Olivia Bentley, Anna Hall and Harriet Saunders travelled to Beckenham, South East London on Saturday to test themselves against some of the best runners in the country at the South of England Cross Country Championships.
Harriet and Olivia were first up in the U13 race finishing in 32nd and 62nd place respectively. Anna was next to run in the U15 race finishing in 67th place.
Excellent performances by all three girls.
Team Kennet athletes were in action in the Berks, Bucks & Oxon Cross Country Championships on Sunday at Newbury Showground. Under 13 Toby Clark was the club highest placed runner in the under 13 boys race coming 10th with team mate Noah Kemp 14th.
The under 13 girls Kirsten Fraser just missed out on the top 10 coming 11th with Anna Patterson 16th and Eve Brown 24th. The Under 15 girls Rebecca Thomson came in 15th with twin sister Georgina 22nd and Annelise Gale 24th. Bethan Philp was 16th in the under 17 womens race.
The men had a much better turn out with new comer Toby Draper coming 27th, then a cluster of yellow vests Chris Hall 55th, Bradley Thomas 60th, Bart Kuijten 61st, Ben Schiffer-Harte 79th, Dave Smith 83rd, Mitch Poustie 90th and Simon Gale 100th.
Team Kennet held its Cross Country Presentations last night after training, top 3 in most of the younger age groups and seniors got their awards, highlight was the under 9 girls that won the team prize in the new Destination XC League, 10 under 9 girls ran 2 or more of the four league matches in what was an incredible season for them. Nearly 70 Athletes turned out for the season which was a great effort after two years out due to covid.
U9G
U9B
U11G
U11B
U13G
U13B
U15G
U15B
Senior Women
Senior Men
Most Improved Athlete – Amelia Rehill
Champion’s Champion – Ethan Kuijten
TK stars
Ella Larkin
Isla Ladds
Joshua Kuijten
Alfie Cronk
Ella Cronk
Harriet Saunders
Amelia Rehill
Ben Daley
Frank Edwards
Luke Stiles
Reuben Kuijten
U9G team
Ella Larkin
Isla Ladds
Maisie McCurtin
Elora Murray
Evie Kearney
Penelope Lyth
Ella McDonald
Milly Davies
Gracie Cooke
Rose Bell
Team Kennet hosted the Berkshire Cross Country Championships at St. Andrews School in Pangbourne over the weekend, on a Challenging Course through woodland and up on to pitches the course wasnt suited for the faster runners more for the endurance, as the club were hosting less than normal runners from the club took part, but still some superb perfomances, Kirsten Fraser in the under 13 girls was the clubs best result not far behind the winner came home for a bronze, Eve Brown came home in 12th place and Anna Patterson 16th.
Toby Draper was the clubs next best finisher in the u20 race finishing 6th with Bradley Thomas 7th.
The Senior Womans Race Kirsty Bennet came home in 8th place and Georgina Bradford 12th.
The mens race Bart Kuitjen was 14th and Mitch Poustie 29th
The under 13 boys secured 4th place in the team awards, led home by Toby Clark 13th, Noah Kemp 16th, Oliver Tozer 20th and Isaac Mitcham 25th
Bethan Philp came 11th and Caitlin Nowell 15th in the under 17 womens race, in the younger under 15 girls race Annelise Gale was 18th
Team Kennet held the 25th Anniversary West Berkshire & North Hampshire Primary Schools Cross Country at Newbury Show Ground this week.
A Record 1510 finishers smashed the existing record the event holds to push the UK record further to keep it in West Berkshire for a long time.
50 Schools came to the event and all children taking part got a special 25th Anniversary Certificate, The individual Placed top 3 not only got a trophy but were presented with a Special commemorative Teddy and T Shirt to mark the event.
The over night rain kept the course nice and soft over 1.3 miles which all four races run, in Race 1 which was the Year 3 / 4 Girls Ella Larkin from Falkland School took the early lead, which she extended to some 200m by the time she finished, Praiya foreman from Chieveley came in 2nd holding of Maisie McCurtin from Falkland in third place.
The team Score saw Falkland three runners take the team trophy with St. Gabriel’s 2nd and St. Nicolas taking Third place.
The Second race was year 3 / 4 Boys Benji Shelton from Francis Baily timed his run to perfection to take a superb victory in a close race over Charlie Herald Basildon in 2nd place and George Dow from St. Martins
The team Score saw Francis Baily take the honours with Woolton Hill in second place and Basildon in third
Race 3 saw the year 5 / 6 Girls Harriet Saunders from St. Gabriel’s took on the lead early to come home in first place, Quinn Joyce from Fir Tree School took second place and Ella McDonald from Francis Baily took third place charging down the finish straight being chased down by two others and held on just.
The Winning Team went to New comers to the event St Andrews, while runners up were St. Gabriel’s and Thorngrove taking third team
Race 4 the Year 5 / 6 Boys saw a great tactical race develop, Rupert Knight from John Rankin took the victory in the end over Oscar Larkin from Falkland, with Alex Rowe also from John Rankin taking third place
The team award went to Falkland as they packed in well, John Rankin had to settle for runners up and St. Andrews took Third place.
The League Division Trophies has taken a great hit with the schools, in Division 3 New comers St. Andrews won the League with Garland Junior taking second and St. Martins in third place all three getting promoted to League 2
League 2 saw The Winchcombe take the title with Hungerford Runners up and Cold Ash St. Marks in third all being promoted to Division 1
Finally League 1 saw Falkland take this with Thorngrove in 2nd and Francis Baily in 3rd place
The small Schools Trophy was retained by Streatley with St. Martins runners up and Cold Ash St. Marks in third place
The Hampshire Schools was won by Thorngrove with Woolton Hill Runners up and St. Martins Third
The B team Trophy was won by Falkland with Thorngrove 2nd and St. Nicolas taking third place
The Overall Winners of the Championships went to Falkland with St. Andrews taking runners up, Thorngrove in third place, Francis Baily in fourth and Streatley 5th place
Nick Bull event organiser would like to thank all the 80 Volunteers who helped out including the Young sports leaders from Park House School and St. Barts.
Nick who has been running the event for the 25 years said hes seen over 20,000 Children take part in the event and quite a few have gone on to represent national sports in various ways, putting West Berkshire on the map to be one of the most sporting counties. To have a UK record for a sporting event on the numbers is a major title and im very proud to be part of it.
If anyone is interested in joining Team Kennet to visit the clubs website www.teamkennet.com to email the club.
The 27th West Berkshire & North Hampshire Primary Schools Cross Country took place at the Newbury Showground in superb weather condition, the Event organised by Team Kennet Athletics Club saw some 70 Volunteers make the event successful for all.
It was to be another Record turnout again, which saw 52 schools taking part and 1597 finishers on the day, breaking its own UK record on the numbers of Primary school children at an event, which has now seen over 20,000 finishers.
The first race of the day was the Year 3 / 4 Girls, Zoe McDownell from St Andrews school took to the lead to stretch out over the 1.28mile course to take the win, Rosie Armstrong from Woolton Hill School came in 2nd place not to far behind, with Matilda Hogg from John Rankin school taking 3rd spot.
The team Scores saw St. Andrews school take the team victory, John Rankin taking runners up spot and Thorngrove in 3rd place.
THIS RACE SAW 362 FINISHERS
Next up was the Year 3 / 4 Boys race, Chester Bailey from Hermitage School also led from the start to pull away from the field to take the win, Matthew Jones came through strongly from Chieveley to take second and third spot went to Lenny Wyvill from Falkland.
The team awards went to John Rankin winning, with St. Andrews taking runners up and Spurcroft taking third place.
THIS RACE SAW 398 FINISHERS
Race 3 which was the Year 5 / 6 Girls saw Ella Larkin from Falkland storm away at some pace, she went on to win by over 100m, this being her 4th successive win and the only girl to do so in the Championships which is a major achievement, Elodie Burdett ran a superb race to take Runners up spot and her team mate from St Gabriels School Matilda Saunders took third place.
The Team score saw Falkland take the win, with St. Gabriels in 2nd place and St Andrews in third.
THIS RACE SAW 401 FINISHERS
Race 4 which is the year 5 / 6 Boys saw a record field of 436 finishers, this race was won by Riley Drake from Hermitage, Francis Baily then took the next two places, Benji Shelton in runners up spot and Shun Marter taking third place.
The Team Awards went to Francis Baily taking the win with John Rankin in runners up spot and Woolton Hill taking third place
The overall school winners on the day were John Rankin, this was first time they have won this, runners Up were St. Andrews, Third place went to Falkland with Thorngrove in 4th and Francis Baily in 5th place.
The Small Schools Trophy went to Streatley School, with Cold Ash St. Marks taking runners up and Basildon taking third place.
The Hampshire Schools Trophy went to Thorngrove School, with Woolton Hill taking Runners up and Kingsclere in third place.
The B Team Award went to John Rankin.
The League Divisions saw the Following
League Div 1
1st John Rankin
2nd St. Andrews
3rd Falkland
League Div 2
1st Springfield
2nd Cold Ash St. Marks
3rd Basildon
League Div 3
1st Welford & Stockcross
2nd Woolhampton
3rd Englefield
Team Kennet would like to thank everyone who attended the event and specially to all the Volunteers and sponsors, The event is the pinnacle event in the schools calendar for this area and all those who take part and run in this will cherish this forever.
See below link for event photographs
Team Kennet had two Athletes take part in the English Cross Country Championships held at Leeds on Saturday. In the under 13 girls race a field of well over 400 finishers saw Kirsten Fraser finish just 300m behind the race winner in 33rd place, Eve Brown came home in 407th place both girls gaining soo much experience at this level
Team Kennet started the Junior Cross Country Season of with awesome individual and team performances in the first round of the Basingstoke Destination Cross Country League held at Wellesey Park in Aldershot, over a undulating park course with a wooded finish, that saw 5 individual victories from 8 races and 3 team wins, the best ever in team kennet at a cross country event.
The conditions on the day were perfect and also underfoot, Team Kennet had registered over 80 athletes in the league, and a strong turnout would set good results early on in the season, first up was the under 9 girls who hold the team title, Praiya Forman meant business from the gun as she set of to take the lead, Matilda Saunders followed in pursuit, these two led the field in to the woods where Foreman was just the slightly stronger to come out and take the win, with Saunders second, Matilda Hogg made a good debut coming home in 9th and with Evelyn Pedersen 10th this brought the A team home as team winners, Evelyn Barker was 11th and Isla Cooke 12th
The under 9 Boys were out in force, and made sure they also won their team race, Chester Bailey was the first clubs runner home in 3rd place pushing himself through the woods , William Moloney ran a good race for 5th place with Toby Hartley 7th and Idris Gaye 8th they were certain to take the win on the day, Seb Lauder-Clarke was next home in 13th, Jacob Williams 14th and Max Burt 17th the other club runners.
The under 11 Girls just had the clubs biggest turnout of 13 runners, last years team winners, the girls wanted to retain this, after the summer season, Ella Larkin made sure she was going to win as she stormed off to take the lead, a big clutch of team kennet girls followed in the second pack of a field of well over 40, Larkin came out of the woods with a 20 second gap to win the race, with Penelope Lyth charging down the home straight to take a brilliant 3rd place, Maisie McCurtin was next in 6th working hard through the woods to gain several places, with Matilda Clare in 11th the girls took team victory.
The B team was led by Alice Stratford 12th, Affra Bailey 13th, Ella Parsons 26th and Gracie Cooke 27th secured a top 5 team placing, The C team was led by Penelope Gorbold 29th, Matilda Pedersen 31st, Grace Hogg 35th and Orlagh Stratford 37th.
The under 11 Boys race is always tough with Aldershot and Basingstoke in the league, Malik Gaye ran a superb race taking over 6 athletes in the hilly woods section to come out to finish in 2nd place, another surprise was Samuel Atkins who ran his best race ever to take 3rd place in a field of over 50, Flynn Sanderson was 21st and Joshua Bailey 31st saw the team finish in 4th place, Joshua Kuijten came home in 34th, Connor O’Riordan 38th, Miles Phoenix 41st and Toby Clay 43rd saw a top 12 team finish for the B team.
The under 13 Girls were also last years team winners, getting stronger as the season went on, this looks like it will be same again, as team came 2nd on the day missing a few key runners, this didn’t stop Harriet Saunders as she settled in the race in third place and as the race went on she moved through to storm through the woods to come out in the lead and take another girls race victory, Anna Hall had a great run to finish 5th and with Ella Cronk in 7th secured that team second.
The under 13 Boys saw the biggest field of the day with well over 50 runners, 12 coming from Team Kennet, Oskar Larkin was the clubs first in, with 12th place, hot on his hills was Harry smith 13th, Elliot Bell 17th and good debut run from Arthur Patterson 18th saw the team home in 3rd place. The B team were led by Charlie Adams 24th, Henry Bell 25th, Josh Brian 27th and Ben Doherty 28th for top 6 team finish, the C team Frank Edwards 29th, Harry Barnett 33rd, Noah Lauder-Clarke 34th and Rueben Kuijten 38th saw their team home in top 12
The under 15 Girls race saw Charlotte Bailey have no pressure with all TK girls winning, so she set of with a fast pace taking the lead to pull further away over the 3 lap course, ensuring all the TK girls won all four races, Chloe O’Riordan came home in 14th and Lola Mitcham 15th for 2nd placed team.
The under 15 Boys saw only two runners from TK, Ethan Kuijten ran a complete mature race, as he stalked two runners who took the early lead, on the second lap he pulled up with them, and halfway around the last lap, one of the athletes tried to pull away with a change of pace, Ethan stayed within 5 metres until he changed his pace going in to the woods where his strength showed and pulled clear to win the race and team kennets 5th victory of the day, Max Adams also ran well in 7th place.
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
