Victory for England at the Junior Home Internationals!
This last weekend the Junior Home Internationals took place in Northumberland, ably hosted by NATO. Three juniors from AIRE were selected to the England team: Evie Conway, Lucy Haines and Laura King. It was a hard fought competition but with lots of friendly rivalry and good fun between the athletes. All the youngsters ran hard and supported each other in competing for their home nations.
This last weekend the Junior Home Internationals took place in Northumberland, ably hosted by NATO. Three juniors from AIRE were selected to the England team: Evie Conway, Lucy Haines and Laura King. It was a hard fought competition but with lots of friendly rivalry and good fun between the athletes. All the youngsters worked very hard and supported each other in competing for their home nations.
The Individual Day took place on Simonside. The vegetation cover reduced visibility and made the courses tough physically. The planner had worked hard to avoid the worst of the bracken and packed lots of short legs in to the courses. The England Squad had several first timers for this event who acquitted themselves well despite the pressure of the competition and the area. The Individual Day went to England with a seven point lead over the Scots at the end of the first day. Evie took 2nd place in W14 behind Lizzie Stansfield of Scotland. Laura finished 2nd in W18 just over a minute down on team mate Fiona Bunn with Lucy in 5th place meaning that England took four out of the first five places in this class, pretty impressive!
The Relay Day was held at Slaley in much more friendly forest with very little climb. The courses were heavily gaffled which meant all athletes had to focus on running their own races and checking their control codes. It was a fast and furious event with the outcome unclear until the end making for exciting spectating, especially with two spectator controls and a fun finish under a bridge which was an excellent vantage point to observe outgoing and incoming runners. In the Men’s race Scotland took the honours with England taking 2nd, 3rd and 4th places. The Women’s race had England in 1st and 2nd with Scotland in 3rdand 4th. Evie’s team, with Tara Schwarze (EBOR) and Pippa Dakin (SYO) finished in 2nd place whilst Laura’s team with Rosie Spencer (WCOC) and Sara Duckworth (DVO) were 6th and Lucy’s team, with Ellie Bales (POTOC) and Caitlin Irving (WCOC) were 9th. Lucy, on last leg finished in 7th place bringing her team up two places.
The combined scores for the two days meant England were victorious overall with 136 points over Scotland’s 121. The Irish team won the Judith Wingham Plate. Well done to our AIRE women who have done themselves and their team/club proud once again.
Wendy Carlyle