Saturday 21 February, Parliament Hill, London

Seven men and five women took on the challenge presented by the 2009 National Cross Country Championships at Parliament Hill in London on Saturday. The runners enjoyed a fine sunny day but the biggest test was the mud and hilly terrain presented by the spiritual home of cross country running.

In the 12 kilometre men’s race it was two athletes returning from injury that led the Brighton team home. Kev Mason overtook Matt Bristow on the first of the 6k laps and extended his lead to approximately 40 seconds until the final mile where Matt closed to within five seconds. The men’s team finished in 46th place overall. Final positions were, 227 Kev Mason 45:44; 232 Matt Bristow 45:49; 286 Josh Painter 46:51; 636 Shaun Billing 51:45; 858 Mike Bannister 55:07; 868 Dan Titheradge 55:17; 1245 Andy Mitchelson 62:15.

In the 8 kilometre women’s race the leading athlete was Fiona Powell running in her first Cross Country race. Fiona led the women’s team home to a creditable 55th place. Final positions were, 129 Fiona Powell 36:15; 414 Gill Cammack 45:16; 453 Isobel Muir 46:59; 483 Barbara Bassett 48:48; 521 Fiona Rowling 52:51

The Brighton & Hove boys had an enjoyable time at the National Cross Country Championships on Saturday 21^st February. The club put a total of 15 runners out in the under 13, under 15 and under 17 age groups. Although the weather was un-seasonally kind to the team conditions at Parliament Hill were muddy under foot.

The days events kicked off with the under 15 boys at 11:05. Liam Hurley was the first to complete the 4.5 K course in 60^th place of the 398 finishers with a time of 16:57. Considering Liam is a junior at this level this bodes well for next year. The rest of the boys were Tom Wilmot 129^th in 17:45, Alex Rice 229^th, 18:45, Charlie Noakes 325, 19:58 and Harvey Noakes 331, 20:05. The 'stick with it at all costs' award for the day must go to Charlie Noakes who managed to lose a shoe, spike himself, go back for his shoe and still finish. The team came 28^th of the 47 teams that scored

Next off were the under 17's at 12:20. James McCarthy led the boys home finishing the 6 K race in a time of 22:19, 70^th of the 285 finishers. Second home was Will Gray 112 in 23:07 then Kieran Silsby 153^rd in 23:54 and Chris Woolcott 221^st in 25:06. The team came 18^th of 27.

Of the three races the most drama came from the youngest age group in their 3 K race. The under 13's went off at 2 o'clock. Barry Sides got stuck in traffic on the way to the meet and just managed to get Lewis to the course as the rest of the boys were going down to the start, not the best warm up. Star of the day Tom Poole led the boys over the line 44^th of the 356 finishers in a time of 12:50. James Hobbs lost a shoe at the half mile mark, bit of a theme here, threw it to Pete Wickam as he went past him and carried on. Jamie Oliver followed Tom in 59^th place with a time of 12:58. Tom Stewart-Green came 230^th in 14:23, Lewis Sides 267^th in 14:50, Harry Sullivan Jones 296^th, 15:13 and James Hobs with one shoe finished 325^th in 15:49. The under 13 team finished 22^nd of 42.

For full results go to www.englishcrosscountry.co.uk.

Saturday 03 January, Stanmer Park Brighton.

There was a second consecutive victory for the Brighton men's team in the Sussex Cross Country Championships on a cold winter's day at a frozen Stanmer Park. The icy conditions made the going faster than otherwise would have been the case but the toughness of the course including the long drag uphill made the race challenging for everyone.

At first glance it looked like the main opposition to a Brighton victory was going to come from Phoenix, but with only four quality athletes the focus switched to Crawley. There were excellent runs from both Keith Newton and Andy Donno. After the opening lap Keith was never outside the leading five, rising to 3rd on the final hill only to be taken by Tom Naylor on the final descent to the finish. Andy Donno started steadily and got stronger as the race went on managing to just hold off Ed O'Brien for 6th place. There were good runs also for James Tomlinson (13th) and Luke Lambourne in his first County Championships as a Senior (14th). The team was finished off with Chris Thomson (18th) and Josh Painter (21st). This proved to be enough to take the team victory, 76 points to Crawley's 102 and hold on to the Silver Statue of Mercury for another year.

The Brighton and Hove B team were sixth.

For a full set of results please follow this link to the Sussex Athletics website.

A win for Katy Moore in the womens race over the 7.5 mile course on Wimbledon Common, with the mens team finishing in 6th place.

Sussex Athletics Report | Results