A week of heavy rain and gale force winds were never going to force the cancellation of the 133rd annual National Cross Country Championships at Wollaton Park, Nottingham last Saturday. Parts of the course included knee deep mud but all Trafford athletes who started the races managed to reach the finish.

 

Our most outstanding performance came from Charlie Stanway in the Under 13 Boys event. He finished 15th in a field of over 400 athletes and was the 2nd Northern athlete home. This is the highest position by a Trafford athlete ever in this age group. Jay Hutchinson 166th and James Walton 203rd bravely completed the course after arriving at the last minute due to car parking problems. Daisy Atkiss 206th and Martha McCormack 244th finished off their first cross country season in fine fashion.

 

At Under 15 Boys level, our 1st finisher was Louie McCormack in 144th. Ned Silvey followed him home in 197th position with Sonny Wilson 274th and Charlie Atkiss 284th after a bad fall in the mud. The boys were 33rd team. Olivia Russell had a good run to come 105th in the Under 15 Girls race, chased home by Freya Griffiths 185th, Lila Wainwright 275th and Imogen Davenport 336th. They were 30th team.

 

Our Under 17 Mens team finally got it right on the day, after a season devastated by illness and injury. Joe Bentall led them home in 45th place, the same position he had finished 4 years ago as an Under 13. Behind him were Jack McNicol 67th, Bradley Giblin 114th, Alex Bailey 119th, Seb Patrick 204th and Tom Bentall 227th. This gave them a superb 6th team position and 2nd Northern team. Rebecca Young finished 153rd in the equivalent Girls race to end a consistent season.

 

For some Trafford athletes this is the end of the cross country season, but for those selected to represent Greater Manchester they still have the Inter Counties and English Schools Championships in the next few weeks.