Top teenage cross-country runners will race for titles in Liverpool

Despite many changes to the athletics calendar due to the coronavirus outbreak, this weekend’s New Balance English Schools Cross Country Championships action is still set to take place at Liverpool’s Sefton Park.

The event was last held in the Merseyside city in 2008 and it follows the championships being staged at Temple Newsam in Leeds for the past two years.

Here we take a look ahead to Saturday’s races. See the March 12 edition of AW magazine, which is available digitally here, for our full preview.

Senior races

Sam Charlton, Josh Dickinson and Matt Stonier, who were first, fourth and sixth last year, are able to race again, while 2019 intermediate boys’ winner Oliver Smart, fellow Devon runner Flynn Jennings and English National champion Will Barnicoat move up to senior level.

In the senior girls’ race, top-placed competitors from 12 months ago such as Shannon Flockhart, Tia Wilson and Mia Atkinson are all eligible to run again.

Moving up from the intermediate age group to senior girls are Kirsten Stilwell and Lara Crawford.

Intermediate races

Lewis Sullivan from Suffolk moves up to the intermediate age group having won the junior boys’ English Schools title last year and also the English National and Inter-Counties under-15 crowns recently. Louis Small from Kent is another contender.

Last year Bethany Cook, the triathlete and runner from Sussex, was first ahead of runner-up Bea Wood of Wiltshire, with Emily Shaw from Dorset third and Isabelle Hinkley fourth, and those first four are still under 17 this year.

Junior races

Watch out for Ben Peck of Suffolk, William Rabjohns of Dorset and Alden Collier of Buckinghamshire to be among the contenders  in the boys’ race, while the girls’ event is set to feature Scarlett Livingstone from Devon, who finished third last year, plus English National and Inter-Counties under-13 winner Zoe Gilbody.

Timetable

12.30pm Intermediate girls 3800m
1.00pm Junior boys 4400m
1.30pm Junior girls 3000m
2.00pm Intermediate boys 5500m
2.35pm Senior girls 4400m
3.05pm Senior boys 6700m