Medal Detectors

Congratulations to the Senior Men who won the silver medals for the second consecutive year at the Southern Cross Country Championships at Beckenham Place Park on 25 January – and to the U13 Boys who topped that with team gold, following their bronze in 2024!

In a nail-biting finale to the Championships, held once again in the majestic grounds of Beckenham Place Park, confusion over the scoring saw the Senior men veer from dejection at apparently finishing with no medals, to elation at being re-instated in the silver medal position.

The day started on a high as the unstoppable U13 Boys (left) clinched team gold over their 3000m course. Thomas Hennigan led home the quartet in 20th with Ivan Derian in 27th. Max Harrison, despite being under the weather, was 32nd, with Alex Derian in 42nd. 

While further team medals proved elusive, there were impressive individual performances from Theo Creed, in his first year as an U15, finishing in fifth, with Harry Allen in 20th, James Fraser (33rd) and Sam Dyson (40th) bringing the team home also in fifth. Benjy Street crossed the line in sixth in the U20 race, leading Jack Hobden (42nd), Tom Davies (56th) and Isaac Lutaya (62nd) to finish fifth team.

The U13 Girls also finished in fifth, with Anna Wait and Jessica Wood in 11th and 14th respectively, Alexia Gaudin in 67th and Gwyneth Morgan in 84th completing the team.

The U15 Girls were ninth, and the U17 Men 13th. From U17 upwards the Women's teams were ravaged by absentees and injuries.In the U17 race Ava McAndie and Dillan Quinn finished in 37th and 42nd, while in the U20 race, the Club's only runner, Charlotte Lam, finished in 50th.

Only two Senior Women made it to the start line: Claire Grima (W45) who rarely resists a cross country challenge finished in 47th, with Chelsea Spanoudakis in 118th.

And so to the finale, the Senior Men's race. In the weeks leading up to theChampionships, the dream of pulling off the perfect progression from bronze in 2023 to silver in 2024, and just maybe, gold in 2025, seemed almost tangible, despite the inevitable smattering of late withdrawals through injury. Other squads were known to have their own absentees, too, so could we dare to imagine a first win since 1970, when the legends of that era set the gold standard. Bob Holt finished in third, Mike Beevor in fourth, and Dave Holt in fifth. Behind them Guy Stogdon finished in 26th, the evergreen Mike Fuller followed in 27th and Barry Collins completed the scoring six in 59th.

However, it never pays to second guess what can happen over this, the longest of the regional Championships at approx 15K. From the off Abdinasir Mohamoud Elmi of Bournemouth AC and Bahrain, who had stunned onlookers with a phenomenal front-run in the Friday Night under the Lights Christmas 5 Miles event in Battersea Park, sped off in similar fashion, gradually stretching out his lead over last year's winner and GB international James Kingston of Tonbridge, with HW's Alex Milne in pursuit in third (below).

As the race unfolded Aldershot, Farnham & District (AFD)  looked like contenders, but gradually last year's champions, Highgate Harriers, showed their strength, and in the final stages it was looking like bronze and silver would be nip and tuck  between the blue vests of Kent AC and the scarlet and gold of HW, vying for the finish line.

Both teams waited anxiously for the results, with Fred Green's trusty notebook predicting a mere 4-5 points between the two Clubs, so it was a shock when initially the podium was announced as Highgate, followed by Kent and AFD.

Thanks to Mark Hookway for the photo of Alex Milne below

Fred's notebook rarely lies, and an inspection of the scores revealed the gutsy run by Rhys Boorman, relying on his marathon strength to bring him home in 26th, had been missed.The amendment was enough to re-work the podium, a repeat of last year's, with HW in second and Kent third.

In the event Alex Milne was unlucky to miss out on an individual bronze, finishing in fourth of 636 finishers, in his first experience of this course. 'When the other two went flying off and the gap was getting pretty big I thought I'd better try and chase them down' he says, 'but as the race went on I realised I had probably gone off too hard, and a couple of guys came past me. I got one of them back and was trying to keep something for the finish, but slightly miscalculated, thinking there was another tiny lap to go before the end!'

Andrew Penney was next man home in 17th, a fortnight after notching up a 29:25 PB in the Valencia 10K – a race stacked with British talent – to move into third place in the Club's all-time ranking list. Jonny Cornish finished in 20th, with Rhys Boorman (happily re-instated in 26th) just edging out Fred Slemeck in 27th – his fifth top 30 finish in this event. Team captain James Stockings closed out the team in 42nd. 

Full results