A Winning Return To Inter County Cross Country

Sussex were celebrating at the weekend after a fantastic set of performances at the Inter County Cross Country Champs.

The tone was set in the very first race of the day, the Under 13 Girls, where Julieana Walsh enjoyed a fantastic win.

In the race, as the athletes embarked on the final stages, Julieana, was in second place by around 20 metres to Katie Webb from Buckinghamshire.

The Brighton & Hove AC youngster found a burst of strength and speed, displaying a sprint finish to take the gold medal. The Sussex team were 7^th with Bibi Webb (Crawley AC) 20^th, Jennifer Klein (Crawley AC) 36^th and Freda Pearce (Eastbourne AC) 48^th.

In the Under 13 boys, scorers Raphael Kelly (Brighton & Hove AC) was 17^th, Saul Bennett (Brighton & Hove AC) 21^st, Fin Lumber Fry (Eastbourne AC) 26^th and Michael O’Connor (Lewes AC) 40^th, placing 5^th overall.

Next up were the Under 15 girls. Lewes AC’s Grace Tuesday was 11^th, team-mate Ava James 20^th, Dulcie Yelling (Brighton & Hove AC) 25^th and Esme Stephenson (Lewes AC) 46^th – collectively 6^th.

Owen Wallek (Brighton Phoenix) missed out on a medal by one place coming a brilliant 4^th in the Under 15 boys. This was matched by the team result, who were also 4^th overall. Jude Clayton (Brighton & Hove AC) being the second scorer in 15^th, Samuel Sprostranova (Crawley AC) 25^th and Finlay Goodman (Brighton & Hove AC) 46^th.

Our most successful team display came in the Under 17 women with a gold. In her first year in the age group, Yasmin Kashdan (Crawley AC) led the team home with a silver medal followed by impressive performances from Amelia Cox (Crawley AC) in 7^th, Isabel Guirdham (Lewes AC) in 12^th and Sophie Morris (Horsham Blue Stars) in 20^th.

For some reason, the full Under 17 Men’s results were not available at the time of print. They will be reported on as soon as possible.

The Under 20 women enjoyed a brilliant achievement with a team bronze. Alice Wright (Brighton Phoenix) placing 4^th, Emily Muzio (Brighton & Hove AC) 14^th, Madelaine Parmar (Brighton Phoenix) 24^th and Lara Clayson (Brighton & Hove AC) 30^th.

In the Senior Women’s race, Darja Knotkova Hanley (Lewes AC) was 11^th leading the team to 4^th place. Individually, Rachel Hillman (Hailsham) was 16^th, Lizzie Keep (Lewes AC) 23^rd and Jade Elphick (Brighton & Hove AC) 33^rd.

Sussex had not sent a cross country team to an inter county competition since before Covid 19 hit badly in March 2020. It is fair to say the county came back with a vengeance at Croydon on Saturday and is hoping for more to come.