Oxfordshire Cross Country Championships 2012 incorporating the Oxford Mail League fixture at Middleton Cheney on 8th Jan

Oxford City enjoyed team and individual success at the County Cross Country Championships which were incorporated into the Oxford Mail League fixture at Middleton Cheney on 8th January. Oxford City picked up 5 team golds and a team bronze as well as 12 individual medals.

In the U11 Girls Amber Morris ran well to finish 7th overall and 5th in the County competition. Jessica O’Connor came 11th and Jessica James 52nd.

In the U11 Boys, Ben Rodriguez, in his first cross country race for Oxford City, came 4th overall but 3rd in the County Competition with a very fine performance. Joseph Richardson finished 9th overall, Johnnie Sunderland improved significantly up to 10th overall after 25th at Culham. Charlie Moss did well to come 11th overall and Ben Davies finished 37th overall.

In the U13 Girls, Jess Upjohn was again the first Oxford runner home, moving up from 8th early on and holding off a late charge from those behind her to finish just outside the medals in 4th. Izzy Rodriguez came in just one second behind in 7th position, equalling her best position of the year and closing the gap to Jess considerably. Chloe Ridewood has been improving in each race this season and, enjoying the longer course, broke into the top 10 for the first time to finish 9th overall, 8th in the County Championships with her best performance so far. These three comprised the Oxford City A team and took bronze, unfortunately finding themselves out of the top two for the first time this season. Behind them, Georgina Moss (10th), Ciara Huxley (12th), Scarlett Morgan (21st) and Antonia Richardson (32nd) proved Oxford’s strength in depth in this age group, with the Oxford B Team finishing 5th overall. In the Oxford Mail Team competition, Oxford’s A team is currently 2nd just 8 points behind Abingdon. The Oxford B team is 5th overall, over 50 points ahead of the next best B team.

Robby Crowther was the sole Oxford competitor in the U13 Boys but ran well, improving from his 13th at Culham to finish 9th overall, and 7th in the County competition. Oxford City lie 3rd overall in the Oxford Mail League team competition in the U13 Boys.

In the joint U15/U17 girl’s race, Beth Hawtin overturned a 5 second gap halfway through the race to finish first in the U15 competition, impressively pulling away at the foot of the long final hill to become County Champion for the 6th year in a row! Storm Sunderland took the race to Beth early on and finished just 6 seconds behind, coming 2nd in the U15 competition and showing considerable improvement from when they last raced each other at Ascott-under-Wychwood. Elisha Evans had a great run, finishing 5th in the U15 County competition, qualifying for the Inter Counties and helping the Oxford City U15 Team take a comfortable gold in the team competition. Lauren Hawtin won the race outright, looking in control throughout and, encouragingly, racing as well as her training suggests she can. She took the gold in the U17 competition, and, joined by good performances from Hattie Papworth (5th U17) and Kathryn Munday (9th U17), Oxford City was also able to take the team gold. In the Oxford Mail team competition, Oxford City move ahead of Swindon Harriers to go back into 1st position overall.

Nat Jones got his highest placing on the season with very good 3rd U15 in the joint U15/U17 boy’s race, and Ben Upjohn similarly had his best performance of the season to finish 2nd U17 in the County Competition. Matthieu Marshall just missed out on an individual medal with 4th in the U17 County competition, but backed up by good runs from both Josh Tack (8th U17) and William Handscombe (15th U17), Oxford City managed to win team gold. Oxford remain a comfortable 2nd overall in the Oxford Mail team competition.

In the combined Junior, Senior and Vets Women’s race, Melissa Hawtin’s return to form continued as she finished 5th overall, winning the U20 race by a minute and a half. This also meant there was a Hawtin winner in the U15W, U17W and U20W age categories. Jade Walker ran well to take the bronze in the U20 competition, and finish 16th overall and Amy Brooker’s superb, surprise 4th place in the U20s (21st overall), in her first race in 8 months, meant that Oxford took another team gold. Also in the race, Sarah Davies won the individual gold for Vet Women, finishing 9th overall, with her best performance of the season so far. Livvy Napier came a very creditable 12th, the day after racing in the Buckinghamshire County Championships and qualifying for their Inter Counties team. Gwyneth Hueter was 4th V2 in the County Championships, finishing 47th overall. Ellie Burns also ran well in her second race in two days, coming 8th U20 in the race and 54th overall. She had qualified for the Inter Counties the day before in the Berkshire Championships. Further good performances from Caroline Winton (74th overall) and Lisa Sammons (102nd overall) meant that (for possibly the first time) Oxford City’s Senior Women’s A team was 1st (and the B Team was 6th) out of the teams in all divisions in the Oxford Mail League.

The Vets Men’s team comprising Stephen Male (7th overall, 1st County V1), Julian Richardson (15th overall, 2nd County V1), John Ateyo (19th overall, 3rd County V1) and Heine Van Zyl (33rd overall, 1st County V2) won Oxford City’s final team gold medal of the day. The first 3 (Male, Richardson, Ateyo) also won the County Vet individual medals. Other notable performances came from Darrell Bellinger (8th overall) and in the U20s from Ryan Meredith (7th U20 in the County Competition, 55th overall) who improved by 35 places from Culham and Ed Nesbitt (8th U20 and 63rd overall) in his first race of the season for Oxford City. Ed Mezzetti (54th overall), Rob Webster (70th overall), Carl Thompson (71st overall), Phil Huxley (91st overall), Roy Treadwell (101st overall, 1st M60), Stewart Thorp (110th overall), John Exley (112nd overall), Jon Marsden (136th overall), David Wheeler (155th overall), Alan Matthews (156th overall), Peter Marshal (192nd overall), Hugh Manson (214th overall) and Paul Grimsdale (257th overall) rounded out the Oxford performances.