Young Athletes Report 31st January 2017  

South of England Cross-Country Championship
Parliament Hill Fields
Saturday 28 January 2017

The South of England Championships was held at Parliament Hill last Saturday. The course which can sometimes resemble a swamp was a little drier than usual this year which led to some very close fast racing.
Star performer on a course on which he does not excel was Ahmed Abdulle competing in the Men’s Under 20 race run over 5 miles. The traditional start involves a cavalry charge up a steep 400m hill and Ahmed was in contention from the off. After the initial stampede he was nicely positioned in 10th place.
The second half of the race turned into a procession for Aldershot, who filled the first three places. Ahmed however had maintained his position and entering the final downhill run in he sprinted past a couple of runners to finish a brilliant 9th place.
In the Boys under 15 race Ilford had six runners and closed a team in this event for the first time in almost 20 years. As in previous weeks Ilford’s Aaron Samuel and Mungo Prior were battling each other as well as the rest of the field on nearly 300. In form Aaron was first Ilford Boy home in 29th place followed closely by Mungo in 42nd. Next in was Farris Patel in 163rd and closing the team was Jack Halil in 203rd. The team finished in 16th. Bradley Deacon was the next runner in claiming 252nd. Leo Ronson who navigated the course in just his trainers was final boy in placing 262nd.
Matthew Hick was Ilford’s only runner in the U13 Boys and got a very bad start and was always trying to overtake runners. Eventually he managed to get going and moved through the field to finish 215th in a field of over 300.
Jordan Hinds was also on her own in the Under 17 Women’s race and after a disappointing run last week, she acquitted herself much better this week with an excellent 108th place.