The weekend saw the 2025 edition of the UK Inter Counties Cross Country Championship at Wollaton Hall Park in Nottingham, with the Surrey team enjoying their version of Super Saturday as they brought home an impressive array of medals. Their county squad – selected from several clubs – were gold medal winners in six of the ten age group races on the day, winning team awards in the Under 13 girls, Under 15 boys, Under 15 girls, Under 17 men, Under 17 women and Senior women categories.
Athletes from Herne Hill Harriers played important roles in three of these teams. Caspian Holmes led the way as he not only fronted the U13B team win but claimed an individual bronze medal to add to his team gold.
This excellent performance saw Holmes bounce back after his disappointment at the National Cross two weeks earlier when a heavy fall had led to him finishing much further down the field on that occasion. In Nottingham Holmes confirmed his status as one of the best of his age in the UK, a much truer reflection of his talent and his work ethic in training.
Leau Roch was also in the Surrey scoring quartet in this race, placing 29th, while other under 15 boys from Harriers providing backup were Tommy Clerkin in 57th and Luca Boulton in 68th.
Prominent in the U13G winning team was Skyla O’Brien in 11th place. The National Cross bronze medallist had a rougher ride at this event after starting at the back of the pen having to survive being tripped and then working through the huge field of runners lots to eventually finish second of the Surrey athletes.
Sophie Tooley has enjoyed a superb cross-country season with continued progress throughout the winter. Her elevation to next level culminated in a very fine 17th place in the Senior women’s race, a position which saw her as the third team scorer in this victorious Surrey team. Tooley will now look to cement this form with a couple of road races before taking to the track in the summer.
One of Tooley’s main training partners is the now ubiquitous Lucy Jones who seemingly makes a headline every week. The 26-year-old was again in top quality action in road racing on a warm Sunday morning for half marathons.
Making her debut over the distance at the Paddock Wood Half Marathon, Jones was a clear winner in the female category by some four and a half minutes as she set a new women’s course record of 72:25, eclipsing the previous mark by almost a minute. She will now take a break from racing to put together a strong training block in preparation for the London Marathon, which will include a four-week trip to altitude in Font Romeu in the Pyrenees.
The Herne Hill squad were out in force at this race with an impressive 39 finishers. Four of the men squeezed in ahead of Jones in the results, led by Ronan Tanguy clocking 71:40, then Max Rose 72:16, Tom O’Mahoney (first under 23) 72:20 and Ashley Goncalves 72:21.
Ross Brown ran 73:57, followed by Bryn Reynolds 74:08, Matt Cartwright 74:15, Ben Millar 74:34, Elvedin Bektic 75:44, Fintan Kearney 76:34, John Cousins 77:16, Stephen McLeod 78:07, Alex Gutteridge 78:30, Brian Wilder 79:29 and Alex Lee 79:41 all running sub- 80 minutes.
The women ran well as Grace Leyland 6th female in 81:25 and Jenny Nandi 10th in 83:08 combined with Jones to take home the female team award.
Behind them were Megan Gildea 85:43, Chloe Wright 85:51, Helena Keenan 87:03, Milli Simcock-Brown 88:52 and Charlotte Davies 88:57 who all finished in under 90 minutes.
Elsewhere it was also hot for the month of March at the Cambridge Half Marathon, but this didn’t prevent Morgan Roberts from recording a PB by three seconds to place ninth in a strong field with 67:35 as his progress continues unabated.
Geoff Jerwood