The London junior girls winning team at English schools Cross Country Champs which featured 5 of the 8 girls from Herne Hill Harriers : top row: Katy Ann McDonald and Saskia Millard. Bottom row: Alex Brown, Eloise O’Shaughnessy & Eimear Griffin.
London teenager Saskia Millard will represent England in cross country running after winning the English Schools Championships.
Millard – who last year became the second quickest 12-year-old on record in Europe – will represent her country for the first time at the Schools International cross county in Bolton in March 22.
The call-up was a consequence of the 13-year-old’s tremendous individual victory in the junior girls’ race at Castle Donington, where she also led London to team triumph.
Herne Hill Harriers formed the backbone of the team-winning squad, with Alex Brown (11th), Eloise O’Shaughnessy (14th), Katy-Ann McDonald (19th) finishing among the counting six, along with Millard. A fifth Harrier, Eimear Griffin, finished 272nd.
Brown had been hoping for a higher position following her first place in the National Championships a week earlier, but was hindered by beginning at the back of the start pen. Ed Olsen, meanwhile, was 20th in the intermediate boys’ race and the second-placed London athlete.
Herne Hill’s senior athletes were competing at the SEAA Road Relay Championships at Milton Keynes, with the women’s team finishing 17th and the men’s 22nd. Lewis Lloyd and Chris Busaileh ran the fastest short and long legs respectively, with Lloyd’s effort the sixth fastest of any short leg runner on the day. Karen Ellison was again the standout performer for the women, clocking the quickest time of the six Herne Hill runners.
Herne Hill Harriers are marking Sport Relief on Sunday with a series of races at the club’s Tooting Bec headquarters. More than 300 people have already signed up to run one, three or six miles for charity. To sign up, visit www.sportrelief.com. There will also be a group run leaving from the track at 10.30am on Sunday, running five to 10 miles.
Jonny Muir
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