Martha Calton-Seal was crowned Yorkshire under 17 girls’ cross country champion on a successful day for City of York Athletic Club. Calton-Seal was the club’s star performer in the Yorkshire championships at Lightwater Valley on Saturday, holding off Longwood’s Neve Hardcastle to take gold after a tough battle. She also led York to the team title, while Lottie Langan was runner-up in the under 13 girls’ race. Calton-Seal took victory in 16mins 3secs, pipping Hardcastle by two seconds over a fairly dry 4.5km course. Katie Brennan (18.56) and Holly Moss (20.04) completed the winning team in 15th and 22nd respectively. Langan clocked 9.10 for the 2.5km course to finish ten seconds adrift of the under 13 champion Maisey Bellwood (Keighley), who had also denied her the West Yorkshire League title in November. With Amy Kennedy (9.27) sixth and Martha Sigsworth (10.17) 24th, York also secured the team bronze medal. There was another team bronze for York’s under 15 boys, who also raced over a 4.5km course. Gianluca Mastrolonardo (15.28) led the team home in eighth, with Edward Brown (16.21) and Edward Hanley (16.45) completing the line-up in 21st and 27th respectively. The club’s under 13 boys’ team finished seventh, while Joe O’Brien came eighth in the under 17 boys’ race, completing the 6km course in 21.24.
Charlotte Mason was York’s leading senior lady as she shrugged off a recent cold to finish 11th in 30.28 over an 8km course. York’s senior men secured a creditable sixth place in the final race of the day over approximately 10km. Angus McMillan (33.31) was their first runner home in 23rd, while Tim Stratton (33.54), George Phillips (34.31) and Alex Dickinson (35.09) also made the top 50.
With 42 members in action, this was York’s best turnout at the championships since 2014. As a result of their performances, O’Brien, Mastrolonardo, Calton-Seal, Langan and Kennedy were all selected to run for Yorkshire in the Inter-Counties Championships at Prestwold, Leicestershire on March 7.
Meanwhile, York’s Laura Brooks and Lucy Gilbertson finished third and fourth respectively in the under 13 girls’ race at the Humberside Cross Country Championships on Sunday. Brooks clocked 13.57 and Gilbertson 14.13 over a 3.4km course at Weelsby Woods, Grimsby, with both earning places on the Humberside team for the Inter-Counties Championships.
York’s Daniel Campbell (7.52) won the under 11 open boys’ race over 2km. The club’s under 11 girls won their team title over the same distance, thanks to Molly Skelton (9.02), Kate Setchell (9.23) and Emily Rycroft (9.23), who came fourth, eighth and ninth respectively.