Ailbhe Barnes was undoubtedly the star of our youngsters at the National last Saturday with a 7th place finish. This made her the first Kent girl home in the U13 Girls race. Not to be out done her brother James who was probably the youngest runner at 11yrs 4 days lead our U13 Boys home in 124th followed by a very muddy Ethan Fiore, see photo, 131st and Louis Woods 153rd. All covered by only 10 seconds.
Despite a fall during the race, Lara Atkinson finished 53rd in U17W, whilst in the U17M Joshua Olawunmi continued his improvement to also finished 53rd after a race long battle with Noah Armitage-Hookes in 66th. In the U20 races both Molly Hawkins, 119th, and Bailey Massey, 110th, ran well. Other placings were Antonay Thomas 359th U13B, Monay Thomas 217th U17W, Ciara Mitchel 246 U17W and Renay Thomas 398th U15G.
Let me finish with Ailbhe’s run. She was always near the front of the field and to be 7th after being 10th in the Southerns, which I thought then was a remarkable run, was a great performance.