Cross-country crew out in force at Goodwood

Well over 600 runners finished in the eight races taking place over a busy three hours and many of the athletes on show seem certain to make their mark nationally over the course of the winter.

The highest-placed finisher for Chichester was James McKenzie with a fine third place in the under-15 boys’ race in 14min 53sec for the 4,500m course, a time which would have seen him win the Sussex League race on the same course three weeks earlier.

With other members of the Chichester club, in-form McKenzie is looking forward to the Southern inter-counties next month over the famous Parliament Hill course in London.

Harry Leleu hung on well after a fast start to finish in 24th place with third scorer Tom Ackerman a solid 56th.

It was also in the under-15s that Chichester’s girls produced their best individual result with an excellent 11th for Georgina Warner to go with her eighth place at the first fixture in October.

After Emma Maynard, with another good run in 19th, there was a fight for the last scoring place with Lucy Ellis just getting the better of Hannah Croad – they finished 28th and 30th respectively.

Nicola Mead was 39th with sprinter Sophie Atkinson doing well in her first cross-country event to finish in 52nd.

In the other junior age groups, Rose Ellis once again led the under-13 girls home in 15th place followed by good packing from Charlotte Reading and Holly Beaton in 22nd and 27th.

Backing up as reserves were Emily Morley in 34th and Maddie Smith, both of whom have two more years in the age group.

In the boys under-13s, no fewer than 80 runners lined up in one of the biggest league fields for many years with Ed Gerwat leading Chichester home in 20th place followed by Casey Keats in 40th and younger brother Brodie not far behind in 47th – just in front of William Kallaway in 50th.

Gaining useful experience farther down the field were Oliver Poole (73rd), Sam Reading (75th) and Callum Strowger (78th).

The under-17 races usually have 
smaller numbers but are no less competitive, with Beth Garland using her usual strong finish to cross the line in 11th in the girls’ event and Jamie Moore having a good last mile in the longer event for boys’ over 5,000m to finish 24th, just in front of Oliver Smith and Ollie Pickersgill who were 30th and 36th.

In the senior races, Chichester were disappointed to have no representatives in the 100-strong women’s race but a strong showing of 14 finishers made up for it in the men’s event, where the 250 runners had their usual cavalry charge over the opening small lap of the 9,000m course before tackling the two longer circuits in the wooded section.

James Baker attacked from the start and found himself in the top half-dozen after a mile and managed to keep a top-ten placing throughout to finish eighth overall and put him in good stead for this weekend’s Gosport Half Marathon.

Next home was veteran Jim Garland, whose 38th spot made him sixth veteran, and he was followed by an equally impressive run from Dave Dorning whose 90th overall was 5th in the over 50 category. New member Tony Radice was a fine 97th in his first race for the club.

Then came three of Chichester’s promising under-20s with Ed Porter in 106th just getting the better of Sam Bryan (115th) and Nick Mahoney (127th).

In front of Mahoney was another Hampshire League first-timer, Alistair Wakefield, in 119th. The rest of the Chichester squad were Dan Turner (135th), Tom Blaylock (150th), James Woodward (156th), Chris Benham (161st), Andrew Moore (168th) and over-60 Martin Miller (193rd). The next fixture for the Hampshire League is at Popham airfield on December 4.

PHIL BAKER