An excellent turnout of twenty three athletes at last weekend's South of England Championships was
rewarded with two sets of bronze medals - for the Under 15 Boys and Under 20 Women's teams.
The Championships, held on a cold and icy Parliament Hill Fields, London, bring together teams from all over the South of England, and fields of 250 athletes are common in most age group races, with up to a thousand contesting the Senior Men's event.

Under 15 Boys- a fine 3rd place

The first race up was for the Under 15 Boys, and featured a strong CAC team that has, over the past couple of years, dominated the Cornwall and South West League results. Brilliant runs by all the lads saw the team clinch the bronze medals behind Shaftesbury Barnet and Tonbridge, after fighting their way through 5000 metres of slushy ice and mud. They were led home by Callum Jones, in an outstanding 4th place, closely followed by Tom Rawet (9th) whose long loping stride just ate up the ground in the final straight. Andrew Worden hung on well to record a top 50 placing, and Sam Heslop-George moved up after a steady start to close the team in 76th place, with Rob Glading a worthy 205th from 228 finishers. 

Under 15 Boys celebrate

The next race up - for Under 13 Girls - saw Francesca Waters as the only CAC representative, but she ran really well in her first race of this quality, to finish 43rd overall from 120 runners. Well done also to Olivia Ballard (84th) and Ellie Parkin (118th) who were the only CAC runners in the Under 17 Women's event, held over an equally testing and very long course.

Francesca works her way through the field

Olivia and Ellie-our Under 17 Women

The Under 15 Girls made up for the lack of numbers in the other age groups when they fielded 6 runners, and it might just as well have served as the club championships, with only 40 seconds separating our top 5 girls. First home - after a great run - was Finlay Bray, in 75th position, closely followed by Melissa Keveren in 84th. A few seconds back, Lottie Jose just outsprinted Tamsin Gummow for 103rd and 104th, a mere 5 seconds clear of Zoe Fisher, who had a rare off day. Closing the team, despite a nasty fall mid-race, was Jess Bolton in 157th. 

A close result for the Under 15 Girls

A rare disappointment for CAC was the U17 Boys race, where English Schools International Conor Robinson - crawling from his sick-bed against advice - died over the final 800 metres. A promising start saw him in a small bunch contesting second place as they came through at the end of the first of two laps. Further down the field, Jordan Roberts was having a great run in his first major race, with Aaron Jose not far behind. The effects of illness told over the long run in however, and with no reserves of energy left, Conor slipped back to what was for him a poor 11th place. Jordan continued his fine form of recent weeks, closing in 96th place, and Aaron, smiling as ever, crossed the line in 115th out of a total of 189.

Meanwhile, the Under 20 Women's team of Bethany Alston, Jenny Almey, and the Gard sisters, Elaina and Lizzie were preparing for their race, over a daunting 6000 metres, hoping that they too could pull off a medal winning performance. Convinced (just about) by their coach, that they could do it, Elaina and Lizzie had come back from college to make up the team, and as they set off up the long opening hill, CAC had 3 runners in the last twenty, with only Bethany to the fore. By mid-race their careful start was paying off, as both Jenny and Elaina moved steadily through the field, and Lizzie battled on, determined to finish her first run for months. Coming to the finish, Bethany was still full of running and clinched a great 15th place. Despite the field being well spread out, both Elaina and Jenny had continued to improve, finally coming home in 23rd and 24th. An agonising wait was finally ended when Lizzie appeared at the top of the hill, still smiling and vowing never to do this again. Her groans were soon replaced with cheers, though, when the results were announced. CAC 3rd team behind Tonbridge and Shaftesbury Barnet yet again.

The second bronze of the day- from the Under 20's Women

Last but not least, the Senior Men's race, held over a ridiculous 9 miles of heavily churned up mud that had just had around two thousand other mad runners struggle through it. No team again, but the lack of numbers was more than made up for by the ever present photographer, bus driver, cheer leader and inspiration to us all, former international Dave Buzza and his faithful assistant Gareth (Massey) Gates. With over 800 finishers, to make the top half is pretty good running, so suffice to say that Dave finished 85th, and Gareth an impressive 237th.
   
Thanks as ever to Dave and Chris for driving the buses and acting as team managers!