Well done to all our athletes competing at Parliament Hill today in the National CC champs – results here, reports and a few souvenir photos of the day shown below.
Senior Men’s Report
When everybody from the past champions watching to the newly crowned winners describe the conditions as ‘testing’, ‘horrendous’ and ‘energy sapping’ one thing is for sure, this year’s National was muddy to say the least! Regarded as the home of cross-country running, Hampstead Heath has been the scene of some epic battles over the years, but few have been quite as muddy as 2025. The testing, mud-sodden hills produced a classic test of strength and tactical awareness for all runners. By the time this race started – the final event in an action-packed programme – the course was cut to pieces. It was tough to stand let alone try and run. Into this arena of pain strode the Harrow athletes!
In the Senior race Chris Hudson made the trip back from Southampton University and was rewarded by being first Harrow athlete, finishing well up inside the first 250 of the 1,783 finishers.
Henry Johnson made his first and very welcome appearance of the season coming home in just over the hour, closely followed by Simon Sly and Chris Finill. Dan Draper, a recent returner to Harrow AC was hampered by an ankle injury but nevertheless battled his way through bravely to the end.
Henry Jakszta and Daniel Clarke had their first taste of Parliament Hill and, as they were both smiling during the post race warm down, will surely back here again when the opportunity next presents itself.
Nick Andrews, our joint Winter Manager, finished just behind Daniel with recent joiner, Graham Barlow and the experienced Tom Morris coming home 9th and 10th for the Club.
Of the Teams that fielded full squads (a lot of clubs failed to do this) Harrow came 74th out of 112.
- Chris Hudson – 218th position in 00:52:48
- Henry Johnson – 821st position in 01:02:44
- Simon Sly – 870th position in 01:03:34
- Chris Finill – 909th position in 01:04:21
- Daniel Draper – 1163rd position in 01:08:52
- Henry Jakszta – 1271st position in 01:11:55
- Daniel Clarke – 1360th position in 01:14:00
- Nick Andrews – 1371st position in 01:14:17
- Graham Barlow – 1425th position in 01:15:55
- Tom Morris – 1727th position in 01:32:34
Sincere thanks to Jim Cooper, Mike Lepps and Julia Finill who provided welcome support around the course.
In a very high standard junior race Joe Tarling came a creditable 105th and will be looking to take his strong winter form onto the road and track as winter yields to Spring.
Talking of Spring events – SUNDAY 30TH MARCH – RESERVE THIS DATE NOW IF YOU WANT TO BE CONSIDERED FOR THE 12 STAGE RELAYS AT MILTON KEYNES
In the U17 womens race Amae Van Zyl ran brilliantly to finish 40th ahead of notable rivals (inc Posie S!) and was supported by Annabelle Suffield in 145th place.
U15 Girls Report
The U15 girls delivered a solid team performance, finishing 27th overall in a competitive field. Katie Dalton led the team with an impressive 196th place finish in 22:23, closely followed by Beth Dalton in 200th place (22:29). Grace Crisp (224th, 22:54) and Nilou Heath (245th, 23:24) provided strong support (despite losing a shoe part way round the course!), while Ella Chandratheva (248th, 23:30) and Gracie Lewis (295th, 27:00) rounded out the squad. A fantastic effort from all!
U13 Girls Report
The U13 girls’ team put in an excellent performance, securing 17th place overall. Soufia Atek was the standout performer, finishing 97th in 15:18. Eloise Suffield (145th, 15:57), Vivienne Olas (149th, 16:00), and Ottilie Sly (153rd, 16:06) all ran well to keep the team competitive. Iyla Yadav (260th, 18:53) and Rebecca Landy (266th, 19:17) showed great determination to complete the squad. A brilliant team effort!
Both teams should be proud of their performances on a tough course!
