Louth AC athletes help Lincolnshire to strong finish in Anglian Schools Cross Country Championships

Louth Athletic Club had no less than ten athletes representing the County at the Anglian Schools Cross Country Championships held at the Royal Hospital School, Ipswich on Saturday 3rd February.  The grounds of this famous school make for a wonderful venue for this event and for once there was virtually no wind blowing in off the sea.  Fine running conditions.

The best club performances came from two of our girls in the Intermediate Girls race (Years 10 and 11). Both of whom are year 10 and therefore up against a number of older athletes.  Hannah Reid’s fine winter continued with her best race of the season finishing 21st, being the 4th Lincolnshire athlete home, she was closely followed by her training partner Issy Dhami who produced a brilliant sprint finish to take nine athletes in the last 400 metres.  Issy finished in 29th position and the 5th Lincolnshire girl home.  Both girls were therefore team counters being part of the first six home.  They helped Lincolnshire to their best team performance of the day finshing 3rd with 76 points, just behind Norfolk with 75 points and the winners Suffolk with 72 points.  A very close competition.

In the Minor Boys, Declan Templeton was the 10th Lincolnshire athlete home in 58th position overall in a time of 12:55.  This was followed by the Junior Girls (Years 8 and 9) Evie Brooks (Year 8) ran well against older girls finishing 37th in a large field of 77 athletes.  She was followed home by Freya Plaskitt in 48th.  Evie completed the course in 12:50 and was the 6th Lincolnshire athlete home while Freya was the 11th Lincolnshire finisher in a time of 13:06

The Junior Boys race contained two club athletes. Lucas George –Jones and Matthew Spendlove.  Lucas completed the course in 13:57 finishing in 38th place, while Matthew’s time of 14:05 brought him home in 41st.  The boys were 9th and 11th Lincolnshire finishers.

The intermediate Boys (Years 10 and 11) race had three club athletes competing in County colours. Lloyd Buck had a fine run, improving on his County performance. He was the 6th Lincolnshire athlete home in 45th position overall in a time of 20:28, closely followed by 7th Lincolnshire finisher Jayden Daniels in 49th in a time of 20:34.  Jevon George-Jones had a slightly below par performance by his high standards finishing 60th in 21:23, the 9th Lincolnshire runner home.

The strong performances from Evie, Issy and Lloyd will have brought them into contention for County team selection for the English Schools Championships, for which their team mates Hannah, Matthew and Jevon have all already secured their selection.