Ric Park hails display of Cambridge & Coleridge athletes at the Saucony English National Cross-Country Championships

Ric Park has hailed the achievements of Cambridge & Coleridge Athletic Club after two teams won medals at the Saucony English National Cross-Country Championships.

The event at Harewood House near Leeds featured more than 8,000 of the best club runners in the country, and C&C’s under-13 boys and junior men’s teams won bronze and silver respectively.

“In terms of being proud of the two teams, yes in different ways,” said Park, C&C cross-country team manager.

“The under-13s were without a number of team-mates, but really did believe they could still win a team medal and that is testament to the boys and those they train with. They are a great group and good mates as well and they constantly push and encourage each other.

“For the under-20s, they have been around a lot longer and it was one of the medals they were targeting during this season so to see all that hard work pay off and for them to achieve their goal and the medal, it was a nice moment.”

He added: “The nature of the beast is you are never going to have everyone on the start line fit and healthy but about those that are there performing to the best of their abilities and everyone did that on the day.”

Luca McGrath anchored the under-13 boys’ bronze medal by finishing 16th in 10min 32sec. There were top-50 finishes for George Green, in 27th, and Liam Conway, 34th, while Cosmo Benyan made the top 100, finishing 80th.

It helped the squad, which also included George Christmas, Ryan Howe, Alex Blake and Tom Bullock, take third place overall with a total score of 157, just two off second-placed Bracknell AC. South London Harriers triumphed.

The junior men’s team earned the silver medal with 126 points, as Tonbridge AC won with 103.

Thomas Keen was 10th in 29.26, seven seconds ahead of team-mate Tim Harrison, who was 12th.

Oliver Newman earned a top-50 berth by taking 34th, and there were also top-100 spots for Jordan Wood (70th) and Max Williams (99th).

Nicholas Harhalakis narrowly missed out on a medal in the under-17 men’s race.

He finished fifth in 19.07, just five seconds away from the bronze medal.

It was the same position for C&C in the category, with 237 points.

There were also top-100 finishes for Will Newcombe (63rd), Jack Stanton-Stock (80th) and Thomas Bridger (89th).

On a day of outstanding performances for C&C, Jack Gray was not far off the medals in the senior men’s category. He finished sixth in 37.31, which was just 27 seconds away from the bronze medal.

There were top-50 spots for Jonathan Escalante-Phillips (43rd) and Norman Shreeve (49th), while Chris Darling was 77th.

C&C earned fifth place in the senior women’s event.

They were led by Holly Archer, who was 15th in 30.04.

Charlotte Christensen crossed the line in 36th, Zoe MacDonald was 65th and Fiona Hughes finished in 78th.

Shannon Flockhart achieved a top-10 finish in the under-17 women’s race. She was ninth in 18.46.

Frances Haines earned 47th and Matilda Taylor was 54th.

Corban Wood was in the top 100 in the under-15 boys’ race, finishing in 89th as the team were 12th.