C&C Sucess at National XC Relays

For many, the 5th November 2022 brings bonfires and fireworks, but for the middle distance athletes at Cambridge & Coleridge AC it means one thing – the National XC Relays at Mansfield. Athletes and clubs from across England gather to race over the cross country at Berry Hill Park, and this year the club fielded teams in all age groups, from U13s to Seniors, with 22 teams and 69 athletes in total. On the day, C&C clinched six Top 10 finishes out of ten races in total, which made for a strong all round performance across the age groups and a truly exciting day.

In the Junior age groups the U13 Boys were 9th, U15 Girls 7th, U17 Boys 6th and the U17 Girls 4th. To give you an idea, these are teams of three, tackling between 2 and 3km each, with over 60 teams in each age group – a real achievement.

Our medal success came with the older age groups. The U20 men’s team of Tom Bridger, William Newcombe and Alex Melloy took the National title. The team were never out of the top 3 throughout the race and always in touch with the leading team: Tom leading them off in third, Will gaining one place to second and Alex bringing the team home first just a handful of seconds ahead of Windsor and Aldershot. A great race and a well deserved national title.

The final race of the day was the Senior Men. The team was led off by Callum Elson and a strong first leg saw the team come home second with one of the quickest times of the day. Tom Keen briefly took the lead, chased by a number of International athletes; at this point the team was 4th but well in touch with the leading athletes. The third leg set off at breakneck pace, with four athletes all chasing down Leeds in the lead; this meant fast and furious racing as the gaps tightened, Jack Gray was strong as ever, leaving Jonathan (Jep) within striking distance of a medal during the final leg.

At this point Jep was 30 seconds off second in 4th place, with a GB international 1500m runner on his shoulder – a medal looked possible, but unlikely. Jep showed his usual fighting spirit, never giving up, slowly reeling in second place…. the gap was down to 10 seconds with around 1500m to go. Then with a kilometre left, Jep went for broke up the long drag, breaking the the international on his shoulder, then with a few hundred metres to go he caught and passed second place to bring the team home. Incredibly, in just over an hour of racing over 4 x 5km legs, it came down to 10 seconds between 2nd and 4th.

A silver medal was a great way to end a brilliant day for the club.

Full results for the day are available here.