Race Report -Junior Women – Cross Cup, Roeselare ’24

Junior Women Race Report – EnergyVision Cross Cup, Roeselare – 27 October 2024

The Junior Women were represented by Eleanor Strevens (Eastbourne, Christopher Voice), Freya Bradley (Westbury, Neil Miller), Zoe Gilbody (Telford, Sarah Benson) and Jenny Leggate (Cambridge & Coleridge, Richard Park). Eleanor and Freya were making their England cross country debuts.

The 4600m course of a start loop and 3 laps with tight turns, two “camel hump” style slopes and traditional Belgium barriers was the same as the Junior Men’s course. The race started with the normal frantic charge to secure a prime position before the hairpin bend. First to show in the pack was Eleanor, closely followed by Freya with Jenny and Zoe in the middle of the pack. At the start of the first lap Eleanor was in fifth position, Freya in sixth with Jenny and Zoe a few places back. As the lap progressed Eleanor began to close in on the leading Belgian and Dutch athletes and went on to take the lead before the start of the second lap.

Freya was doing to the same and moved into second place. Zoe and Jenny were also moving through the field and at the start of the second lap moved up to seventh and eighth positions respectively. As the bell rang for the third and final lap Eleanor and Freya increased their distance on the third and fourth placed athletes. Freya began to close in on Eleanor and with 100m to go Freya briefly took the lead. Eleanor reacted relying on her 800m speed to regain pole position and sweep pass Freya in the final few metres to claim victory, with Freya crossing the line one second behind in second place. Meanwhile Zoe and Jenny were having their own battle and on the final lap closed in on the two Dutch athletes and one of the Belgium athletes but didn’t quite catch the other Belgium athlete who finished third. Zoe missed out on a podium spot by two seconds finishing fourth and Jenny one second behind in fifth.