th), Grant Twist (8th) and Daniel Winters (10th) narrowly taking the team honours by two points from Colchester.  It was encouraging to see three other club athletes compete in this age group, as in recent years there has often not been a scoring quartet. 

Team performance continued to be the key to the day's success as Under 17 Ladies completed the team victories.  Impressive running by Georgie Sales (4th) and a fast finishing Ingrid Deane (6th) - both new to the age group followed by strong support from Jade Edwards (11th) and Alex Beard (14th) gave the club a four point cushion over Basildon. Christina Holland (15th) and newcomer Felicity Scott (23rd) provided support 

The young Under 15 boys had all four scorers in the top 15 but had to settle for second as Chelmsford took the honours.  There was little between John Whitehead (10th), Michael Jones (12th) and Simon Brown (13th) while Daniel Shanney was just two places back. Six other athletes completed the course, but Jamie Buckley-Stanton was injured & pulled out on course.

In the senior women's event Lauren Deadman, back in the area after four years at university and continual injuries, started the women's team off very well with yet another individual third. Denise Harris back from an extended injury lay off ran well in 12th and support from the ever dependable Lesley Felton getting back to full fitness (36th) and Linda Smith, in spite of taking a tumble, (45th) brought the team a creditable fourth place

The senior men did well to field a dozen starters despite missing most of their leading runners, away on a squad weekend. Rob Warner, one of the few top athletes appearing for the team, hammered out a strong run and worked his way through the classy 150 strong men's field to finish 13th. Ian Mulley 29^th, Graham Pritchard 50^th, and Tony Collins 56^th all finished in the top sixty, and vets Neil Bearwish 66^th and Graham Foster 84^th completed the scoring team. The team will hope to better their initial sixth place when the top guns return.

Link to full results                                                        Pics to follow asap

Under 13 Girls: 3rd - Eleanor Bounds 15:16; 5th - Rebecca O'Neill 15:48; 17th - Nicola Peachey 17:02; 11th Becky Stanley 17:05 (Team 1st - 28 pts) 14th - Shannon Sullivan 17:26; 15th - Nancy Kane 17:28; 22nd - Jessica Seekings 18:03; 23rd - Amanda Blaxland 18:05; 24th - Avril Loynes 18:07; 26th - Sharmila Golan 18:11; 30th - Deborah Knight 18:27; 33rd - Hannah Bloy 18:35; 35th - Kacey Offord 18:45; 40th - Rebecca Murphy 19:25
DNF (fell) - Rachel Sadler

Team: 1. HMAC - 28; 2. Basildon - 57. 3. Southend 68

Under 15 Girls: 3rd - Jennifer Holland 18:52; 4th - Zoey Littlechild 18:59; 5th - Sidnie Sales 19:17; 17th - Emma Fox 21:33; (Team 1st - 29 pts) 24th - Michelle Lovell 23:23

Team: 1. HMAC - 29; 2. Chelmsford 32; 3. Basildon - 51

Under 17 Girls/ under 20 women:   4th - Georgie Lou Sales 18:52; 6th - Ingrid Deane 19:38; 11th - Jade Edwards 20:08; 14th - Alex Beard 20:43 (Team 1st - 35 pts) 15th Christina Holland 20:50; 23rd - Felicity Scott 22:47

Team: 1. HMAC - 35; 2. Basildon - 39. 3. Chelmsford  46

Senior Women: 3rd - Lauren Deadman 30:41; 12th - Denise Harris 34:29; 36th - Lesley Felton 39:48; 45th - Linda Smith 42:24 (Team 4th - 96 pts) 

Team: 1. Colchester & T - 24; 2. Chelmsford - 39; 3. Loughton 58; 4th - HMAC - 96.

Under 13 Boys: 3rd - Ryan O'Mahoney 14:41; 9th - Tyler Bennett 15:25; 10th - Jonathan Seekings 15:26; 22nd - Thomas Davies 16:20 (Team 1st - 44 pts) 23rd - Luke Overton 16:23; 42nd- Jake Nelson 17:08; 36th - Adam Edwards 17:50; 37th - Andrew Holland 18:10; 39th - Michael Kakoullis 18:31; 43rd - Michael Foster 20:08; 44th Jordan Da Costa 20:29

Team: 1. HMAC - 44; 2. Thurrock 51; 3. Southend 53 

Under 15 Boys: 10th - John Whitehead 16:48; 12th - Michael Jones 16:58; 13th - Simon Brown 16:59; 15th - Daniel Shanney 17.10; (Team 2nd - 50 points) 20th - Thomas Shanney 17:28; 23rd - Callum Sutton 18:00; 25th - Liam Bush 18:19; 37th - Christopher Da Costa 20:08; 38th - Callum Hockley 20:12; 42nd - Tom Giggins 21:09
DNF (injured) - Jamie Buckley- Stanton

Team: 1. Chelmsford 40; 2. HMAC - 50; 3. Southend 67 

Under 17 Boys:  3rd - Matt Bloy 27:49; 7th - Rob Jones 28:30; 8th - Grant Twist 28:32; 10th - Daniel Winters 28:52; (Team 1st - 28 pts) 14th - Michael Donavan 29:12; 22nd - Robbie Kidd 31:31; 25th - Anthony Soar  32.47

Team: 1. HMAC - 28; 2. Colchester - 30. 3. Southend 31 (3 runners)

Senior Men: 13th - Rob Warner 31:09; 29th - Ian Mulley 32:43; 50th - Graham Pritchard 34:25; 56th - Tony Collins 34:46; 66th - Neil Bearwish 35:26; 84th - 
Graham Foster 37:12 (Team 6th - 298 pts) 95th - Ian Rutter 37:52; 96th - Pands Kakoullis 38:21; 10th - Gary Howard 39:56; 106th - Pat Gahagan 40:16; 108th - David Patterson 40:30    DNF (Injured) -Neill Collins

Team: 1. Chelmsford 72; 2. Colchester H - 113; 3. Thurrock - 162 ....6. HMAC - 298