The three match Derbyshire Athletics cross country mini-league series came to close at the weekend, with the final event of the season having been held at Moorways in Derby. And despite cross country not being a particularly favoured discipline for our AVEAC membership, twenty-nine of our athletes braved the conditions and participated across the series.
As has now become tradition, the first match of the series was hosted by High Peak AC at Buxton Rugby Club on a rather overcast and chilly morning on Saturday 25th October. A total of seven AVEAC athletes joined team manager Chris Aikman in making the journey north into the Peak District to compete in the event, all performing admirably.
Florence Sibley, April Malone and Esme Wainwright ran in the under 11 girls age category, finishing in first, second and fifth respectively. Whilst Ben McLaren and Harley Alldread competed in the under 11 boys category, finishing their races in sixth and eighth postion. Katherine Turner was the sole AVEAC competitor in the under 13 age group, finishing in eighth position in the girls category. Similar to Katherine, Isla Douglas was a the only runner in the under 15 age category to don their amber vest, coming home in third position in the girls group.
On Saturday 22nd November the cross country party descended on a rather wet and muddy Rutland Sports Park for the second match of the series, and the one that saw the largest number of AVEAC athletes competing. This could be down to the race being held at their home and therefore familiar course, or it could simply be due to the AVEAC coaches ‘forgetting’ to remind them that anyone who attended training that morning would be participating… the jury is out on that.
Florence Sibley once again claimed first place in the under 11 girls category, with April Malone adding to her second place in the first match, with a third place finish at RSP. The girls were joined in their race by fellow under 11 girls Mayim Glaberman, Claudia Sangster, Jessica Wright, Sophie Wright and Grace Meehan, who finished sixth, seventh, ninth, tenth and eleventh respectively. In the under 11 boys category, first race competitors Ben McLaren and Harley Alldread were joined by Chris Maye, Charlie Groves, Luca Monni, Tyler Gras, Freddie Wilson and Thomas Reeve. Ben was the first of the AVEAC runners to cross the line as he finished in fifth place, with Chris finishing in ninth, Harley in eleventh, Charlie in fourteenth, and Luca, Tyler, Freddie and Thomas crossing the line in sixteenth, seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth respectively.
Evelyn Maye and Aimee Brackenbury lined up for AVEAC in the under 13 girls group, crossing the line in tenth and twelfth place. Sienna Carlton and Chelsea McCondach unfortunately missed the start of the race following an age group related mix up, however completed the last couple of laps supporting Aimee. In the under 13 boys category, Jasper Sangster finished his race in twelfth position, just ahead of teammate Owen Watson in thirteenth, with Daniel Halton the third of the AVEAC athletes to finish, crossing the line in fifteenth position.
Isla Douglas again lined up for AVEAC in the under 15 girls category, this time joined by clubmate and fellow middle distance training group member, Lucy Norman. Lucy crossed the line in first place, with Isla finishing her race in fourth place. Five AVEAC under 15 boys took part in this match, with Joe Stimson leading the way for the quintet, crossing the line in first place. Lucas Sangster was the next AVEAC athlete home, and he finished in fifth place, with Harvey Glover, Isaac Smith and Gabe Parr finishing in seventh, tenth and eleventh respectively.
The final match of the series this year was hosted by Derby AC at their Moorways base on a bright, yet chilly Saturday 13th December, with eleven AVEAC athletes taking a short journey across the city to compete.
Florence Sibley completed a hat-trick of first place finishes in the series, as she once again crossed the line first in the under 11 girls category. April Malone also claimed her third podium finish of the series, as she ended her race in third place. Three more AVEAC girls competed in this match with Claudia Sangster, Mayim Glaberman and Esme Wainwright crossing the line in sixth, eighth and tenth places respectively. In the under 11 boys category, AVEACs two cross country mini-league ever presents, Ben McLaren and Harley Alldread lined up once again, finishing their races in twelfth and thirteenth places.
Katherine Turner was once again the sole AVEAC competitor in the under 13 girls group, improving on her previous outing and crossing the line in seventh place. As with Katherine, Jasper Sangster was a lone AVEAC runner in the under 13 boys category, as he finished in sixth place.
In the under 15 girls age group, Isla Douglas improved on her previous to races in the series, as she added a second place finish to her third and fourth places in the earlier events. Lucas Sangster ran in the under 15 boys category and claimed a third place finish, again improving on his previous outing at RSP.
As the final match of the series, the medal ceremony followed the races at Moorways, with three of our AVEAC cohort rewarded for their efforts across the three races.
Given her three first places finishes across the series, Florence Sibley quite rightly topped the podium and claimed gold in the under 11 girls category. Alongside Florence, having achieved a second and two third place finishes, April Malone ended the series with the silver medal.
In the under 15 girls, Isla Douglas took home the silver medal, finishing second overall following her third, fourth and second places finishes in the series.
Congratulations to all three, those medals are a fitting reward for your efforts and you should be very proud of your achievements.
Overall AVEAC achieved second place in the series.
This was the final cross country event of 2025 for our AVEAC athletes, however, no need to panic cross country lovers, as there is more to come in early 2026. Up first is the joint Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire county cross country championships, being held at Bulwell Hall Park on Saturday 3rd January, with a good number of AVEAC members featuring on the entry lists. Following this, the final match of the North Mids cross country series is held on Saturday 10th January, again at Bulwell Hall Park. AVEAC team manager Chris Aikman will again be onsite looking after our athletes, so if you’re attending, just look out for him sheltering from the wintery weather in the AVEAC tent for registration.
Report – Dan Humphrey, Photos – Chris Aikman, Janine Bonser and Sarah Turner