Leeds City and Charnwood triumph at English Cross Country Relays

Emile Cairess anchors Leeds to the men’s victory while Gemma Steel anchors Charnwood’s women to glory in Mansfield on Saturday

The overnight rain and early morning drizzle stopped before the racing began in Berry Hill Park, but the day was always overcast and later runners in the senior men’s race almost needed torches to navigate the wooded sections of the course.

With the going good underfoot there was no slipping and sliding but there were, nevertheless, a few tumbles in that wooded section but, once again, safety issues decreed that the opening stage of each race was shorter than subsequent legs.

Charnwood completed a solid women’s victory before Leeds City concluded the afternoon’s proceedings with a solid performance in a competitive men’s race.

The top two clubs in both senior races go on to compete in the European clubs’ championship events.

Leeds City take men’s title

The shorter first stage saw Joe Wigfield put in a good show over two 2.5km laps with 14:58 for the 5km trip, that gave the runners on subsequent legs a standard to beat. He said after the stint: “I am getting there but was injured last year.” He said he did not like the wooded section of the course but added: “As soon as you get out of the woods you are okay.”

Most did not, apart from Ellis Cross, who returned to form with a 15:10 split that gave his Aldershot club a possible stab at victory on the penultimate leg before a solid last stage run from Leeds’ Emile Cairess sealed a win for his club. Cairess’s 15:03 split was probably just better than that of Wigfield as the distance was about 30 metres further. “I took the lead towards the top of the hill on the first lap,” he said.

Earlier Callum Elson, who was only ninth in the Cardiff Cross Challenge last month, snatched second on the opener with 15:08 ahead of Leeds’ David Mullarky. The second stage had seen Scott Halsted take Bracknell ahead mid lap before Phil Sesemann came through for Leeds after a 15:25 split as James Kingston also moved Tonbridge up. Sesemann said he was getting back into shape following the London Marathon last month and that his Leeds club had three good teams in the race as they finished first, eighth and 15th.

It was all pretty close on the third stage, as Graham Rush looked to be in charge for Leeds after one of their two laps. That was before Cross came through for Aldershot, but Cambridge & Coleridge and Shaftesbury Barnet were also in…