AXFORD AND MAHAMED EARN FULL CROSS CHALLENGE POINTS AT OPENING FIXTURE IN CARDIFF

The first fixture of the 2024/25 UK Athletics Cross Challenge series – a World Athletics Cross Country Tour Gold level meeting – got underway at Llandaff Fields in Cardiff on Saturday 9 November.

The UK Athletics Cross Challenge consists of five races with the Final held in Nottingham next March. Liverpool, Glasgow and Leeds will all host important fixtures over the next five months as part of the prestigious series.

The senior women’s contest was narrowly won by Uganda’s Charity Cherop, with stern British challenges coming from Kate Axford (coach: Andrew Henderson, club: Belgrave) who took the full complement of Cross Challenge points after a fighting performance. The former GB Hockey star was third overall behind Kenya’s Sheila Jebet.

With international stars joining the field in the gold meeting, the competition was fierce. On the opening lap, Cherop was locked in battle with a British quartet of Axford, Cari Hughes (Andrew Walling, Cardiff), Izzy Fry (Sonia McGeorge, Newbury) and Amelia Quirk (Mick Woods, Bracknell). As the first big lap unfolded, the Brits were strongly positioned as they looked to impress just two weeks out from the European Cross Country trials in Liverpool.

As they entered the second and final lap, Quirk faded, and slowly Fry dropped off the group too as an acceleration of pace from Cherop – which Axford initially went with – split up the field. A fast-finishing Jebet tore past the field to move up to second with 500m to go, with Axford winning a sprint finish with Hughes to take the Cross Challenge points.

Ultimately, Cherop held off Jebet for the overall win, with Axford in third just ahead of Hughes, and Fry close behind to round out the UKA Cross Challenge podium.

Keneth Kiprop was an outstanding winner of the senior men’s race, making it a second victory of the day for the Ugandans. Zakariya Mahamed (Idris Hamud, Southampton) showed his reliability and quality on the cross country terrain as he crossed the line as the first British finisher, taking home full Cross Challenge points.

Kiprop was made to work hard across the challenging Cardiff course by Vincent Mutai (KEN) and Daniel Kibet (UGA) on the final lap, but he unleashed a spectacular sprint for the line to take the overall victory ahead of Mutai and Kibet.

Mahamed had featured highly in the contest overall, sitting in a lead group of eight athletes for long periods, but the Briton did not have the response to the devastating turn of pace on the last lap. He fought well to finish in seventh position overall, with Scotland’s Logan Rees (Ron Morrison, Fife) producing a stunning run to finish as second Briton overall and ninth overall, just ahead of the Netherlands’ Niels Laros. City of York’s Angus McMillan (Don McMillan) came home just behind the Dutch athlete in 11^th to wrap up the Cross Challenge podium.

Reigning European cross U20 champion Innes FitzGerald (Gavin Pavey, Exeter) laid down the mantle to the rest of Europe with a stunning win at the opening fixture of the Cross Challenge. She repeated her dominant performance from the 2023 edition of the race in Cardiff, pulling clear early on and gliding across the muddy terrain to take the U20 victory in the combined U17 race.

Lizzie Wellsted (Colchester) – who has competed for Great Britain and Northern Ireland on the cross country and track – matched her 2023 result with second while Zoe Gilbody (Sarah Benson, Telford) followed close behind for third overall.

Isla McGowan (Ros Kelling, Banbury) was the first U17 finisher in the race, fifth overall, leading home Libby Hale (John Griffiths, Swansea) and Ellarose Whitworth (Marc Thorpe, Lincoln Wellington) who were the second and third U17s.

Later in the programme, William Rabjohns (Mark Pauley, Poole) triumphed in a highly entertaining Men’s U20 / U17 race with four athletes separated by a second. The Poole man worked hard alongside his teammate Mark Ruby (Mark Pauley, Poole) to establish a strong rhythm as the race progressed, and the pair led the way for much of the contest, with the likes of Matthew Clark (Andy Bibby, Preston) – an U17 athlete – and Quinn Miell-Ingram (Wendy Miell-Ingram, Radley) hot on their heels, particularly as the second lap developed.

As Ruby dropped off the fast pace of Rabjohns late on, the latter pushed on to a fantastic victory, with Ruby just losing out to Clark in the sprint finish. Despite moving into second with 200m to go, Miell-Ingram ultimately finished in fourth position.

Clark, second in the race, was the first U17 finisher, with Jack Marwood (Salford) and Luke Dunham (Andrew Hobdell, Herts Phoenix) completing that age group podium; the pair finished sixth and seventh overall in the stacked field.

Earlier in the day there was a commanding performance by Kara Gorman (Shireen Higgins, Windsor Slough Eton and Hounslow) as she pushed to a convincing win in the U15 girls’ race. Gorman, the Cross Challenge Final winner in last year’s series – on that occasion in the U13 age group – has stepped up in age group in serene style. Madison Welby (City of Lisburn) and Phoebe Langlands (John Skevington, Wreake and Soar Valley) followed to join Gorman on the podium.

It was an England vs Scotland battle in the U15 boys race with Ewan Withnall (Graham Lamb, Burton) fighting hard to take the win from Giffnock North’s Louie Muir (Angela Carson). The duo pushed ahead of the rest of the field after the midway point of the contest as a fall took down a couple of runners, and their move was a decisive one as they claimed first and second. Menai’s Osain Parry ensured Welsh representation on the rostrum.

Madison Kindler (Paul Forrest, Brentwood Beagles) continued her strong start to the cross-country season as she was a dominant winner in the U13 girls contest, leading from gun to tape. She established a big lead in the early stages, attacking the course with conviction. Her lead kept extending throughout as she finished the 2780m course in 8 minutes 47 seconds. Elizabeth Hutchings (Westbury) won the battle with Ellie Blackhurst (Peter Crook, Preston) to narrowly take second place.

In a frantic sprint finish, Sam Cousins (Radley) moved away from Tommy Jones (Swansea) and Osian Phillips (Cardiff) to take an impressive win in the U13 boys race. The trio had featured at the head of the race from the starters gun, but as the 2780m unfolded, Jones took the initiative as he hit the front first. Phillips responded by taking a share of the lead as they entered the finishing straight. However, Cousins – in his purple vest – fired past the pair in the last 50 metres to win, with Jones holding off Phillips for second.

The U11 age group races kicked off proceedings in Llandaff Fields. Five seconds separated the top three in the girls race with Lianne Esterhuysen (Brentwood Beagles) taking it by a second from Molly-Mae McQueen, while Darcie Collins was third.

Bristol and West shut out the top three positions in the U11 boys race with one second separating the trio in an incredible sprint finish. Joseph Narty sealed the race win ahead of teammates Oscar Nash and Harry House.

Results: https://data.opentrack.run/en-gb/x/2024/GBR/ccc/event/