CROSS COUNTRY: Gold, silver and bronze for club in Midlands championships

Rugby & Northampton AC's Under 15s boys are Midlands champions. (From left) Ben Willison, Tom Tyler, Finbar Myers, Finlay Ward, Lewis Panter, Jake Hope and Aidan O'Brien

The annual staging of the Midlands Cross Country championships, held at Newbold Comyn in Leamingto on Saturdayn, saw an outstanding team gold for Rugby & Northampton AC’s Under 15s boys and individual bronze for Madeleine Jacks in the U13s girls’ race. The venue provided an extremely challenging course with a variety of hills, ditches and playing fields.

The U15s raced to an emphatic victory with Lewis Panter 11th, closely followed by Tom Tyler 13th, Finbar Myers 20th and Finlay Ward 22nd. Three others Jack Hope, Aiden O’Brien and Ben Willison also ran strongly and supported the leading four scorers.

Madeleine Jacks won bronze in the Under 13 girls' race

Madeleine was in contention throughout the U13s race, eventually finishing in a truly excellent third. The team all ran strongly to finish fifth, with many being in the younger year of the age group. Olivia Willison finished 40th, with Lara Turner 41st, Jemima Lambert 46th, Isabelle Smith 47th, Zineb Zbirou 57th, Georgia Gercs 62nd, Jessica Kempton 64th, Ruby Curtis Free 83rd and Emily Langley 105th.

The U13 boys saw the team win a fantastic silver medal. Arthur Tilt produced one of his best ever performances to finish just outside the medals in fourth. Nathan Lamb was 19th followed by Lewis Robson 41st, Oliver Bell 43rd, Malachy Collins 46th and James Darby 76th.

The U15 girls team ran extremely strongly to finish in seventh in a very competitive field. Leading runner was Claudia Searle in 24th, followed closely by Elspeth Unitt 28th, Olivia Williams 44th, Sophia Hill 47th and Abigail Thayanithy 53rd.

The U17 women also ran very well, led by Lucy Stevens in 22nd, Abigail Pearce 27th, Isabelle Rippon 37th, Emma Barker 38th and Holly Walker in 42nd.

The U17 men saw R&N with three competitors. Ben Hope produced an outstanding run to finish in 13th, Jake Louis 34th and Cian Hutton 43rd.

Adrian Kaczmareck finished 29th in the male U20s race whilst Rhea Cooper was 25th in the U20s ladies.

The senior ladies were led home by Sophie Wilkinson Hargate in 70th, just ahead of Tilly Lea 76th. Tamara Harman was 100th position with the final scoring place going to Alison Cobb in 127th place. The team was completed by Helen Jones and Minerva Chesser.