Belgrave Harriers and Shaftesbury Barnet were the headline acts, winning the women’s and men’s relay titles but it was the key players in the background who were truly the stars of the show as without exception it was the team managers and coaches who were praised the most and credited with each and every team’s success.

Plus of course, there was the traditional venue, for decades now the preferred location for this event. Mansfield, complete with its rolling hills, short sections of muddy paths and fast, flat smooth surfaces played its usual role testing athletes’ early season form, providing a useful marker for Great Britain and England team selectors who were in the crowd. And for the eagle-eyed spectator, there was also the chance to watch some of Britain’s best distance runners go through their paces after the races had ended on the track, eight or ten of them teaming up for an after-competition controlled 20 minutes or so of long efforts. As ever, it was the action that provided all the excitement with surprise titles being won, incredible last legs or inspirational mid-order chargers. One of the races was even decided by just 0.1sec. Now that was close.

The women’s race was a more controlled affair as defending champions Belgrave Harriers slowly but surely made their way through the field to ease their way to a comfortable 58 second victory. It was a repeat of last year as just in 2023, Aldershot Farnham and District occupied the silver and bronze positions. Kate Axford anchored the trio that was made up of her, Nadine Donegan and Sarah Astin and even though she started leg three in a commanding position, she put her head down and ran hard. “I’ve been on 80 miles a week for a bit now and running three good sessions a week, so this was a good tune up for the trials in Liverpool,” she said, echoing the plans for many of the big names in Mansfield. The Euro Cross Championships is barely a month away so as ever, the relays provided those in with a shout to test their form. “But it’s so nice to be on a team. It’s just so enjoyable running in a race like this,” she said, stressing that her everybody played a massive role in securing the gold medal. “The coaches have done a great job at Belgrave, and I can’t thank them enough,” she said.

The men’s winners, Shaftesbury Barnet had a similar tale to tell. Dylan Evans who ran the third leg and hauled the north London side up from sixth to first was keen not just to thank his team-mates, but also Jake Shelley the man behind Shaftesbury’s regeneration of late. “He’s been building the team for a few years now,” the British-based Aussie said. “It’s been fantastic to be part of a team that has improved so much in the past few years. Yes, we did win here three years ago but our silver in the road relays the other week was the best we’d achieved since 1991.”

Isaac Chandler led the way with a 15:16 opening leg before handing over to sub-four-minute miler Liam Dee (14:55); Evans then produced what proved to a race-winning 14:57 before Jamie Dee clocked 15:01 to cross the line 19 seconds clear of Bedford and County. “I didn’t realise I was in the lead,” Jamie laughed afterwards. “Honestly, I thought I was in about third and it was only when I went around the lake that I started to realise ‘hang on, I’m in the lead here’.”

The Age Groups

With more than 6000 names on the entry list and hundreds of teams entered, there’s no doubting the popularity of this event, nor its importance. Olympians in the form of Jess Warner-Judd in the senior women and Phoebe Gill (in the U20 women) competed while countless England cross-country and track internationals used the event for a variety of early season fitness tests. Whether it’s the Euro Cross, the National later in the winter or for a few, an indoor campaign, Mansfield and the cross-country relays remain as important and popular as ever.

U20 women
Despite on paper appearing to have finished a distant second to Birmingham University, it was St Albans Striders that everybody was watching. As ever, the university team was deemed ineligible for the actual title as they benefit from larger in-depth squads. True, they were dominant with Eleanor Stevens, Alice Bates and Jess Bailey leading from gun to tape but behind them St Albans were always closing thanks to a two solid legs from Sophie Jacobs and Antonia Jubb before a certain Phoebe Gill, the Olympic 800m semi-finalist, tore through the field to take second, but the title that goes along with that position in this particular race. Ever the professional, she was then happy to thank her team-mates, her coach and the event itself explaining how important it is for her to have a low-key cross-country season far away from the glare of the national media. Mansfield in November is very different to the Parisian Summer Olympics cauldron. But every bit as important.

U17 women
Lincoln Wellington’s Isla Porter, Faith Taylor and Ellarose Whitworth produced three superb legs of 8:41, 9:06 and 8:43 on their way to gold. “We all train together, so this is brilliant,” afterwards. “We’ve had such a great start to the season, and we can’t wait to see what happens next,” the trio said in unison. And again, when they were asked what their secret is, the answer was definitive. “Our coach, Marc [Thorpe].” Behind them, Aldershot were in great form as ever, picking up the silver medal. That was the start of a great day for the Hampshire outfit, who, again as ever, were the No.1 team on the day when it came to overall performances throughout the age group races.

U15 girls
Aldershot Farnham and District took the honours clocking 22:08 to Chelmsford’s 22:27. That result only tells half the story though as Windsor Slough Eton and Hounslow were also in the mix until very late. This race perfectly illustrates what this championship is all about. Aldershot’s Matilda Robertson kicked things off with 7:37 for ninth after the first leg. Poppy Guest eased them into second and then Kitty Scott finally secured the lead but she couldn’t relax at any point. Ezzrah Harold, Ava King and finally Jorja March all contested the top spot at some point for Chelmsford and only a strong surge from Scott on the anchor meant the title would be heading to Aldershot once again.

U13 girls
‘Watch out for Brentwood Beagles’ warned one, non-Beagle, spectator. He was right. Well adrift early on, the Beagles moved relentlessly through the field from an early 14 th to win with relative ease. Madison Kindler was magnificent on the anchor, her 7:24 lap easily moving her from tenth to first. Her team-mates had made sure that win was possible as Amalia Twydell (8:27) and Sophie Bickerstaff (8:26) made sure they were always in touch. And when you’ve got a 4:35 1500m runner on the anchor who also has an 18:01 5km to her name, that result was never really in doubt.

U20 men
In what proved to be the closest race of the day, Radley hung on for the gold medal from Peterborough and Nene Valley but there was just 0.01sec between them on the line. To be fair England international cross-country runner Quinn Miell-Ingram looked to have things under control but with Harry Hewitt, a 3:45 man chasing you down you can never be too careful. “I knew they were closing fast,” said Miell-Ingram, “but I did have something left if I needed,” he insisted, a wry smile suggesting that possibly, just possibly another 10 metres would have been too far such was Hewitt’s momentum. Oliver Conway’s 8:51 and James Johnny’s 8:56 for the 3km lap meant Radley led for most of the race, while Thomas Preston’s 8:58 and Seb Beedell’s 8:59 meant the Cambridgeshire team was also there or there abouts.

U17 men
Salford Harriers and Preston Harriers were among the teams trading places for the lead early on, but it was the Salford trio who triumphed thanks to Bobby Burton’s 9:32, Evan Grime’s 9:01 and Jack Marwood’s 9:06. With Grime, a 4:05 miler on the second leg, Salford were always going to be the team to watch, but credit to Marwood’s magnificent anchor leg which kept Blackheath and Bromley at a comfortable arm’s length.

U15 Boys
In recent years, Cambridge and Coleridge have been one of the teams to watch at this event and so it proved again. Finn MacLennan (6:37), Harry Cantell (6:49) and Harrison Pearson’s (6:46) consistency kept them in the medals all race long and although Herne Hill just 17 seconds down did close late on, it was all finished with 500 metres to go.

U13 Boys
Albert Yates, Jack Turner and Harry Hopkinson couldn’t believe they won the gold medal for Preston Harriers. High-fives, hugs and a few well dones to beaten rivals were order of the day for the clearly jubilant trio. As in so many of the races, it was all about who had the finishing speed in the final 200 metres past the commentator’s box and on this occasion it was Hopkinson who secured a seven-second advantage over nearby rivals, Liverpool Harriers who had moved from third to second on the closing lap.