County delight for speedy Dacorum & Tring young guns

The Dacorum & Tring U11 boys' team of Jamie Bailey, Sam Burnell, Ethan Brimmer and Thomas Ashton were crowned county champions

On a very challenging and muddy course, with the temperature hovering around 1ºC, Kristian Imroth came away as county champion in the U13 boys’ race, contested over 3,000m.

Together with James Glyn (14th) and Freddie Truman-Williams (16th), the U13 boys’ team came second overall in the county.

Jamie Bailey was second in the U11 boys’ race over 1,500m, missing out on gold by only a second. With teammates Ethan Brimmer (eighth) and Thomas Ashton (ninth), the three boys were crowned county champions, with Sam Burnell just outside the team medals in 10th place.

Olivia Edwards, running in the U11 girls’ race, finished fourth overall, in only her first year in the two-year age bracket.

Alex Eykelbosch picked up the final medal for the club, winning silver in the U20 ladies’ race, contested over 6,000m.

Other fine finishes for the young athletes’ section included: Indira Patel in seventh and Jessica Hoar in 21st in the U13 girls’ race; Joshua van Heiningen in 12th in the U15 boys’ race; Grace Birdseye in 12th and Isabelle Amos in 13th for the U15 girls; Rhys Rowlands in 11th, Matt Renphrey in 17th and Sam Fielding in 21st for the U17 boys, while Sophie Morris finished fifth in the U20 ladies’ race.

Thanks to their strong finishes, Kristian, Indira, Joshua, Grace, Rhys, Alex and Sophie were selected for the Cross Country Inter-Counties Championships in Birmingham in March.

In the adult races at the Herts XC championships, Samantha Sullivan (35th), Rachel Lewis (55th) and Alison Richardson (56th) were the top finishers for the ladies, followed by Clare Murray, Manon Pagniez, Charlotte Ashton, Denise Burford and Carol MacDonald. Together, the ladies finished as 11th team in the county.

For the men, Jamie Marlow (39th), Duncan Hamilton (61st) and Steve Russell (66th) were the first three across the line for the club, followed by Douglas Hamilton, Chris Marriott, John Hopper, Andy Trevillion, Simon Bright and Casper Du Buisson, for a 12th-place finish overall.

Over on the track, D&T sprint ace Jonathan Rendell raced at the Metaswitch Networks Indoor Games at Lee Valley, opening his season over 400m with 50.10s (his second-fastest indoor 400m ever), winning his race and coming second overall.

Samantha Hawkridge, meanwhile, completed the wet and windy Dorney 20km road race, finishing in 1h 59m as she gears up for the Virgin London marathon in April.