McGrath takes silver in English National Cross Country Championships

Cookham’s Frank McGrath at the English National Cross Country Championships in London.

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Athletes from the Maidenhead-based PB Racing Squad added more national medals to their tally with impressive performances at the English National Cross Country Championships on February 22, writes Peta Bee.

In testing conditions at Parliament Hill Fields in London, Frank McGrath covered 10km of thick mud and hills to take silver in the Junior Men’s Under 20 race.

In a pulsating finish McGrath, 19 and from Cookham, closed the gap on the leader to just two seconds by the line.

McGrath, who competed at the European Under 20 cross country championships in Turkey, adds his national silver to gold from the South of England champs and silver at the All Ireland cross country championships this season.

It was silver team medals for Ben Welch and Thomas Ling who had superb runs as part of the Windsor, Slough, Eton and Hounslow AC (WSEH) under 13 boys’ team. Welch finished in 22nd place and Ling, a Furze Platt Senior School pupil, took 54th as part of the scoring four athletes.

Quinn Bookless grabbed a team bronze for WSEH AC with a strong run for 84th in the under 15 girls event and was closely tracked by Kaiya McCrabbe of Maidenhead AC a few places behind her in 109th place. April Dodson (112th) was second scored in the WSEH AC under 13 girls team and Josh Norton (Newbury AC) was another of the squad’s athletes to record a fine performance with 74th in the Under 17 Men’s race.

In March, many of the PB Racing Squad athletes will be representing their respective county at the UK Inter-Counties in Nottingham and the English Schools Cross Country Championships at Ardingley Show Ground in Sussex before turning their attention to the track season.