VALE Royal Athletics Club have won a gold medal at the English National Cross Country Championships for the first time.

Their under 15s boys topped the team standings at Castle Donington, where Alfie Bould, John Humphries and Ben Lee finished inside the top 20.

Oliver Waring completed a victorious quartet.

They are also the first males from the Knights Grange-based club to stand on the podium at the annual event.

Vale Royal’s senior women had reason to smile too after claiming a bronze medal.

Amelia Pettitt, who will represent Great Britain at the World University Cross Country Championships next month, classified 13th after racing in the category for the first time.

Teammates Sarah Murphy, Kate Spilsbury – who also took bronze for the club as part of a junior women’s quartet in 2007 – and Kate Titlow ranked inside the top 100.

And Vale Royal almost won three gongs only for their under 17s boys, represented by Josh Betteley, Arun Dight, Cameron Weaver and Harry Buglass, to rank fourth overall after Bedford & County pipped them to a podium position.

Two other Vale Royal teams, the under 20s women and under 17s girls, finished in the top 10.

There was a notable individual performance too by Ed Pettitt, placing 23rd in a 420-strong under 13s boys’ field.

Results

English National Cross Country Championships

Castle Donington

Saturday, February 27 (Vale Royal AC members only)

 

Senior men (12km): 105. Stuart Doyle 46.43; 125. Chris Perry 47.07; 339. Ryan Moore 50.56; 663. James Griffiths 55.56; 668. Gareth Williams 56.00; 768. Tom Heaword 57.13; 902. Steven Caldwell 58.50; 1274. Brian Dooley 1:04.32; 1433. John Clarke 1:08.00

Teams: 33. Vale Royal AC 2668pts

Senior women (8km): 13. Amelia Pettitt 31.31; 35. Sarah Murphy 33.02; 79. Kate Spilsbury 34.36; 97. Kate Titlow 35.23; 112. Kate Moulds 35.43; 150. Sarah Griffiths 36.42; 323. Carolyn Dooley 40.59; 470. Kerry Riley 44.30; 528. Jayne Lomax 46.28

Teams: 3. Vale Royal AC 224pts

Junior men (10km): 51. Matthew Sheen 40.35

Junior women (6km): 44. Amy Hinchly 25.07; 83. Clara Pettitt 27.07; 98. Lucy Burch 28.15; 108. Emma Pyatt 29.15

Teams: 10. Vale Royal AC 225pts

Under 17s boys (6km):16. Josh Betteley 20.26; 20. Arun Dight 20.38; 22. Cameron Weaver 20.40; 88. Harry Buglass 22.04; 172. Harry Dexter 23.32

Teams: 4. Vale Royal AC 146pts

Under 17s girls (5km): 69. Sophie Smith 22.41; 79. Chloe Dooley 22.50; 93. Esme Bridge 23.07; 110. Cara Gibbons 23.28

Teams: 8. Vale Royal AC 351pts

Under 15s boys (4.5km): 12. Alfie Bould 17.07; 14. John Humphries 17.09; 16. Ben Lee 17.09; 45. Oliver Waring17.43; 102. Alex Doyle 18.22; 266. Charlie Fawkes 20.10;

Teams: 1. Vale Royal AC 87pts

Under 15s girls (4km): 57. Holly Smith 18.02; 172. Caitlin Dimmick 19.25; 188. Lucy Smith 19.38

Under 13s boys (3km): 23. Ed Pettitt 13.29; 294. Will Ashfield 15.46; 341. Wilf Dight 16.14

Under 13s girls (3km): 241. Faye Conboy 16.28; 409. Holly Dooley 18.12