Winchester Running Club announce their arrival with success at the South of England X Country Championships.
Following on from their hugely successful debut at the Hampshire County Championships, Winchester’s newest running club picked up where it had left off at Beckenham Place Park on Saturday 27th January.
First to run on the day were the U15 boys. Ethan Skipwith, who won the Hampshire county title earlier in the year, pushed hard all the way but eventually settled for a fine 2nd place. He was very well supported by Seth Noott (12th), Casper Wilson (17th) and Ivor Martin (20th) to give Winchester RC a hard fought but very well deserved team gold ahead of Blackheath and Herne Hill Harriers.
In the women’s U20 race, Rose Chesterfield, making her debut at this event, ran the race of her life to win an outstanding 1st place. The Birmingham university student, who has been part of the Nick Anderson/Andy Parkinson coaching group since the age of 11, like so many of the club’s junior athletes, endured a testing journey to make the start line but all was worth it as she ran a superbly controlled race from start to finish. Stan Parkinson was the club’s other representative in the men’s u17 race, using the event to work his way back to fitness following over a year of injury woes.
In a strong field, including a number of international athletes, Helen Hall, also a recent county champion, was the first home for Winchester RC in a fine 5th place in the senior women’s event. Tamsin Anderson, another first timer, and Ellie Swire were the next to finish for Winchester with veteran Sam Parkinson being the fourth member of the team to cross the finish line. The final race of the day was a bruising 15 km for the senior men. Whilst not among the medals, this was a strong showing for the new club. Adrian Fautly was first home in 52nd place followed by George Belfield, Lloyd Dickson, Pete Sansome, Justin Corrie, James Moore and Colin McManus. Special mention to Dan Cunnington who was in his final race for the club before moving to the US to take up a new job. All looks good for Winchester RC ahead of the National cross country championships at the end of February.