NATIONAL CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS
21 February 2026 goes down in the annals of Club history. One of our finest days. We dared to dream that our brilliant Senior Women could, for the first time in our history, medal at the National Cross Country Championships. On the Tuesday prior to the race with all team members cruising the laps at Tooting Track, they looked primed to take on all-comers on the big day. But did we know that two of our finest, Lucy Jones and Molly Smith, would, in the great Ron Pickering’s words ‘set the field assunder’, as they whittled the front end down to a three way battle? Molly pushed on the undulating sections ensuring no one else would crash the podium party, brilliant tactics, but it was Lucy who prevailed for the win, deploying her 2.05 800m pace in the final straight. These two absolutely outstanding runs, first and third for Lucy and Molly, were complemented by two further brilliant performances, Sophie Tooley in 18th and Sarah Grover 46th, their best runs of the winter.
Arlo Ludewick also produced his best ever cross country performance for 7th place, leading our Senior Men’s team home in 19th.
Not to be outdone, our U13 Boys also won a fantastic team gold. Josh Lotter led the team home in a brilliant 10th, followed by Elliott Albert-Preskett in 25th, Ted Jones in 26th and Connor Harrow in 42nd. With two further boys in the 50s, Benjamin Thomas and Tommy Howard, this victory was a great advert for squad training and racing.
Our U17 Men finished an excellent third, led home by James Clements-Nash in 12th, Thomas Clerkin in 19th, Caspian Holmes in 20th and Zachary Morris in 67th.
To underline our broader depth and strength, our U17 Women were 5th team, U15 Boys 7th, U13 Girls 8th and U15 Girls 14th.
Keith Newton
photos Graham Smith