Oxford Cross Country Match 3

Oxford Cross Country league Round 3 at Oxford last weekend saw 822 athletes in total competed at a cold and very muddy Horspath course.

Team Kennet took 13 runners and all performed exceptionally well in very difficult conditions

Results as follows

Ella Parsons 19th in Under 11 girls

Emerald Hill Sawyer 12th in under 13 girls

Harry Smith 23rd in under 13 boys

Ethan Kuijten an excellent 5th in the under 15 boys

Senior Men 

Andy Colling 135th and 1st again in the male V60 competition, well done Andy 

Mitch Poustie 188th

Phil Baker 196th

Tim Smith 264th

Simon Hockaday 286th

Simon Gale 308th

Senior Ladies 

Sue Francis 30th and 3rd overall in her age category, well done Sue 

Katie Reynolds 85th

Anna Riggall 154th

Oxford Cross Country Match 2

Team Kennet Cross country team made the trip to Cirencester on Sunday for round 2 of the Oxford Cross Country league
After icy conditions in the week leading up to the event, runners were faced with persistent drizzle/rain and lots of mud
Cirencester is a tough course but it was great to see over 700 athletes take part in the days races.
For TK in preliminary results
Ella Parson 23rd in the U11 girls
Emerald Hill-Sawyer 9th in the under 13 girls. Harry Smith 14th in the U13 boys
Great effort by the juniors in some horrible weather.

In the Senior Mens race Andy Colling continued his fine form finishing 92nd and 1st in the Male 60 category
Mitch Poustie was next in 178th, Tim Smith 208th, Simon Hockaday 235th and Simon Gale 245th.

The ladies faced a tricky race as the course was really cut up for their run. Katie Reynolds was first home for TK in 80th and 6th in her age catergory. Georgina McCabe was just behind in 93rd and Anna Riggall next in 129th.

Big thanks to all for making the journey and supporting TK cross country
Big thanks also to Joe Gale for “volunteering” to marshal and standing in the rain for a few hour hours.

Basingstoke Destination Cross Country League M2

Team Kennet secured another huge amount of success in the second round of the Basingstoke Destination Cross Country League held at Basingstoke and hosted by Team Kennet, Four Individual wins and 3 team wins that saw over 60 athletes turned out for the club the Conditions under foot were superb over the undulating course.

 First up was the under 9 girls looking to build on their last match results, another battle developed up front between Team Kennets Matilda Saunders and Praiya Foreman, it was the last hill that Saunders broke away to snatch the victory over team mate Foreman coming home in second, Third home was new comer Maddie Cooper in 9th place and with Matilda Hogg in 12th place the team secured another win, Evelyn Barker was next home in 18th and Evelyn Pedersen 23rd in a large field.

The under 9 Boys were next off on the same course, Chester Bailey and Gethin Thomas were well up in the field most the way round, Bailey came home in third place with Thomas 5th, a great run from Idris Gaye in 9th place and Seb Lauder-Clarke 15th secured second team on the day, Max Burt was 19th and Jacob Williams 20th

The under 11 Girls were also leading the way and wanted another team win, Ella Larkin made sure she was going to lead the field with a huge burst of pace which she maintained all the way round to come home in 1st place, The Battle behind was two TK girls who worked hard together all the way round to see a team kennet 1-2-3 Tilly Clare coming home in 2nd place and Penelope Lyth taking third and with Ella McDonald 7th, this secured the team win again, The B team was led by Maisie McCurtin 9th, Elodie Burdett 13th, Orlagh Stratford 14th, Isla Ladds 16th which was good enough for 2nd team on the day and the C Team was led by  Alice Stratford 18th was good Sophia Mahoney 19th,Ella Parsons 32nd,Sophia Barnett 36th and the D Team Penelope Gorbold 44th, Matilda Pedersen 45th Gracie Cooke 46th and Grace Hogg 47th that saw 16 TK u11 girls take part, which was the biggest turn out ever by a junior age group in a cross country.

The under 11 Boys saw another two TK Boys up the front, deciding to let the front runner go Malik Gaye timed it well to take second place, Samuel Atkins held in well  to finish 4th with Thomas Williams 13th and Toby Clay fast improving 21st the boys had to settle for 3rd team, the B team was led by JJ Mercer 25th Joshua Bailey 30th, Joshua Kuijten 31st and Miles Pheonix 43rd.

The under 13 Girls needed to get back in to winning ways as a team, they secured this with all 6 club runners coming home in top 12, Harriet Saunders this time slowly strided away to take another individual win, Anna Hall getting back to how she was pre-injury was next home in 5th and Emerald Hill-Sawyer 6th and Jessie McCurtin 7th saw the A team win, Ella Cronk was next home in 9th and Elena Wilkinson 12th made her debut of the cross country.

The under 13 Boys saw another huge club turnout of 15, Harry Smith led the way getting stronger as the race went on in 5th place, Oskar Larkin was next home in 9th place with Arthur Patterson 12th this secured a good 2nd place in the team. The B team was led by William Devall 14th, Liam Neil 16th, Ben Daley 17th, Noah Lauder-Clarke 19th  which was 4th placed team, The C team Josh Ladds  21st,  Josh Brain 23rd, Charlie Adams 26th Elliot Bell 27th, Harry Barnett 28th  saw them home in 5th place team, the D team was led by Henry Bell 29th , Rueben Kuijten 34th and Ben Doherty 37th 

The under 15 girls race again had Charlotte Bailey under pressure as all the girls won their races, she did not let that distract her by setting of at a hard pace to win by a margin of 150m, with Lola Mitcham 15th the girls would get a penalty score for the team,

in the under 15 Boys race last match winner Ethan Kuijten this time had to settle for runners up spot and another great run from Max Adams in 5th place, again saw another penalty score for both teams to finish in 3rd place.

Basingstoke Destination Cross Country League M1

Team Kennet started the Junior Cross Country Season of with  awesome individual and team performances in the first round of the Basingstoke Destination Cross Country League held at Wellesey Park in Aldershot, over a undulating park course with a wooded finish, that saw 5 individual victories from 8 races and 3 team wins, the best ever in team kennet at a cross country event.

The conditions on the day were perfect and also underfoot, Team Kennet had registered over 80 athletes in the league, and a strong turnout would set good results early on in the season, first up was the under 9 girls who hold the team title, Praiya Forman meant business from the gun as she set of to take the lead, Matilda Saunders followed in pursuit, these two led the field in to the woods where Foreman was just the slightly stronger to come out and take the win, with Saunders second, Matilda Hogg  made a good debut coming home in 9th and with Evelyn Pedersen  10th this brought the A team home as team winners, Evelyn Barker was 11th and Isla Cooke 12th

The under 9 Boys were out in force, and made sure they also won their team race, Chester Bailey was the first clubs runner home in 3rd place pushing himself through the woods , William Moloney ran a good race for 5th place with Toby Hartley 7th and Idris Gaye 8th they were certain to take the win on the day, Seb Lauder-Clarke was next home in 13th, Jacob Williams 14th and Max Burt 17th the other club runners.

The under 11 Girls just had the clubs biggest turnout of 13 runners, last years team winners, the girls wanted to retain this, after the summer season, Ella Larkin made sure she was going to win as she stormed off to take the lead, a big clutch of team kennet girls followed in the second pack of a field of well over 40, Larkin came out of the woods with a 20 second gap to win the race, with Penelope Lyth charging down the home straight to take a brilliant 3rd place, Maisie McCurtin was next in 6th working hard through the woods to gain several places, with Matilda Clare in 11th the girls took team victory.

The B team was led by Alice Stratford 12th, Affra Bailey 13th, Ella Parsons 26th and Gracie Cooke 27th secured a top 5 team placing, The C team was led by Penelope Gorbold 29th, Matilda Pedersen 31st, Grace Hogg 35th and Orlagh Stratford 37th.

The under 11 Boys race is always tough with Aldershot  and Basingstoke in the league, Malik Gaye ran a superb race taking over 6 athletes in the hilly woods section to come out to finish in 2nd place, another surprise was Samuel Atkins who ran his best race ever to take 3rd place in a field of over 50, Flynn Sanderson was 21st and Joshua Bailey 31st saw the team finish in 4th place, Joshua Kuijten came home in 34th, Connor O’Riordan 38th, Miles Phoenix 41st and Toby Clay 43rd saw a top 12 team finish for the B team.

The under 13 Girls were also last years team winners, getting stronger as the season went on, this looks like it will be same again, as team came 2nd on the day missing a few key runners, this didn’t stop Harriet Saunders as she settled in the race in third place and as the race went on she moved through to storm through the woods to come out in the lead and take another girls race victory, Anna Hall had a great run to finish 5th and with Ella Cronk in 7th secured that team second.

The under 13 Boys saw the biggest field of the day with well over 50 runners, 12 coming from Team Kennet, Oskar Larkin was the clubs first in, with 12th place, hot on his hills was Harry smith 13th, Elliot Bell 17th and good debut run from Arthur Patterson 18th saw the team home in 3rd place. The B team were led by Charlie Adams 24th, Henry Bell 25th, Josh Brian 27th and Ben Doherty 28th for top 6 team finish, the C team Frank Edwards 29th, Harry Barnett 33rd, Noah Lauder-Clarke 34th and Rueben Kuijten 38th saw their team home in top 12

The under 15 Girls race saw Charlotte Bailey have no pressure with all TK girls winning, so she set of with a fast pace taking the lead to pull further away over the 3 lap course, ensuring all the TK girls won all four races, Chloe O’Riordan came home in 14th and Lola Mitcham 15th for 2nd placed team.

The under 15 Boys saw only two runners from TK, Ethan Kuijten ran a complete mature race, as he stalked two runners who took the early lead, on the second lap he pulled up with them, and halfway around the last lap, one of the athletes tried to pull away with a change of pace, Ethan stayed within 5 metres until he changed his pace going in to the woods where his strength showed and pulled clear to win the race and team kennets 5th victory of the day, Max Adams also ran well in 7th place.

West Berkshire & North Hampshire Primary Schools Cross Country 2023

Team Kennet held the 25th Anniversary West Berkshire & North Hampshire Primary Schools Cross Country at Newbury Show Ground this week.

A Record 1510 finishers smashed the existing record the event holds to push the UK record further to keep it in West Berkshire for a long time.

50 Schools came to the event and all children taking part got a special 25th Anniversary Certificate, The individual Placed top 3 not only got a trophy but were presented with a Special commemorative Teddy and T Shirt to mark the event.

The over night rain kept the course nice and soft over 1.3 miles which all four races run, in Race 1 which was the Year 3 / 4 Girls Ella Larkin from Falkland School took the early lead, which she extended to some 200m by the time she finished, Praiya foreman from Chieveley came in 2nd holding of Maisie McCurtin from Falkland in third place.

The team Score saw Falkland three runners take the team trophy with St. Gabriel’s 2nd and St. Nicolas taking Third place.

The Second race was year 3 / 4 Boys Benji Shelton from Francis Baily timed his run to perfection to take a superb victory in a close race over Charlie Herald Basildon in 2nd place and George Dow from St. Martins

The team Score saw Francis Baily take the honours with Woolton Hill in second place and Basildon in third

Race 3 saw the year 5 / 6 Girls Harriet Saunders from St. Gabriel’s took on the lead early to come home in first place, Quinn Joyce from Fir Tree School took second place and Ella McDonald from Francis Baily took third place charging down the finish straight being chased down by two others and held on just.

The Winning Team went to New comers to the event St Andrews, while runners up were St. Gabriel’s and Thorngrove taking third team

Race 4 the Year 5 / 6 Boys saw a great tactical race develop, Rupert Knight from John Rankin took the victory in the end over Oscar Larkin from Falkland, with Alex Rowe also from John Rankin taking third place

The team award went to Falkland as they packed in well, John Rankin had to settle for runners up and St. Andrews took Third place.

The League Division Trophies has taken a great hit with the schools, in Division 3 New comers St. Andrews won the League with Garland Junior taking second and St. Martins in third place all three getting promoted to League 2

League 2 saw The Winchcombe take the title with Hungerford Runners up and Cold Ash St. Marks in third all being promoted to Division 1

Finally League 1 saw Falkland take this with Thorngrove in 2nd and Francis Baily in 3rd place

The small Schools Trophy was retained by Streatley with St. Martins runners up and Cold Ash St. Marks in third place

The Hampshire Schools was won by Thorngrove with Woolton Hill Runners up and St. Martins Third

The B team Trophy was won by Falkland with Thorngrove 2nd and St. Nicolas taking third place

The Overall Winners of the Championships went to Falkland with St. Andrews taking runners up, Thorngrove in third place, Francis Baily in fourth and Streatley 5th place

Nick Bull event organiser would like to thank all the 80 Volunteers who helped out including the Young sports leaders from Park House School and St. Barts.

Nick who has been running the event for the 25 years said hes seen over 20,000 Children take part in the event and quite a few have gone on to represent national sports in various ways, putting West Berkshire on the map to be one of the most sporting counties. To have a UK record for a sporting event on the numbers is a major title and im very proud to be part of it.

If anyone is interested in joining Team Kennet to visit the clubs website www.teamkennet.com  to email the club.

Junior Cross Country Match 3

Team Kennet Juniors were in action in Force in the third round of the Destination Cross Country League at a new venue in Hartney Witney, over a fast, twisting and slight inclines with glorious sun shine for all.

The Under 9 Girls went first with 9 Team Kennet girls setting of, Ella Larkin led from the gun to take full control of the race to win by 100m, she now tops the individual points, another great run from Maisie McCurtin came in 2nd place to put her second overall, then some fantastic packing from Matilda Saunders 6th and Orlagh Stratford 7th saw the A team home in 1st place and are now guaranteed overall Team Victory retaining their own title, the B team was led by Alice Stratford 8th, not far behind was Elodie Burdett 10th then a gap to Evie Kearney 20th and Evelyn Barker 21st bringing the team home in 3rd place, Sophie Barnett was 23rd

Next race was u9 boys Gethin Thomas was first home in 12th place, with Joshua Kuijten 15th, Max Burt 17th and Seb Lauder-Clarke 19th bringing team home in 4th place, Alex Cameron was 23rd and Jacob Williams 27th

The Under 11 Girls took a fantastic Team Win, Quinn Joyce ran her socks of to finish in 2nd place, a Good pack of TK Girls then followed led by Harriet Saunders 5th, Ella McDonald 6th and Matilda Clare 7th for the scoring Team, Penelope Lyth led the second team home in 8th place with Penelope Gorbold 23rd.

The under 11 Boys saw 13 TK runners, they managed 3rd team on the day, Oskar Larkin put in an impressive race to come home in 3rd place, with Euan Jones not far behind in 6th, Harry Smith was next home in 13th and new comer Liam Neil 16th. The clutch of other TK boys were Elliot Bell 19th, Luke Stiles 20th, Malik Gaye 22nd, Henry Bell 23rd, Samuel Atkins 24th, Ben Doherty 27th, Joshua Bailey 44th, Lestyn Thomas 53rd and Alfie Cronk 58th.

The under 13 girls team also took the team win. Amber Stiles and Charlotte Bailey led the race for three quarters the way round to finish 2nd and 3rd respectively on a tight finish only 10 metres separating the girls, Emerald Hill-Sawyer 11th and Chloe O’Reardon 12th for the scoring team, Ella Cronk came 14th.

The under 13 Boys team were 4th, Aaron Carter was clubs first runner home in 13th closely followed by Ben Daley 14th and Marlowe Barber 16th and Charlie Adams 21st making up the team, Harry Barnett 22nd led the second team home with Frank Edwards 23rd and Rueben Kuijten 34th making up the team.

The under 15 boys was a great race, Ethan Kuijten battled with top two to keep in contention but had to settle for 3rd place, Max Adams worked his way through the field for 4th place and Elliot Murphy came 5th to help the team home in 2nd place.

Oxon Cross Country League for 2022/23

Five fixtures as follows, on the first Sunday of every month:-

6/11/22 Newbury Showground

4/12/22 Cirencester Park

8/1/23 Shotover Park, Oxford

5/2/23 Cotswold Farm Park

5/3/22 Henley Showground

We are entering Senior men/ladies, U20 and under 17 runners

The main change this year is the introduction of athlete fees payable by each runner

To keep the league running and to reflect the increasing cost of venues, there is a fee of £20 per athlete for the season, £15 for under 17. Descending by £4 or £3 per match when you register. There will be no car parking fees at the venue

Cross Country Report 21/22

Team Kennet held its Cross Country Presentations last night after training, top 3 in most of the younger age groups and seniors got their awards, highlight was the under 9 girls that won the team prize in the new Destination XC League, 10 under 9 girls ran 2 or more of the four league matches in what was an incredible season for them. Nearly 70 Athletes turned out for the season which was a great effort after two years out due to covid.

U9G

  1. Ella Larkin
  2. Isla Ladds
  3. Maisie McCurtin

U9B

  1. Malik Gaye
  2. Joshua Kuijten
  3. Alfie Cronk

U11G

  1. Ella Cronk
  2. Anna Hall
  3. Harriet Saunders

U11B

  1. Noah Lauder-Clarke
  2. Ben Daley
  3. Oskar Larkin

U13G

  1. Amber Stiles
  2. Leilah Gaye
  3. Lola Mitcham

U13B

  1. Ethan Kuijten
  2. Elliot Murphy
  3. Aaron Carter

U15G

  1. Emma Davies

U15B

  1. Isaac Mitcham

Senior Women

  1. Sue Francis
  2. Charlotte Aitken

Senior Men

  1. Mitch Poustie
  2. Paul Kemp
  3. Simon Gale

Most Improved Athlete – Amelia Rehill

Champion’s Champion – Ethan Kuijten

TK stars

Ella         Larkin

Isla         Ladds

Joshua   Kuijten

Alfie       Cronk

Ella         Cronk

Harriet  Saunders

Amelia   Rehill

Ben        Daley

Frank     Edwards

Luke       Stiles

Reuben Kuijten

U9G team

Ella         Larkin

Isla         Ladds

Maisie   McCurtin

Elora      Murray

Evie        Kearney

Penelope Lyth

Ella         McDonald

Milly      Davies

Gracie   Cooke

Rose      Bell

Berkshire Cross Country Championships

Team Kennet saw a few athletes travel along a foggy M4 to the Berkshire Cross Country Championships held at Cookham north of Maidenhead. Best Result of the day came in the under 13 boys as Elliot Murphy came home in 4th place just a few seconds off a medal position. Ethan Kujiten came home in 17th and to complete the team Aaron Carter was placed 28th.

Amber Stiles came 12th in the Under 13 Girls race, While in the older under 15 age group Emma Davies came 18th and in the Senior Men’s Race Bradley Thomas also came home in 18th place.

Junior Cross Country

Team Kennet Juniors kept up there Challenge in the Basingstoke Junior Cross Country League held at Rushmoor in Aldershot, a Bitterly cold Afternoon saw 44 Team Kennet Juniors compete, The Best Result came from Under 15 Girls where Emma Davies took full control to lead the girls home in a well deserved 1st place.

The under 9 girls who were leading the team placings, saw a good turn out of 10 girls from the club, knowing another good result would pull them away in their age group league, they secured their four scorers in the top 9 to win the team again, Ella Larkin came home in 2nd place to secure 2nd overall, Penelope Lyth ran a superb race to finish 4th, Maisie McCurtin just behind in 5th and Ella McDonald was the 9th scorer.

The B team came 4th overall as these girls packed in well, Isla ladds 11th, Milly davies 15th, Gracie Cooke 16th and Evie Kearney 18th. Elora Murray was 22nd and Rose Bell 23rd.

The under 9 Boys saw only 3 turn out Joseph Rayfield was 13th, Joshua Kuijten 19th and Alfie Cronk 24th for 6th Team placing.

The under 11 Girls were hoping to better there 2nd team placing from the last match, again Aldershot athletes packed in well, keeping the Team  Kennet under 11s team to 2nd place again, Anna Hall lead the way with 4th place, Ella Cronk 10th, Harriet Saunders 15th and Mia Kearney 23rd, Amelia Rehill 31st, Olivia Rayfield 32nd and Tillie Beaumont 33rd brought the B team home in 10th.

The under 11 boys had the biggest turn out for the club of 11 runners in a field of over 60 runners, probably toughest age group in the league, Noah Lauder Clarke came home in 7th, With Ben Daley just behind in 8th, Frank Edwards was 16th and Henry Bell 23rd bringing the A team home in 4th place, Luke Stiles lead the B team home in 24th, Harry Barnett 26th, Elliot Bell 28th and Flynn Murray 36th for 7th Team, Charlie Adams 38th lead the C team with Matthew iles 40th and Reuben Kuijten 44th.

The under 13 Boys  Elliot Murphy gave it a good go to stay with the leaders, he settled down in the race to come home in an excellent 4th place, Ethan Kuijten 9th, Max Adams 10th and Will McDonald 18th brought the team home in 2nd place. Aaron Carter was 19th and Jacob Hopkin 22nd.

The under 13 girls  Amber Stiles came home in 13th place and Lola Mitcham 29th and in the under 15 boys Matthew Nocton was 5th running a good solid race and Isaac Mitcham 11th, in the same race in the u17 men Arthur  Lane was 1st u17 runner home and Noah Kemp came home 2nd u17 man.