Highgate’s Senior Men’s team finished sixth out of 132 teams that finished in the National Cross Country at Parliament Hill Fields on Saturday 26 February. There were an amazing 2,089 runners who completed the three-lap, glue like, Hampstead Heath course, as a lot of the time it was running through thick mud. There was another sparkling performance by Alex Lepretre, who came 17th in 43:22 ahead of 'A Star' Surrey runner, Dominic Nolan of Croydon (18th) and the Middlesex Champion, Dylan Evans of Shaftesbury Barnet (20th). The rest of the Highgate scorers were: 83, Alex Bampton 46:02; 84, Pete Chambers 46:02; 99, Rob Bahelbi, 46:21; 105, Charlie Haywood, 46:30; and Roger Poolman,125th in 46:50.
Highgate finished ahead of some 'Big Hitters' like Sale, Bedford, Notts AC and Aldershot. Other Highgate runners to finish very highly in the huge field were: 177, Rob Wilson, 47:43; 208, Sean Renfer, 48:20; 247, James Ross, 48:57and 261, Henry Murdoch 49:04 The race was won by Mohamed Mohamed (40:52) of the winning Southampton AC team.
1,016 finished the Senior Women’s race. Hannah Viner, who had been second in the last two Metropolitan League races, came in a good 23rd in 31:16. The other scorers were:146, Karina Thornton, 35:28 and 190, Emily Young, 36:33. Also in the field were: 327, Ellen Kerr, 39:13, 352, Sabina Russell, 39:37; 393, Jemima Storey, 40:28; and 402, Natasha Cendrowicz, 40:38. The winner of the race was Jessica Gibbon of Reading AC in 29:00.
A few of the other results for 'The Gate’. In the Junior Men's race Kamal Hamid was the first Highgate junior home in 109th of 215. In the Under 17 Women’s race Lauren Russell was 62nd and Jess Parry 89th as the first two Highgate home. Jack Bailey was 89th in the Under 17 Men’s race out of 313. Ellen Donald continued to run well in coming 41st of 145 finishers in the Junior Women’s race and Mia Parry was 79th. It was noticeable that Highgate had a good amount of runners in the Under 15 race for boys and these were the names: 22nd, Thomas Chadwick in 15:24; 111, Joseph Hayes;150, Felix Kent; 178, Alexander Mulvihill; 281, James Cameron; 336, Riyad Saleh; and: and 385, Joseph Drinkell.