Gateshead Harrier Johnson and Scot Maclennan score impressive victories at Inter Counties Cross Country Championships

Over a course with reversed start and finish positions compared to the route of previous years, Calum Johnson and Mhairi Maclennan took the two senior races, whilst Yorkshire won the overall county title, Martin Duff reports.

The Tykes only had one team win compared to four for runners-up Surrey, but the Scots did well with three individual titles.

Some runners nearly failed to make the start line as one frantic mother said that her son had to jump out of the car as she “had to queue for an-hour-and-three-quarters to park the car.”

Despite the heavy overnight rain, much of the course did not develop into the quagmire of the 2019 edition but left the ground sticky and cloying, so much so that the men’s 10km took Johnson all of 33 minutes whilst Maclennan’s supposed 8km took more than 31 minutes. It was a similar story in the age group events where the races ran long.

Men

Johnson, deep into heavy marathon training with the hope of a major games slot, laid off the pace in the early stages of the men’s race over one small and two large laps totalling just 10km, as Steven Strange led the field down the first hill with Alex McCartney and Flynn Jennings also prominent, but all three soon fell back as Dan Haworth took eventual cross-challenge winner Zak Mahamed away from the rest. So strong was the break that they soon gained 50 metres as Alex Teuten, second here in 2017, led the rest leading out onto the first big lap.

Johnson had made rapid progress and was on the Hampshire man’s heels with Southern winner Andy Coley-Maud also confident on the course. The two leaders then increased their advantage to more than 100 metres by the end of that lap before Johnson started to reel them in.

“I just had to make sure that they didn’t get too far away, then I began to use the mud and hills to get back to them,” said Johnson. This was on the back of the course and the Gateshead man firstly picked off Haworth before then reeling in Mahamed then opening out more than 100 metres.

“I had Covid over the new year and then built back slowly as I am on 110 miles a week training for the Wrexham Marathon at the end of April,” added the winner. A consolation for Mahamed was the overall UK Cross title.

Haworth held on to third with Teuten fourth, ahead of Birmingham League overall winner George Beardmore.

Women

Maclennan had won the Scottish title this year but after the first downhill run it was Imogen Wood who led for Cornwall with double European runner-up Kate Avery, third in the UK Cross standings, on her shoulder.

English National and Southern winner Jess Gibbon was right behind and so was Maclennan as the field again went downhill and out into the country.

The Scottish champion applied pressure and the bunch began to split as Avery and Gibbon were in close order and then a gap to fourth placed Jenny Walsh. However, the race was not over as Gibbon, keen for a clean sweep of titles went clear of Avery, closed then took the lead.

“At that point, I thought I might settle for second, but then I pushed on up the hills. The mud was also super sticky,” Maclennan said. This then saw the gap close and the Scot took the lead and went away, but there was a twist in the tale..

Coming through the woods onto the finishing area she lost a shoe, in the cloying mud. Luckily, the soft grass was kind and victory was hers, by about 50 metres as Gibbon took second and secure the challenge title.

Neither Maclennan nor third placed Avery were complementary about the course. The new champion noted that she actually ran slower per mile here, over 8km than she did over 10km to win the Scottish title.

Young Athletes

The first race that took place was the under-20 men’s and it was Ben Sandilands who led them away before falling back. Others in the leading group after turning the bottom corner also fell back as eventual winner Liam Rawlings was well off of the pace. The lead kept changing but then settled with Jonny Livingstone following a break by the Shropshire man while Louis Small also moved up the field.

“I broke away on the first bit after the big hill but wasn’t thinking about winning just maybe about top five, so I am really happy,” Rawlings said.

Things were tight in the under-17 boys’ event but another Scot, Fraser Gilmour proved strongest on the uphill and muddy sections. He went clear of Ben Brown and Jacob Deacon, who led for most of the way.

“I didn’t expect to win and started slowly, then I kicked on the top three quarters of the way round, downhill, then kicked again on the way back up to the wood,” Deacon added.

There was nearly another Scottish winner in the under-15 boys’ race but Robert Price held off Craig Shennan to win by 50 metres in a pulsating battle. Jake Meyburgh also maintained his unbeaten run in the under-13 division.

In the absence of Cross Challenge leader Megan Keith, national silver medallist Ellen Weir appeared to be the favourite for the under-20 women’s title but it was her Surrey team mate Pippa Roessler who eventually ran out the winner.

Weir did much of the work once Megan Harris and Kaitlyn Sheppard had dropped back but Roessler was too strong towards the back end of the race and ended up winning by 70m. Roessler had beaten Weir in both the Surrey and Southern championship races but then had a bad English National at Parliament Hill when she finished 13th.

“I took the lead going uphill on the second lap but, as it was very sticky, my legs were then dead to the finish,” Roessler said.

The under-17 women’s event saw a group of six get away early before Maddie Hughes, Hannah Ryding and English National winner Jess Bailey settled down at the front. Bailey and the Ryding battled to the line but it was the latter Giffnock North runner who prevailed.

After placings of 11th in the Southern, then 20th in the English National, Evey Powell was not a name of everyone’s lips but after following the early pacing of Midland silver medallist Shaikira King, she powered past with the Yorkshire pair of Lilia Harris and Isabella Waugh to take the under-15 title, despite the race getting mixed up with slower runners in the senior women’s event.

Katherine Haslip, who just turned 11 in November and was one of the youngest at the event, made amends for defeat in the English National by Katie Webb with a narrow under-13 girls win.

Men TEAM: 1 Surrey 205; 2 NI 256; 3 Lincs 286; 4 Yorks 384; 5 NE 31; 6 Hants 327; 7 Kent 336; 8 Derbys 365; 9 Essex 484; 10 Lancs 496

U20 TEAM: 1 Kent 35; 2 Lancs 106; 3 Derbys 117; 4 Devon 121; 5 Yorks 125; 6 Mersey 191; 7 NE 199; 8 Middx 245; 9 G Manch 248; 10 Oxon 274

U17 TEAM: 1 Scot W 77; 2 Kent 87; 3 NE 114; 4 Lancs 127; 5 Surrey 130; 6 Yorks 144; 7 Cheshire 170; 8 Oxon 190; 9 Essex 210; 10 Mersey 210

U15 TEAM: 1 Essex 61; 2 Surrey 81; 3 Kent 109; 4 Hants 121; 5 Suffolk 68; 6 Scot W 173; 7 Lancs 178; 8 Yorks 187; 9 Herts 208; 10 Cheshire 223

U13 TEAM: 1 Surrey 79; 2 NE 88; 3 G Manch 95; 4 Yorks 108; 5 Kent 124; 6 Herts 170; 7 Essex178; 8 Middx 179; 9 Hants 225; 10 Staffs 226

Women TEAM: 1 Surrey 126; 2 Yorks 139; 3 Hants 188; 4 Scot W 280; 5 NE 297; 6 Middx 306; 7 Sussex 416; 8 Kent 488; 9 Norfolk 498; 10 Scot E 520

U20 TEAM: 1 Surrey 58; 2 Yorks 69; 3 Mersey 119; 4 NE 137; 5 Berks 149; 6 Kent 142; 7 Scot W 172; 8 Gloucester 172; 9 Essex 189; 10 Middx 250

U17 TEAM: 1 Scot W 54; 2 Yorks 67; 3 Cheshire 82; 4 Berks 133; 5 Scot E 133; 6 Lancs 148; 7 NE 169; 8 Bucks 213; 9 Sussex 215; 10 Essex 236

U15 TEAM: 1 Yorks 74; 2 Kent 96; 3 NE 129; 4 Scot W 138; 5 G Manch 154; 6 Surrey 155; 7 Leics & Rut 197; 8 Devon 205; 9 Middx 1210; 10 Berks 220

U13 TEAM: 1 Bucks 36; 2 Surrey 48; 3 Sussex 123; 4 Hants 129; 5 Kent 152; 6 Essex71; 7 Yorks 183; 8 Middx 194; 9 Devon 198; 10 Mersey 214