Basingstoke Junior Cross Country Report

Team Kennet Juniors were involved in the first round match of the Basingstoke Junior Cross Country League on Sunday in 23 degree heat at Hartney Witney.

The Course was fairly flat over grass terrain from a primary school then entering out to playing fields with slight inclines coming back in to the venue, with the new age group changes in place some athletes having to move up to the longer distances.

In the Under 16 race comprising of 3 large laps combined with the under 18 and Girls/boys together in the girls there was a three way battle for most of the course, which involved two from Team Kennet and a Basingstoke girl, over the last lap Quinn Joyce used her stamina to start to pull away from Olivia Bentley from TK who led most the way, Quinn came home to win the girls race her first club league win, with Olivia just outsprinted to take 3^rd place, Matilda Clare battled well to take 5^th place and  next home was Affra Bailey around 10^th place for the team to take 2^nd place.

The under 14 Girls saw another win, from Ella Larkin, over 2 laps she pulled away to open up a huge 150m lead over her team mate Praiya Foreman who worked her way through the field, and to make it a 1-2-3 Darcey Claridge ran a superb race also to move herself through the field for 3^rd place, and with Cecily Wyer coming home in 5^th place running one of her best ever races over the cross country  and Evelyn Barker was next home in 22^nd place secured another fine team win.

The under 12 boys saw another individual win coming from Chester Bailey, He went out like a bullet in a gun, and with every stride around the course he opened up a 150m lead to come home victorious, Another great run came from Matthew Jones showing so much improvement through the summer he came home in 5^th place, Rory Ridler was next home in 11^th place and William Winter made up the team in 16^th place, with the team finishing 2^nd place, in the biggest field of the day 69 finishers, Oscar Tappin was next home 23^rd then Elliot Lewis-Fergusson 46^th and Seb Rayfield 62^nd.

The under 14 boys saw a great run from Isaac Coath, starting of near to the back he worked his way through the field to finish in 5^th place out of a field of 40 boys, Percy Reed was the clubs other runner in 33^rd .

First race was the under 10 Girls, another big field saw all the clubs girls home in the top 3 and working well together around the 1500m course Eva Simmons was 8^th, Lucy Tappin 9^th and Maya Larkin 10^th for the team to take 2^nd place.

Again in the under 10 boys another big field and both boys who ran from the club ran superbly, Joshua Tucker coming home in 4^th place and Charlie Hall taking 6^th place.

The under 12 girls race was the second biggest of the day, Tk missing several girls to other commitments saw Isabella Chapman hang on to take a creditable 4^th place as she worked so hard around the back end of the course, not far behind with a strong finish was Gracie Williams in 8^th place, and Annabelle Jones 12^th and Bella Dearns 22^nd saw the team home in 3^rd place. Next home was Maria Borkowska in 37^th place