MAC members out in force for county championships

Maidenhead Athletic Club (MAC) members were out in force for the Berkshire Cross Country Championships, which took place on the Copas Fruit Farm near Cookham on Sunday.

For the senior and veteran men’s and women’s races, the 9.5km course comprised of laps around the farm’s fields and many in red and white vests impressed, with Adam Bennett taking 17th in the senior men’s race in 36.20. Next to finish was Craig West who was ninth in the veteran men’s race in 38.19, while Pete Church wasn’t too far behind him in 11th in 39.03 (see photo below).

Mel Tudor, Christina O’Beirne (44:03) and Ellen Easten (45:53) came fourth, fifth and sixth individually in the veteran women’s race to claim a silver medal, while teammates Jen Francis (49:03), Leila Oliver (49:30) and Sarah Brown (51:39) finished eighth, ninth and 10th to take bronze in the same event (see photo above). Mel’s time of 43.59 was also good enough for her to qualify for the inter county championships in March.

Several juniors also entered the event for the first time and enjoyed the experience of racing against Berkshire’s best young runners.

Conditions were cold, muddy, and a little uneven over old cut corn fields, but several members rose to the challenge. Mark Stylo and Ben Kelly competed in the u15s boys’ race, and even though Ben went off course at one point, they rallied to finish 20th and 21st in 19.17 and 21.44. Sophie McLauglin also ran well in the u15s girls’ event, finishing 21st in 15.37. In the u13s boys’ race, Toby Smith and Oliver Smith-Yeadon finished just outside of the top 20, with Toby (11.03) overtaking a school friend at the finish to come 21st and Oliver (11.34) finishing not far behind in 26th.

Two of the club’s youngest members, year six pupils Jude Francis and Kaiya McCrabbe competed alongside year eight pupil Lilou Randle in the u13s girls event. All three finished well with Kaiya storming home in

13th place (11.46), Jude finishing 18th in 13.18, and Lilou 15th in 12.48.