Thetford AC plays host to the best in Norfolk

Thetford Athletics Club hosted the annual Norfolk County Cross-Country Competition at Barnham Common with thousands of junior and senior athletes competing for the right to say they are the best in county and competing for the right to be selected to represent Norfolk at the forthcoming National Cross-Country Championships in Birmingham.
In order to make the Norfolk Team for the Nationals, to be held in March 2017, athletes had to finish in the top five positions with Norfolk Team Managers leaving themselves the freedom to select up to three additional athletes for each age group who either finished outside the top five or those who possibly were not able to compete in the County Championships for whatever reason.
Isabel Smythe finished 7th in the first race to complete, the U11 girls category, with a time of 8:51 followed by Alicia Mae Howard in 15th position, recording a time of 9:43. Daniel Clouston was 20th in the U11 boys event with a time of 9:11. Ewan Peck wasn’t far behind with a time of 9:20 seeing him finish in 23rd place. Charlie Garrod completed the course, despite suffering an injury, and finished in 27th position with a time of 9:57.
In one of Zak Mitchell’s first outings for Thetford, he recorded a highly respectable time of 12:33 to finish in 24th place in the U13 boys category. In the U13 girls race, Abigail Clouston finished high up the rankings in sixth place with a time of 11:35. Asha Soanes came home in 10th place with a time of 12:27.
There was a fifteenth place finish for Ben Garrod in the U15 boys age group with a time of 17:05 whilst Jessica Norkett finished high up the order with a fourth place in the girls equivalent of the same age group with a time of 16:17. Aiden Try also finished in 4th place in the U17 Men’s category with a time of 22:56 whilst Charlie Stone came home in 10th place with a time of 25:13.
Both Jessica Norkett and Aiden Try have secured places in the Norfolk team for the National Cross Country Championships.
Amongst the senior athletes, Thetford’s Kevin Vaughan achieved a silver medal in the Men’s 50-54 age category, completing the course in a time of 41:04.