Sussex Silver and Bronze at National Inter Counties

Snow cleared in time for Sussex athletes to win a silver and bronze at the national intercounties last weekend.

With two days to go, the forecast was not looking good in Loughborough as grounds became covered with up to 4 inches of snow.

Thanks to rain the day before, this all cleared and by the day itself the sun put in an appearance making conditions near perfect for cross country at Prestwold Hall.

Also shining on the day was Under 13 girl Isabella Buchanan (HY) who ran a gritty and brave 3K to taking the silver medal – just 1 second ahead of the Surrey athlete, Kitty Scott.

Sussex had 5 runners in the top 100 in this race (out of 300) with Bibi Webb (Crawley) 44^th.

Isabella’s performance was the best individual Sussex achievement, however, under 13 boy George Gilbert (Brighton & Hove) also had a great run coming 5^th out of 292.

The boys’ team were 6^th overall with six runners in the top 100 including Fin Lumber Fry (Eastbourne) 39^th and Michael O’Connor (Lewes) 44^th.

The best team placing of the day came in the Under 20 women where together Emily Muzio (Brighton and Hove) 20^th, Ciara Muzio (Brighton and Hove) 33^rd, Amelia Cox (Crawley) 45^th and Eadie Yelling (Brighton and Hove) 49^th came 2nd for the silver medal.

Henry Yelling (Brighton and Hove) was the 1st Sussex Under 20 man to cross the line in 31^st closely followed by Crawley’s Alexander Sproston in 27^th. The team were 10^th.

In the Under 17 men’s race, Miles Waterworth (Brighton Phoenix) placed an impressive 8^th, whilst in the women’s Rosie Gasson (Brighton and Hove) was 28^th.

All 7 Sussex team members in the Under 15 girls’ placed in the top 100 with Eastbourne’s Freda Pearce leading the way in 25^th and Ava James 41^st.

Lucas Gorrill was first under 15 boy in 24^th.

Also 24^th was Verity Hopkins in the senior women’s race, whilst in the senior men’s, the last race of the day, Luke Burgess was 53^rd.

A total of 2571 of the top cross country runners from across the UK finished the races on Saturday, with Sussex athletes doing the county proud.

Thanks to all the team managers who gave their time on the day – Tom Ulliot, Gill Gasson, Dave Leach and Gail Nerurkar.

The event marked the last for Gail, who has managed the Under 13 and under 15 girls’ teams for 8 years, and Dave Leach, who has managed all male teams for more than 22 years. Both have been invaluable to Sussex and we are so appreciative of everything they have done.

This means there are spaces now to fill. If anyone would like to volunteer to manage a county cross country team next season (without managers we won’t send teams) please contact matthews2000@live.co.uk