CROSS COUNTRY: A RECORD 51 young athletes from St Albans took part in last weekend’s second league match of the Chiltern Cross country calendar at Cassiobury Park.

Events kicked off with the girls U11s mob match with Eleanor Hobbs again keen to maintain her second position in the league which she did with a superior finish to out sprint her next rival from Bedford and finish in second place on the day.

Caitlin Eckley had another solid run building in confidence to become St Albans’ second scorer and debutant Bella Priestman-Bennett was third home for the club.

In the boys race St Albans fielded a full team and their first scorer was Ricardo James in 16th place with an excellent run by Ben Mitchell just behind in 17th.

The team’s strength was definitely in their U13s and U15s girls teams even though several of the teams had school commitments in the English Schools Cup.

The club still managed to field large experienced teams with outstanding performances by Victoria Pritchard (first), Abbie West (second) and Sophie West (third) in the U15s race.

The club already have a convincing lead in these two age groups after just two fixtures.

Fresh from his success in last week’s National Cross Country relays Jack Gentle ran in his first Chiltern cross country to secure first place in the U13s race.

National Cross Country champion James McMurray, eager to race his first Chiltern as an U17, controlled his race from start to finish and found the extra distance to his liking.