Abbie Donnelly and Calum Johnson win Inter-Counties crowns – AW

British titles and selection for the World Cross Country Champs were at stake at Wollaton Park in Nottingham on Saturday

Calum Johnson and Abbie Donnelly took senior race victories to secure tickets on the plane to Serbia for the World Championships, as did under-20 winner Innes FitzGerald and second junior man James Dargan, Martin Duff reports.

The recent wet weather threatened to put a dampener on the event but after strong winds during the week the likely banning on non-official transport parking in Wollaton Park came to nothing and the courses ran fast and true on firm ground, if shorter than advertised.

Many top seniors were, however, absent as they chased fast track times in the United States but that should not detract from the victories of Donnelly and Johnson.

Senior men

Johnson had to work hard for his victory at a venue where he had won the English National title in 2020 on a different part of the parkland that was, at the time, very muddy indeed.

The Gateshead man eventually came out on top and led his North East Counties squad to a solid team victory over Yorkshire as Cameron Allan and Carl Avery were also well placed.

The Gateshead man did not show at the front after the first small lap when Sussex’s Tom Evans led from Northern Ireland’s Finn McNally, Avon & Somerset’s Jack Millar and Sheffield’s Alfie Manthorpe.

The second lap saw Midland winner Evans and Millar still lead as South of England champion James Kingston joined in the fun at the front. Then Millar took over the lead as Evans and Kingston were joined by Scott Stirling, as Johnson but holding on as, along with Jeremy Dempsey, these runners had now broken clear of the rest.

Then it was down to the last lap shoot out as Evans still pushed but Johnson had finally found his form and chased up the final hill towards the famous Wollaton Hall landmark before swooping down for a 40-metre victory.

It was close for second all the way to the line with Evans just holding on, as Stirling was given the same time and, as the only one of the top six in the British Athletics Cross Challenge standings, easily pocketed the £1000 series award. The first three earned automatic selection for the World Cross Country Championships in Belgrade on March 30.

Johnson said: “I had to work hard for that and was on 99.95% today but it was hard and thought it would be easier.”

Having won the English National, albeit on a different Wollaton course, he added: “It’s good to be back here.”

At the end of a successful winter Johnson said he would be taking up his place on the team for the Worlds despite saying that he was totally spent after working full time for 40 hours a week and running 100 miles a week for the past six weeks.

TEAM: 1 NE Counties 182; 2 Yorkshire 298; 3 N Ireland 306; 4 Essex NE Counties 182; 2 Yorkshire 298; 3 N Ireland 306; 4 Essex 315; 5 Kent 317; 6 Surrey 327; 7 Lincolnshire 387; 8 Lancashire 410; 9 Hampshire 413; 10 Cornwall 489; 11 Middx 498; 12 Leicester & Rutland 538; 13 Beds 621; 14 Suffolk 649; 15 Sussex 655; 16 Norfolk 683; 18 Derbys 762; 19 Bucks 797; 20 Notts 802

Senior women

Donnelly had already qualified twice for the trip to Belgrade at the end of the month and at Wollaton Park was easily the class runner on show following her victory in the Parliament Hill leg of the Cross Challenge in January.

The first lap saw Lauren McNeil lead out, closely followed by Donnelly with Amelia Quirk already losing contact in third ahead of Lauren Heyes. Surrey’s Niamh Brown led the rest ahead of Scotland East’s Alice Goodall.

Then it was all over as Donnelly made a break and the field strung out as McNeil and Goodall took the minor medals with Brown fourth.

Donnelly, for whom this was her second major win after the Parliament hill leg of the Cross Challenge, said: “It was quite a quick race and I felt good and there was no mud and it was really dry but I didn’t take it for granted.”

Before the World Championships the 27-year-old Lincolnshire runner said that she will try out her road form in this week’s Podium road race in Leicester but, here, duly collected the £1000 Cross Challenge award as some of her close rivals all gave the event a miss.

Quirk’s sixth spot helped Surrey to the team title.

Women TEAM: 1 Surrey 162; 2 Yorkshire 184; 3 Kent 208; 4 NE Counties 316; 5 Essex 368; 6 Sussex 508; 7 Cornwall 522; 8 Lands 532; 9 Warwicks 549; 10 Middx 609; 11 N Ireland 614; 12 Derbys 637; 13 Norfolk 657; 14 Herts 665; 15 Lincs 743; 16 Cumbria 778; 17 Leics & Rutland 778; 18 Staffs 794; 19 Cheshire 875; 20 Suffolk 886

Young athletes races

The English runners completed the first race of a busy schedule, as the English Schools’ Championship follows and then the SIAB Schools International in Ireland.

Under-20 men

The day’s first race, which saw fresh conditions with misty sunshine, had been for the under-20 men where there were, again, World Cross slots up for grabs and the favourite James Dargan was prominent. Also there were Midland winner Aron Gebremariam, Craig Shennan and Henry Dover.

Oxfordshire’s Quinn Miell-Ingram, who was lying second in the Cross Challenge standings, was also in for the ride but when Gebremariam put the boot in for his second title of the winter it was all over. Dargan, who led Surrey to the team title, and Dover followed, ahead of Shennan but the Cross Challenge title went to fifth-placed Miell-Ingram.

With Eritrean refugee Gebremariam ineligible, it was Dover and Shennan who will join Dargan on the plane for the World Championships. The winner’s Birchfield team manager Dave Laurence said that Gebremariam was aged 17 and, since joining the club, had trained with Kadir Omar and Omah Ahmed with a session of 20x400m with one minute rest midweek in around 65 seconds.

In broken English Gebremariam said: “I was always in the group and took the lead up the hill.”

Dargan was not too disappointed after doing much of the work and said of the winner: “He flew round me!”

U20 Men TEAM: 1 Surrey 66; 2 Yorkshire 88; 3 Scotland West 99; 4 Essex17; 5 Cambs 143; 6 NE Counties 149; 7 Herts 151; 8 Hants 175; 9 Lancs 188; 10 Oxon 198; 11 Sussex 211; 12 G Manchester 213; 13 Warwks 255; 14 Kent 282; 15 Middx 293; 16 Dorset 315; 17 Notts 330; 18 Berks 345; 19 Worcester 383; 20 Suffolk 407

Under-20 women

The most predictable winner of the day was Exeter’s Innes FitzGerald in the under-20 women’s race and so it proved. Already many times qualified for the world event in Serbia, the Cross Challenge standings leader comfortably completed the job with a gun to tape victory.

Most of the 21-second winning margin came in the first 3km lap of the race and the new champion again finished her race, just as in last year’s English Schools on the same course, seemingly all in.

FitzGerald, who won the European title in December, commented that “it was a tough course.” However, her well-publicised eco-friendly stance means FitzGerald has passed up previous chances of GB vests in far-flung lands and the 17-year-old here revealed that she will not be taking up the offer of a team place on the plane to Serbia this month.

She cited that finding an alternative method of travel will take away too much time from her A-level studies. “I’ll end up missing too much,” she said.

FitzGerald then made an interesting observation that, once she turns 18, things would be different and she would take up her places on travelling teams. “My dad doesn’t want me to fly,” she said.

Minor placers Eliza Nicholson and Natasha Phillips did qualify for the worlds but the winner took the British Athletics Cross Challenge money.

U20 women TEAM: 1 Surrey 80; 2 Kent 94; 3 Yorks 136;4 Essex144; 5 Cambs 150; 6 Middx 176; 7 Lancs 178; 8 Avon and Som 195; 9 Sussex 203; 10 NE Counties 216; 11 Bucks 217; 12 Herts 236; 13 G Manchester 274; 14 Staffs 282; 15 Cheshire 283; 16 Berks 321; 17 Lincs 335; 18 Leics & Rutland 337; 19 Notts 382; 20 Hants 405

Under-17 men

It was pretty close throughout the race but James Alexander took the tape for Scotland West as runner-up Harry Maxwell annexed the Cross Challenge award after doing most of the pace-making early on.

However, after the first 5km lap, it was former English National under-13 champion Alden Collier who led from Maxwell, with Alexander tucked in a close third spot ahead of Welshman Iwan Thomas.

This was not to last as Alexander moved up and took Maxwell with him before pouncing to win by around 30 metres. Yorkshire’s Jonson Hughes had challenged early on before coming back to take the bronze medal ahead of second Scotsman Alasdair Nugent.

U17 Men TEAM: 1 Scotland West 39; 2 Yorkshire 94; 3 Kent 120; 4 Lancs 134; 5 Scotland East 156; 6 Surrey 167; 7 Essex 195; 8 Mersey 252; 9 Cambs 255; 10 Hants 262; 11 NE Counties 278; 12 Suffolk 278; 13 Middx 281; 14 Wilts 287; 15 Sussex 289; 16 Herts 306; 17 Norfolk 309; 18 W Wales 311; 19 Beds 326; 20 Avon & Som 336

Under-17 women

The event was closely contested at the start before Zara Redmond went away for a narrow victory over Sophie Jacobs. Challenging early had been Ava James before dropping back to third as Jacobs closed then took silver.

Redmond said: “I was letting others take it out,” and so it was, as Ava James led from Sophie Jacobs before the final shoot out, as the eventual first three went away from the rest of the field.

The winner added: “As we were going uphill it was easy to sprint and that then was the decisive move.”

It was also enough to confirm victory in the British Athletics Cross Challenge standings.

U17 women TEAM: 1 Scotland West 31; 2 Berkshire 53; 3 NE Counties 103; 4 Scotland East 121; 5 Yorkshire 131; 6 Beds 131; 7 Hants 149; 8 Sussex 164; 9 Surrey 191; 10 G Manchester 209; 11 Kent 237; 12 Cheshire 252; 13 Suffolk 277; 14 Essex280; 15 Middx 283; 16 Cornwall 346; 17 Cumbria 378; 18 Leic & Rutland 403; 19 Bucks 423; 20 Shropshire 425

Under-15 Boys

Joseph Scanes eventually took the title comfortably but early on it had looked as though Evan Grime was going to run out a comfortable winner. It was not to be, but the Manchester based runner led Scanes by five points coming into this final and, even with the double points on offer had done enough in the earlier races in the series to secure the British Athletics Cross Challenge prize money.

It had been close behind the winner but fast finishing Grime edged second ahead of Freddie Rowe and took the much-needed championship points. Talking of his rival’s early lead, Scanes said: “I knew they would tire up the hill,” and, of the course, added: “It was quick, but hilly.”

For his part, Grime said: “The hills were really hard and took it out of me.”

Despite missing out on individual medals the Scots came good in the team stakes with West just edging out East

U15 boys TEAM: 1 Scotland West 55; 2 Scotland East 63; 3 G Manchester 68; 4 Kent 124; 5 Essex 135; 6 Yorks 136; 7 Devon 136; 8 Cheshire 226; 9 Herts 242; 10 Middx 263; 11 Surrey 264; 12 Warwks 267; 13 NE Counties 286; 14 Mersey 296; 15 Cambs 299; 16 Avon & Som 307; 17 Sussex 311; 18 Suffolk 329; 19 Leic & Rutland 347; 20 Wilts 372

Under-15 girls

Another predictable winner was Brentwood Beagles’ Olivia Forrest. The Southern champion, who has been near-unbeatable in her age group this winter, did not have things entirely her own was in the early stages but eventually went away to win by around 50 metres.

It had been Olivia McGhee who had pushed early on before fading back to sixth as Libby Hale and Kitty Scott came through for the minor medals.

Forrest said: “I was confident and was always in the leading pack.”

It was her seventh major victory of the year and 15th race of 2024. Included in the total was an England indoor under-15 1500m title and two previous British Athletics Cross Challenge victories. This win also secured the Challenge title for her.

Forrest eventually has triathlon hopes and revealed that she swims every day and does running sessions on Tuesdays and Thursdays and, after this coming weekend’s English Schools, will move on to some mini triathlon events.

U15 Girls TEAM: 1 Scotland East 63; 2 Surrey 72; 3 Yorkshire 104; 4 Essex 117; 5 Mersey 131; 6 Middx 133; 7 Scotland West 202; 8 Sussex 218; 9 Lincs 242; 10 Bucks 259; 11 Devon 289; 12 Hants 290; 13 Nerks 307; 14 Staffs 310; 15 Kent 322; 16 Cumbria 333; 17 NE Counties 334; 18 Dorset 340; 19 Worcester 359; 20 Leics & Rutland 368

Under-13 boys

Surrey comfortably took their second team gold after being led home by Theo Creed and Edward Cunliffe, although they had to wait for their third and fourth scorers as did second team Sussex as the south provided the first four teams home.

Creed said of his rival: “He usually beats me,” and this was the case in both the Surrey and South of England Championships where Cunliffe was second and Creed fifth.

Thomas McCartie followed in close order to take third.

U13 boys TEAM: 1 Surrey 60; 2 Sussex 82; 3 Herts 95; 4 Hants 149; 5 NE Counties 149; 6 Yorks 180; 7 Devon 191; 8 Bucks 218; 9 Suffolk 219; 10 Essex 220; 11 Staffs 260; 12 Middx 273; 13 Oxon 291; 14 Warwks 305; 15 Avon & Som 332; 16 Lancs 337; 17 Cambs 342; 18 Kent 344; 19 Berks 362; 20 W Wales 381

Under-13 girls

It was all south at the front of the second race away on the day, as Summer Smith took the under-13 girls event from Naomi Walmsley and Kara Gorman to give Essex their only team championship. They had three of their girls home in the top eight, to comfortably head Yorkshire. It was close in the Cross Challenge as third placed Gorman just edged out fifth placed Ellie Birchall for the top prize.

The field was bunched in the early stages before Smith said she started to pick it up in the second half but the South of England champion added: “The hills were hard.”

But that did make it two wins for her Brentwood Beagles club.

U13 Girls TEAM: 1 Essex 38 2 Yorks 77; 3 NE Counties 118; 4 Notts 148; 5 Middx 160; 6 Mersey 161; 7 Devon 172; 8 Berks 195; 9 Surrey 207; 10 Sussex 227; 11 Suffolk 231; 12 G Manchester 261; 13 Lancs 253; 14 Bucks 272; 15 Hants 308; 16 Kent 351; 17 Herts 386; 18 Avon & Somerset 369; 19 Gloucester 374; 20 Dorset 402

Full results here