Jan 4-5th 2014

Herne Hill Harriers dominated the Surrey county cross country championships as teams medalled in six of the 10 races with the haul including three gold and three silver.

Harriers struck gold in the U13G, U15B and U15G categories, while there were silver medals for the U13B, U20M and senior men.

Racing on a slick course at Denbies Vineyard, Alex Brown was again Herne Hill’s flag bearer as she stormed to individual gold in the U13G race. Brown completed the 2.8km course in 11 minutes, 15 seconds, with team-mate Eloise O’Shaughnessy finishing 14 seconds back. Clarissa Nicholls (eighth) and Kayah Wilks (ninth) ensured Harriers’ team gold in the face of tough competition from Guildford and Godalming.

The U15G were equally dominant, with Katy-Ann McDonald (second), Saskia Millard (fifth), Kate Brown (sixth) and Daisy Setyabule (ninth) securing Harriers’ second team gold. Gold number three came courtesy of the U15B, with Paul Burgess also winning a county bronze medal. Burgess was followed by Adel Tadesse (eighth), Imran Nadew (12th) and Feysel Nadew (14th).

A silver medal for the U13B squad meant Harriers’ quartet of U13 and U15 teams were all among the medals at Denbies. Mohammed Ali (sixth) and Oscar Millard (seventh) ran well to place in the top-10. Turkay Korkmaz was 12th and Alex Ferri was 24th as the four finished behind Aldershot in the team rankings.

Nothing could dislodge Aldershot from winning the U20M race, but John Tayleur (eighth), Jordan Maurice (12th) and Charles Philpot (19th) acquitted themselves well to win silver medals.

The senior men, competing over a 12km course, were buoyed by the presence of Surrey 10,000m track champion Kojo Kyereme, who finished eighth, one position ahead of Tim Elsey. John Kettle ran strongly in a quality field to finish 16th, with Chris Busaileh (28th), Jonny Muir (50th) and Mohammed Ismail (59th) making up the final three counting slots for the men’s team.

In other results at Denbies, the U17M were fourth and the senior women fifth, with Karen Ellison placing eighth individually.

Away from the Surrey event, Herne Hill’s Mike Cummings was 16th in the Hampshire championship.