31 October 2026 - Mansfield
Reporting by Paul Austridge and Jennie Butler (Senior Women)
Over 1000 teams entered the Championships, including many of GB’s top athletes and so the relays are always exciting races from the U14’s right up to seniors.
U20 men
Blackheath and Bromley’s U20 men led the charge over their fast 3K course, which included grass up and down hills, fast sections through the woods and over logs and a fast downhill finish, before handing onto the next runner making up the teams of three.
Jed Starvis led us out well, bringing us home in a strong 9th against some quality athletes. Alex Martin went out hard and continued the great pace, gaining a place, handing over to Joe Scanes in 8th. Joe managed to work his way through the stacked field, finishing a superb second, winning National silver.
U14 boys
Our under 14 boys are having a great season and they finished an excellent 10th place out of 83 teams competing. They were led off by Luc Jones who brought the team home in 27th having a strong first leg. Jacob Pearce took over and made up 15 places on leg 2 handing over to Anthony Streich in 12th. Anthony took two more places on his 2k leg to finish a superb 10th. Fletcher Kelly led the B team out with a quick first leg but unfortunately no team mates to complete his team.
Our U16 boys team were also a superb 10th and they were led out by Dexter Mein having a strong run on leg 1 handing to Zach Evans who also ran a very strong leg making up seven places. Leg three saw Emery Aldridge also running hard and also taking seven places, to bring the team home in a great 10th, in a field of 98 teams.
U14 girls
B & B’s U14 girls had two strong teams racing and they placed well in 16th and 23rd out of 71 teams competing.
Ella Nickson led the A-Team off well, handing over to Sofia James who made up 12 places passing to Zara Lett who made up another seven places on her strong run. The B team were led out by Arianne Paranjpe, handing to Mollie Sedgwick who made up 17 places before handing over to Holly Tallack who herself made up another three places, a great team effort.
U18 boys
Our U18 boys were the best represented with three teams running. The A-Team of Madalitso Valema-Mwanza, Daniel Horgan and Kian Farrell combined well to finish a good 22nd with James Shaw, James Bunn and Ricardo Cervera-Tomlins just behind in 26th out of the 84 teams competing.
Benj Evans and Finn Gotkine both ran well in the C team but unfortunately were one short of a complete team.
U16 girls
B & B’s 16 girls had two teams running with Harriet Hughes leading the A team out with a strong run on leg one, before passing over to Isabella Jenkins and Alice Bunn both running well to complete the trio. Clem Ducep ran well on the leg 1 but unfortunately had an incomplete team.
Senior Women
The short and sharp 3k course involving an entertaining mix of grass, hills, woodland and log jumping made a pleasant change to the 8k slogs of the Kent League!
Hannah Clark stepped up to lead off the women’s A team on an extremely competitive first leg. She came in at a very respectable 23rd (out of 130 runners) and handed over to Liberty Whyte making her debut for the cross country season and running an extremely solid run to hand over in 33rd to Kelsi Cornish. Kelsi had very graciously accepted the promotion to the A team after a last minute withdrawal and brought the team home in a thoroughly commendable 38th place. Jennie Butler and Islay Pearson also turned out despite now having only two-thirds of a team and ran two very enjoyable and pressure-free legs!
Well done to all for making the trip to Mansfield and representing the Club so well.
