The Derbyshire County Cross Country Championships were held at Shipley Park Country Park this weekend and as usual tested the counties best cross country athletes against a classic course with the traditional splattering of mud!

The Buxton AC team had a great day coming away with 2 individual Golds and a Silver, a team Gold and team Silver and 9 athletes earning places to represent their county in the regional rounds.

First race of the day was the under 11 girls. Representing Buxton AC Erin Colebrook got the team to fantastic start becoming the under 11 girls Derbyshire Champion! Rachel Cudahy also ran well to finish 8th in this race. The under 11 boys race saw Dylan Gray and Charlie MacLaurin representing their club admirably finishing in 8th and 13th overall.

The under 17 boys race came next with the Buxton team of Sam Soles, Ed Diamond and Stu Diamond gaining team Bronze with a cumulative score of 4th, 10th and 12th. Sam qualified to represent Derbyshire in the upcoming Inter-Counties Championships to be held in Loughborough next month. Stu and Ed both earnt reserve places for the team.

With the first 8 runners gaining county selection with the next 4 becoming reserves the under 13 Buxton runners were unlucky to finish just outside the first 12. Both Oliver Ecob and Lucy Whelan were 13th, with Matt Rolfe 17th and Rebecca Cudahy and Molly Golden coming in together in 22nd and 23rd positions.

The under 17 girls had an outstanding race. Ellie Wilson became the County Champion gaining the Gold medal with Lucy Bednall earning Silver. Team mates Amy Whelan and Heather Wilshaw came 4th and 7th respectively so that all 4 girls gained County qualification, while the team took Gold!
Lauren Wilshaw raced in the last set of races – the under 15 – finishing 12th overall and a reserve place on the Derbyshire team.
Meanwhile in the Staffordshire County Championships Buxton AC’s Harry Bond earnt his county qualification with a 6th place in the under 17 category.