THE Chiltern Athletics Club Under 13s Boys were the heroes of Nottingham at the National Cross Country Championships.
The team recorded a convincing win at a grey and muddy Wollaton Park and Alden Collier added the National title to the Southern crown he won at the end of January.
The boys were the top team from 44 complete sides from around the country.
Zoe Gilbody also ran brilliantly and won the U13s Girls individual title.
The boy’s race was fifth on the programme and by then the already wet running surface had been thoroughly churned up into a quagmire.
The Chiltern team began positively with Collier always in the leading three and both Archie and Euan Pinder well up.
Collier had to work very hard to hold off the challenge from Gianleo Stubbs of Shaftesbury Barnet by the end. Archie finished in an excellent 12th position with Pinder in 39th place and Max Baxter taking 48th spot.
The score of 110 was 60 ahead of second place.
The Chiltern Harries U13s boys have an enviable record in the event over the past few years being winners in 2018, silver medallists in 2010 and bronze medallists in both 2013 and 2017.
Chiltern had earlier produced another race winner in the shape of Gilbody in the U13 girls’ event. Gilbody ran strongly from the start and won by 10 seconds.
Frankie Baxter finished in 12th position, Lesedi Nkoane in 31st place and Savarnah Pandya in 163rd spot to complete the scoring team that was fifth out of the 32 entries.
Lucy Wilkinson was also going well but unfortunately had to stop due to dizziness.
The third team to threaten the podium was the U15s girls. Abbie Henderson battled hard for 18th position, Holly Henderson was in 25th place and Maddie Hughes in 29th spot, but Alice Brown had a stomach bug in midweek and was down on her normal form in 127th. The team finished in fourth from the 38 complete teams.
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