CROSS COUNTRYFIVE of the Island’s top young endurance athletes put in good performances at the National Inter-counties Cross Country Championships, in Cofton Park, Birmingham, last weekend.
In his under-13s race, Tom Newnham was soon into his running and mingled in with the leading group.
Running over a tough 3km loop, a Surrey athlete broke away and caused a split between the pack.
Tom dug deep to stay in the leading group and with a big sprint at the finish, he did a great job to stay inside the top ten, finishing eighth, in 10.38.
His performance, coupled with those by his Hampshire team-mates, earned the county a silver medal.
Jess Andrews, like Tom, was soon among the leaders in her race, the under-17 women’s event, staged over 5km.
Once again, a strong Hampshire squads were battling it out for team places with their top four scorers all in the top 50.
Andrews tired slightly as she hit the long climb for the second time but ran bravely to finish 37th, in 20.28, which went towards team bronze.
Will Newnham had a tough task ahead running in the junior men’s race over 8km, as this also incorporated the trials for selection for the World Cross Country Championships to be staged in Poland at the end of the month.
The initial charge up the long first hill saw the IW Athletic Club member tucked in with his Hampshire team mates.
Will stuck to his task well and despite losing some places in the closing stages, finished 90th, in 28.30.
First year seniors, Tom and Joe Wade took part in the toughest race of the day over 12km and did well on their debut at that age group.
From the gun they were never far apart with Tom just failing to make the top one hundred, coming 103rd, in 39.06.
The action moves to Manchester next week as the final big race of the season sees the Newnham brothers and Andrews representing Hampshire and Vectis in the English Schools’ Championships.