James Kingston and Kate O’Neil seal Southern cross-country gold

Reports, pictures and results as thousands of competitive club runners take part in the South of England Champs in Beckenham, Kent on Saturday.

Beckenham Place Park played host for the fifth year in a row and it was local favourite James Kingston who came out on top of the senior men’s race with a run-away victory by nearly a minute and a half.

This was over Callum Charleston in a race of traditional senior championship length of 15km.

Kingston has a proud pedigree in English National and South of England championships and took the title here in 2024 but was headed by Bournemouth’s refugee asylum seeker Abdi Elmi last year

In third place here was the in-form Jack Kavanagh for Holland Sports.

Hercules Wimbledon took the team race from Charleston’s Aldershot but they have had to play second fiddle to Belgrave in this year’s Surrey League after two years of winning that league. Here, Belgrave were well out of contention, as Kent AC took third. They had top M45 John Gilbert as their second scorer in 12th place.

It was close at the front of the under-20 men’s race, as Cosmo Benyan got the better of Matthew Pickering, who led Aldershot to a team win over the individual winner’s Cambridge & Coleridge.

It was also close at the front of the senior women’s race where two county champions battled it out. Havering’s Kate O’Neil just got the nod over Blackheath’s Andrea Clement as last year’s winner Megan Gadsby claimed third for City of Norwich.

It was Aldershot who took senior women’s team honours, led by Maddie Jordan-Lee’s sixth spot as twin sister Millie Slotted in eighth, after team mate Katie Hughes.

Katie Pye had earlier taken the junior women’s race for the Hampshire outfit but second placed Ella Davey led Windsor to a comfortable team win as their rivals failed to put out a quartet, leaving Brighton Phoenix to take the only other team medals.

Men: 1 J Kingston (Ton) 44:27; 2 C Charleston (AFD) 45:52; 3 J Kavanagh (Holl Sp) 46:03; 4 F Grierson (High) 46:29; 5 S Eglen (AFD) 46:32; 6 B Alcock (Bed C) 46:40

TEAM: 1 Hercules Wimbledon 126; 2 AFD 138; 3 Kent 150

39 teams finished

U20: 1 C Benyan (C&C) 24:16; 2 M Pickering (AFD) 24:20; 3 B Andrews-Callec (Hers) 24:54; 4 T Claridge (Ton) 25:01; 5 O Jermy (G&G) 25:02; 6 C Collins (Poole) 26:03

TEAM: 1 AFD 33; 2 Cambridge & Coleridge 54; 3 Tonbridge 93

Women: 1 K O’Neil (Hav’g) 27:20; 2 A Clement (B&B) 27:22; 3 M Gadsby (Norw) 27:38; 4 A Brooke (Belg) 27:44; 5 M Dickinson (Phoe) 27:45; 6 Maddie Jordan-Lee (AFD) 27:53

TEAM: 1 AFD 45; 2 Belgrave 57; 3 Highgate 106

33 teams finished

U20: 1 K Pye (AFD) 21:54; 2 E Davey (WSZEH) 22:09; 3 M Fieldsend (WSEH) 22:20; 4 L Delvendahl (High) 22:32; 5 A Royden (M&M) 23:00; 6 Y Grant (WSEH) 23:01

TEAM: 1 WSEH 23; 2 Brighton Phoenix 91

Young Athletes

Blackheath & Bromley’s Joseph Scanes has been the in-form runner in the under-17 age group but here was pushed by team mate Joseph Hill, as second spot as Goerge Armstrong-Smith took third. However, the pair were just pipped in the team stakes by Cambridge & Coleridge, who were led by fourth placed Finn MacLennan.

Molly Smithers gave Chichester Runners a rare area championship gold by taking the women’s under-17 race from Milton Keynes’ Sophia Chapman. However, it was service as usual from Aldershot in the team stakes as their squad took another title.

There was another Sussex based winner in the under-15 boys’ race as Taylor Thorn-Watts caused a bit of an upset and led his Brighton and Hove quartet to a team victory over Hercules Wimbledon, whose Theo Creed was second.

This was ahead of the in-form Elliott Langley-Aybar who was a close third.

The closest finish came in the under-15 girls’ event where Summer Smith just got the verdict over Poppy Guest with the previously unbeaten Isabella Buchanen some way back in third.

Their Brentwood Beagles and Aldershot clubs were expected to fight it out in the team stakes but fourth placed Kara Gorman led Windsor, Slough, Eton & Hounslow to their second team gold.

Brentwood had also earlier got their second individual gold, when odds-on favourite Madison Kindler led a club 1,2,3 in the under-13 girls’ race. However, that was not enough for a team win, as their fourth scorer was, 82nd, so it was Aldershot, led by fourth placed Isabel Goodey De Diego who came through to take the first of four team honours overall.

The under-13 races saw a win for Thames Valley’s Luis Da Silva over Mason Sanford, as Blackheath & Bromley took the team golds.

U17 Men: 1 J Scanes (B&B) 18:35; 2 J Hill (B&B) 18:41; 3 G Armstrong-Smith (E’brne) 18:44; 4 F MacLennan (C&C) 18:58; 5 F Lumber-Fry (E’brne) 18:57; 6 S McDonald (C&C) 19:04

TEAM: 1 Cambridge & C 63; 2 Blackheath & B 65; 3 St Mary’s 114

U15: 1 T Thorn-Watts (B&H) 13:44; 2 T Creed (HW) 13:52; 3 E Langley-Aybar (Brack) 13:56; 4 R Greenwood (Trent P) 14:09; 5 L Boulton (Herne H) 14:14; 6 J Tildersley (Ports) 14:16

TEAM: 1 Brighton & Hove 66; 2 Hercules Wimbledon 99; 3 London Heathside 113

U13: 1 L De Silva (TVH) 10:04; 2 M Sanford (Chelm) 10:06; 3 Z Evans (B&B) 10:10; 4 O Moore (Dart) 10:20; 5 C Pearl (HW) 10:22; 6 S Bryce (AFD) 10:22

TEAM: 1 B&B 88; 2 Herne H 111; 3 Chelmsford 153

U17 Women: 1 M Smithers (Chich R) 21:47; 2 S Chapman (Mil K) 21:56; 3 S Allen (High) 22:06; 4 I Wheeler (Horsh BS) 22:09; 5 D Connor (E’brne) 22;12; 6 E Hill (Chich R) 22:14

TEAM: 1 AFD 78; 2 Milton Keynes 100; 3 Chelmsford 106

U15: 1 S Smith (B’wood) 15:04; 2 P Guest (AFD) 15:04; 3 I Bucanen (Hy) 15:20; 4 K Gorman (WSEH) 15:44; 5 F Goodwin (B&H) 15:47; 6 F Hitchings (Medway Tri) 16:08

TEAM: 1 WSEH 77; 2 Brentwood Beagles 93; 3 AFD 124

U13: 1 M Kindler (B’wood) 10:36; 2 S Davies (B’wood) 10:58; 3 L Esterhuysen (B’wood) 11:01; 4 I Goody De Diego (AFD) 11:03; 5 I Purser (Hunts) 11:06; 6 M Scriven (Herne H) 11:11

TEAM: 1 AFD 37; 2 Herne H 78; 3 Brentwood B 88