Two Bicester AC athletes were selected to compete for Oxfordshire at the recent CAU Inter County Cross Country Championships held at Wollaton Park, Nottingham, bringing together the cream of Britain’s top cross-country runners. Teams could field up to 8 athletes but only the first 4 runners home counted as scorers.
Bicester AC’s Leo Blyton is in his first year in the under 15 age category and has enjoyed a super season despite being towards the junior end of his age group. The under 15 boy’s race run over a 4km course attracted a field of 311 with 42 counties completing teams. Oxfordshire’s scoring 4 finished in 25th place and it was Blyton who led the team home in a superb 23rd place clocking 14mins 16secs, which was just 40 seconds off the winning time. This was one of Bicester’s best ever placings in a national based cross-country competition. Blyton’s run was a big improvement on his performance in the same competition last year where he ran as a second year under 13 finishing in 57th.
Megan Surman earned her first county vest in the under 13 girl’s race. She ran a solid race to finish 214th clocking 13mins 53secs for the 3km course. As she was 6th Oxfordshire runner home, Surman did not make the Oxfordshire scoring 4 who were 27th in the team competition.
Bicester AC’s Edward Jolliffe also represented Oxfordshire in the senior race contested over an approximate 9km course. He finished 204th in the individual competition clocking 36mins 22secs. As the 7th Oxfordshire finisher Jolliffe just missed out on the scoring Oxfordshire 6, who were 14th in the team competition. However, he did made the 9 to score Oxfordshire team who finished 5th in the 9 to score team competition.