South of England Cross Country Championships, Parliament Hill, 21 January 2004  

A beautiful, sunny day greeted Havering Mayesbrook to Parliament Hill Fields for the 2004 South of England Cross Country Championships on Saturday and the youngsters brought back many glittering medals.

Under 13 Boys Hopes were high for the U13 Boys, although they had not been tested at this level of competition, however they showed their intentions from the start, with Matt Bloy going into an early lead, closely followed by Grant Twist, Steve Maclachlan, Joe Webster and Daniel Winters. Matt continued to dominate the lead and just over half way round took a narrow lead, which he kept to the finish, running a superb race to become the Southern Champion. Grant despite falling ran the race of his life to finish 10th. Steve Maclachlan as usual was the strongest finisher running a brilliant last km to pass several athletes and finish 5th. Joe Webster ran by far his best race of the winter to close the team in 18th place. The team where convincing winners with an incredible 34 points, half the score of the excellent 2nd placed Aldershot team. Once again Daniel Winters continues to improve providing great back up in 39th place, followed by, Danny Walker in 85th, Simon Brown in 102nd with the twins Thomas and Daniel Shanney coming in together in 122nd & 123rd respectively.

Under 17 Girls A superb run from Megan Foley brought her individual gold and set up another excellent medal-winning team performance. Megan bounced back to show her class, just seven days after losing her county schools' title to Katie Richardson, winning u17 gold by an 11 second margin from the highly-rated Nicola Sykes from Leighton Buzzard, and finishing 6th in the combined u17 & u20 event.  With Sara Luck in 21st and the best run of the winter so far lifting Robyn Matson to 31st things looked good for a team medal and Helen Roche's 65th position finish won Havering Mayesbrook silver, behind dominant Aldershot, beating third place Chelmsford by 12 points. Robyn Delivett and Jenny Szantai provided solid support in 94th and 97th.

Under 15 Boys Despite the absence, due to a freak accident on Friday to Ashley Reece, one of Havering's favourites for a medal, Ross Clarke showed great character to take an early lead from Matthew Clark of Poole. Ross held onto to the lead almost to the line, but unfortunately was passed in the finishing straight to finish 3rd. Matt Watkins and Bradley Tungatt ran storming races to finish 25th and 26th respectively. Scott Tungatt closed the team in 112th, just missing out on the team medals in 4th place. Chris Maclachlan as usual provided excellent support in 150th place.

Under 15 Girls Katie Richardson's fine form continued when she was a confident third place, to claim individual bronze, behind the Aldershot pairing of Stacey Preston and Stephanie Twell, and well clear of the chasing pack. Well-matched Claire Robinson and Hayley Thomas came home in 59th and 67th, with Rachel Newman finishing in the top half of the 200+ field in 95th as the team placed fourth.

Under 13 Girls The u13 girls could never hope to match the u13 boys' success and any chance of finishing highly in the team stakes disappeared when just three girls toed the line. Ingrid Deane had a good run to finish 23rd, with Michaela Roberts 68th, and Rachel Kerr gaining useful experience at this level in 173rd.

Senior Women Nikki Barnett was again the first senior woman home placing 53rd in a race won convincingly by Bournemouth's Louise Damen.  Veteran Lesley Felton ran well to finish just inside the top 100, ably supported by Ellie Mole, Julie Gildea and Linda Smith who packed well in 209th, 213th and 224th respectively, as the team placed 22nd.  

Under 17 & 20 Men Unfortunately Havering didn't manage to get out a team in this age group. Andrew Meech continues to improve coming home in 62nd (24.56), with Christian Newton supporting with a 162nd position in 31m 50 secs. Our sole competitor in the Junior men's race was Martin Heys, who finished 52nd.

Senior Men The men faced a much longer course than in their usual club races which combined with the hilly Parliament Hill terrain and muddy conditions made very much for an endurance event. The consistent Trevor Keys was again first home in 81st of the 800 finishers,  with Rob Dickenson in 151st and Matt Bland 153rd in close order, and Rob Warner not far back in 175th. Fifth man home was Chris Coates in 322nd but without a sixth scorer the team was incomplete.

Results

62nd - Andrew Meech 24:56; 162nd -Christian Newton 31:50

52nd - Martin Heys; 32:39

23rd - Ingrid Deane 14:05; 68th - Michaela Roberts 14:45; 173rd - Rachel Kerr 17:12 

Under 15 Girls:

3rd - Katie Richardson 17:49; 59th - Clare Robinson 20:20; 67th - Hayley Thomas; 95th - Rachel Newman 21:12 (Team 4th - 224 points)

Under 17 Girls

1st - Megan Foley 20:31; 21st - Sara Luck 22:27; 31st - Robyn Matson 22:48; 65th - Helen Roche 24:52; (Team 2nd - 118 points) 94th - Robyn Delivett 27:05; 97th - Jenny Szantai 27:57

Senior Women:

53rd - Nikki Barnett 36:37; 99th - Lesley Felton 39:09; 209th - Ellie Mole 44:50; 213th - Julie Gildea - 45:12 (Team 22nd) 224th - Linda Smith 45:53