Wonder Whitfield (From Stroud News and Journal)

Wonder Whitfield

STROUD athletic star Iain Whitfield raced to victory at the County X-Country Championships as Stroud picked up an emphatic team victory.

Whitfield saw off the challenge of team member Ander Russell to capture the Under-17's crown.

They were well supported by George Withey in fourth, Luke Browning in fifth and Ed Womersley in sixth.

Meanwhile, the Under- 20's were left to battle it out with the senior men on a course of almost 10km.

They were not fazed by the prospect and Tom Russell went on to finish second overall, but first Under-20. Seb Duffy, in his first year as a senior, ran strongly to finish fourth, signalling an encouraging comeback after a year of injuries.

To cap a great day for Stroud AC, Tom Purnell in the Under- 11's ran a fast race to finish first, and Chris Newbould was Stroud's only Under-13 runner, but had a solid race to finish 10th.

Meanwhile, in the Under- 15's, Matt Withey continued to dominate his age group with a comfortable win whilst Pat Clifford-Tarry and Andrew Kaighin finished eighth and ninth respectively to secure a team silver.

The girls race saw Eleanor Zodiatef finish ninth.