Windsor Slough Eton & Hounslow Athletic Club

Despite a number of athletes deciding to give the final match in the series a miss in view of the imminent National Cross Country Championships, WSEH had done enough in the earlier round to guarantee team medals in 6 of the Age categories.
Top award came in the U20 Mens section where WSEH took the gold team medals.
There were silver team medals in the U17 Men, U13 Boys and U13 Girls and bronze awartds for the U17 Ladies and U 15 Boys.

The Senior Mens Race saw WSEH again struggling to field a full team, but still finishing in 7th place of the 14 teams in action. Best was Nathan White(U20) who 5th home. Nick Lingley(U20) had a good run for his 21st place with new member Jonathan Moss(U20) in touch in 24th. Jack Philp(U20) continued his steady improvement with 45th, with the rest of the team being made up by veterans. Bob Fuller was 69th, Mick Hill 100th, Ken Saunders 116th and Wal Wessely 129th.
WSEH were also short of athletes in the Senior Ladies race. Charlotte Firth had her best run to date in 4th place. Vet Marina Stedman was 10th, Pippa Callingham 40th anf another vet Ruth Lingley 49th. The WSEH team placed 6th.
Report by Dennis Daly

The Windsor, Slough, Eton & Hounslow Young Athlete Cross Country team wrapped up their league competition on the 13th of February. With a significant number of athletes choosing not to race this weekend we had a very low turnout.
The final race of the league competition took place in alternating sunny, snowy, windy, rainy but always-cold conditions. The course lived up to its reputation as being one of the muddiest on the circuit with many athletes even having to be pulled from the quagmires during warm-ups.
The U11 Girls had a good turnout as six girls faced the starter. Year-long stalwart Alex Barbour led the team with her sixth place finish. The team happily saw Holly Daniels return to action to take a much needed 13th while Sophie Davies took an impressive 17th place to bring the team home in 3rd place. Also competing strongly for the club were Alanna Fagan (21st), Eve Daniels (23rd), Nancy Scott (33rd) and Hope Smith (52nd).
The U13 Girls finished 2nd in the match behind Becca Croft, who struggled home in 3rd place after her midweek schools race. Eloise Milbourne and Felicity Johnson made significant efforts to support their teammates and their respective 10th and12th place finishes were crucial to the team’s ability to hold on to 2nd place overall. Tilly Compton Stewart ran a very strong race on a tough Wing course to complete the scoring for WSEH. Also competing were Gemma Burgin (29th) and Amy Talbot (48th).
The U15 Girls team only lined up with four girls and only finished with three as club newcomer Molly Griffiths went down on the back of the course and was taken to the hospital to make sure she was ok. First year U15 Ellie Wallis improved significantly to lead the team in 15th place as Emma Croft also struggled to recover from her mid-week schools race and finished a disappointing 22nd. Rosie Adam’s got out to a strong start but faded into 29th place in the division one race and brings the team home in 6th.
Paced by Bex Myers 11th place the U20/U17 Ladies finished 3rd. Naomi Barbour (15th), Hannah Barefield (20th) and Verity Kyley (24th) completed the scoring for the team.
Two boys toed the line in the U11 Boys race. Joe Brown took an impressive 3rd place and Jack Davies finished in 29th as the team finished in 8th.
Gus Cockle was a bright spot on the day as he continued his year-long strong form to take 3rd place. George Gathercole (15th) and Giles Robinson completed the scoring for the boys as the U13 Boys team took 4th place.
The U17 Men had a good day as Nathan Ditton ran impressively to take 5th place, immediately followed by a strong Elliot Woolmer in 6th. Jonny Dry (16th) completed the scoring to bring the home in 2nd place.

The club’s performance at Wing secured significant improvements on last year’s 7th place finish to take 5th overall in the 2009/2010 campaign and the young athletes again finished in 2nd to Bedford & County AC. The club did very well to finish in the medal table in all but three of the nine age group categories.
The Junior Men finished in the gold meal position for the highest club podium finish in the league. The U17 Men took a strong 2nd place in the league and despite not even entering one athlete in the final match the U15 Boys finished 3rd in the division one category. The U13 Boys finished second in the division one league and Gus Cockle took the only boys individual medal by bringing home silver.
The U20/U17 Ladies team finished in the final medals by taking home a bronze and the U13 Girls held on to 2nd place to take home the silver. Becca Croft finished 2nd in the league to take home the only individual girls medal.
Thank you to all of the athletes and their families who made the trip to North Buckinghamshire.
The final race of the year for the club is on 27 February as the team travel to Leeds to compete in the English National Cross Country Championships.
Report by Chuck Croft