Team Kennet secured another huge amount of success in the second round of the Basingstoke Destination Cross Country League held at Basingstoke and hosted by Team Kennet, Four Individual wins and 3 team wins that saw over 60 athletes turned out for the club the Conditions under foot were superb over the undulating course.

 First up was the under 9 girls looking to build on their last match results, another battle developed up front between Team Kennets Matilda Saunders and Praiya Foreman, it was the last hill that Saunders broke away to snatch the victory over team mate Foreman coming home in second, Third home was new comer Maddie Cooper in 9th place and with Matilda Hogg in 12th place the team secured another win, Evelyn Barker was next home in 18th and Evelyn Pedersen 23rd in a large field.

The under 9 Boys were next off on the same course, Chester Bailey and Gethin Thomas were well up in the field most the way round, Bailey came home in third place with Thomas 5th, a great run from Idris Gaye in 9th place and Seb Lauder-Clarke 15th secured second team on the day, Max Burt was 19th and Jacob Williams 20th

The under 11 Girls were also leading the way and wanted another team win, Ella Larkin made sure she was going to lead the field with a huge burst of pace which she maintained all the way round to come home in 1st place, The Battle behind was two TK girls who worked hard together all the way round to see a team kennet 1-2-3 Tilly Clare coming home in 2nd place and Penelope Lyth taking third and with Ella McDonald 7th, this secured the team win again, The B team was led by Maisie McCurtin 9th, Elodie Burdett 13th, Orlagh Stratford 14th, Isla Ladds 16th which was good enough for 2nd team on the day and the C Team was led by  Alice Stratford 18th was good Sophia Mahoney 19th,Ella Parsons 32nd,Sophia Barnett 36th and the D Team Penelope Gorbold 44th, Matilda Pedersen 45th Gracie Cooke 46th and Grace Hogg 47th that saw 16 TK u11 girls take part, which was the biggest turn out ever by a junior age group in a cross country.

The under 11 Boys saw another two TK Boys up the front, deciding to let the front runner go Malik Gaye timed it well to take second place, Samuel Atkins held in well  to finish 4th with Thomas Williams 13th and Toby Clay fast improving 21st the boys had to settle for 3rd team, the B team was led by JJ Mercer 25th Joshua Bailey 30th, Joshua Kuijten 31st and Miles Pheonix 43rd.

The under 13 Girls needed to get back in to winning ways as a team, they secured this with all 6 club runners coming home in top 12, Harriet Saunders this time slowly strided away to take another individual win, Anna Hall getting back to how she was pre-injury was next home in 5th and Emerald Hill-Sawyer 6th and Jessie McCurtin 7th saw the A team win, Ella Cronk was next home in 9th and Elena Wilkinson 12th made her debut of the cross country.

The under 13 Boys saw another huge club turnout of 15, Harry Smith led the way getting stronger as the race went on in 5th place, Oskar Larkin was next home in 9th place with Arthur Patterson 12th this secured a good 2nd place in the team. The B team was led by William Devall 14th, Liam Neil 16th, Ben Daley 17th, Noah Lauder-Clarke 19th  which was 4th placed team, The C team Josh Ladds  21st,  Josh Brain 23rd, Charlie Adams 26th Elliot Bell 27th, Harry Barnett 28th  saw them home in 5th place team, the D team was led by Henry Bell 29th , Rueben Kuijten 34th and Ben Doherty 37th 

The under 15 girls race again had Charlotte Bailey under pressure as all the girls won their races, she did not let that distract her by setting of at a hard pace to win by a margin of 150m, with Lola Mitcham 15th the girls would get a penalty score for the team,

in the under 15 Boys race last match winner Ethan Kuijten this time had to settle for runners up spot and another great run from Max Adams in 5th place, again saw another penalty score for both teams to finish in 3rd place.

Oxford Cross Country league Round 3 at Oxford last weekend saw 822 athletes in total competed at a cold and very muddy Horspath course.

Team Kennet took 13 runners and all performed exceptionally well in very difficult conditions

Results as follows

Ella Parsons 19th in Under 11 girls

Emerald Hill Sawyer 12th in under 13 girls

Harry Smith 23rd in under 13 boys

Ethan Kuijten an excellent 5th in the under 15 boys

Senior Men 

Andy Colling 135th and 1st again in the male V60 competition, well done Andy 

Mitch Poustie 188th

Phil Baker 196th

Tim Smith 264th

Simon Hockaday 286th

Simon Gale 308th

Senior Ladies 

Sue Francis 30th and 3rd overall in her age category, well done Sue 

Katie Reynolds 85th

Anna Riggall 154th

Team Kennet saw several athletes represent their schools in the Berkshire Schools Cross Country held at Newbury Showground.

In perfect conditions for the event after the wet then cold spell, it was a lovely day for running, Team Kennets best result came in the under 15 girls race where Charlotte Bailey(Kennet) led till the last 400m to be overtaken and still working hard she kept herself in 2^nd place to automatically selected for the Berkshire team at the English Schools.

Oskar Larkin (Park House) ran a superb race to finish 6^th in the under 13 boys and Harry Smith (St. Andrews) wasn’t far behind in 9^th.

Harriet Saunders (St. Gabriels) also had a fine run in 6^th place and Eleanor Wilkinson(St. Gabriels) 41^st saw St. Gabriels win the team event in the under 13 Girls.

In the Under 17 Boys Ethan Kuijten (Kennet) came home in 10^th place, Max Adams (P.house) 19^th and Oliver Carroll (the Downs) 30^th

TK saw a large group of boys in the Under 15 races. Arthur Patterson (Trinity) came in 29^th, Frank Edwards (Trinity) 31^st, Noah Lauder Clarke (Kennet) 56^th, Josh Brian (P.House) 61^st, Ben Daley (The downs) 75^th and Rueben Kuijten (Kennet) 78^th, in the Under 15 girls more TK athletes who ran were Emerald Hill Sawyer (john O’Gaunt) 35^th , Anna Hall (St. Barts) 44^th, Chloe O’Riordan (Kennet) 49^th, Ella Cronk (The Downs) 54^th and Amelie Tayton (Kennet) 74^th.

In the under 17 girls, Clare McGonnell (St. Gabriels) was 21^st and Leilah Gaye (Kennet) 24^th

Team Kennet Juniors were back in action in the third round of the Basingstoke Cross Country League, held at Hartley Wintley near Hook.

The conditions were very damp underfoot, which were ideal for cross country running, the rain held of till the last race.

The girls section of the club won all four races  with 5 team victories also on the day

The under 9 girls were first up and Matilda Saunders and Praiya Foreman took on the lead to battle it out together over the course, Saunders coming in as the winner, with Foreman taking second, it was then down to the next two girls to see if they won the team, next home was Matilda Hogg in 11^th and Evelyn Pedersen brought the team home in 14^th which was just good enough to secure the team win, Newcomer Gracie Williams was next home in 18^th and Iris Evans was 20^th.

The Under 9 Boys saw a record turnout in the race, made up of 10 of the Tk runners, a good group of 4 TK runners settled in the top 10 to battle it out together, this would see the Yellow vest certainly secure a team win, Chester Bailey was 2^nd his best run of the season, just behind in 6th was Lenny Wyvill another newcomer, close behind was Idris Gaye in 7th and the team was made up of William Moloney in 9^th, The second team was made up of Gethin Thomas 12^th, Toby Hartley 16^th, Alexander Cameron 22^nd and Jacob Williams 23^rd, also taking part were Max Burt 28^th and Joshua Phoenix 30^th.

The under 11 Girls wrapped up the league with a brilliant team win, this was matched again in the individual placings with Ella Larkin striding to her third victory of the year,  Penelope Lyth made it another 3^rd place so she kept her campaign to finish in top 3 overall, Matilda Clare was 6^th and Ella McDonald 7^th.

The second team was led in by new Comer Ayla Wyvill in 10^th place, just behind was a large group of TK girls Orlagh Stratford 12^th, Affra Bailey 15^th, Elodie Burdett 16^th and Alice Stratford 17^th which was good enough to take 3^rd team on the day, next home was Ella parsons 22^nd, Matilda Pedersen 35^th, Grace Hogg 41^st and Sophie Barnett 44^th.

The under 11 Boys were up next, in a tough age group this year, this race was certainly a strong field, as Samuel Atkins could only finish 12^th, Thomas Williams was 15^th, Connor O’Riordan 23^rd and JJ Mercer 24^th to take 4^th team, Fynn Sanderson was next home in 25^th, then Joshua Kuijten 40^th, Toby Clay 41^st and Miles Phoenix 48^th

The under 13 girls rose to the pressure again having to win the last two matches, Harriet Saunders took the first lap steady then put her foot down over the last two laps to secure her third win and securing the league title with one match to go, good packing from the TK girls saw Emerald Hill Sawyer 5^th having her best run of the season, Anna Hall 6^th and Jessie McCurtin 7^th to secure the team win, Ella Cronk was next home in 11^th

The under 13 boys were next, averaging 14 runners per match, they were down to just 7 to other commitments, Harry Smith was the clubs first runner home in 5^th place, Elliot Bell was 10^th, Henry Bell 12^th and Frank Edwards 15^th secured third team on the day, Charlie Adams was next home in 17^th, Harry Barnett 18^th and Rueben Kuijten 20^th.

The under 15 Girls and Boys race together, Charlotte Bailey made sure she secured her third victory of the season and secured her individua league title wit ha superb race, and Ethan Kuijten was in a  3 way battle for most of the race, but had to settle for a very good 2^nd place in the end.

Going in to the last match of the year, Team Kennet look good  in taking a lot of silverware home, they cannot be beat in the individual girls races and are secured of several top 3 individual awards as well, in the team placings the under 9 girls and under 11 girls are now secured, with under 13 girls, under 9 boys and under 13 boys could also get top 3 team placings.