Swindon Harriers’ young athletes opened the new year in style with a clutch of gold medals at the South West Cross Country and Indoor Championships.

In the mud and cold at RNAS Merryfield, Somerset, the under-13 runners grabbed the headlines by winning both club titles against their rivals from Avon, Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Gloucestershire and Somerset.

In addition, Charissa Griffiths-Clack added a superb individual silver after a dramatic finish to her race as she sprinted from fourth to get beyond two of her competitors onto the podium in the final 100 metres.

She was well supported by Pippa Wall and Bethany Brien who finished in 13th and 15th place respectively with Amy Harris securing the overall team victory by coming home in 36th place.

Victory for the under-13 boys couldn’t have been much closer as they edged out Bristol & West AC by a single point scoring 69 to 70.

Max Jackson led the way in eighth place with Joey Burdekin crossing the line in 11th and Douglas Kirby also making the top 20 in 14th, while Adam Hunton secured victory in 36th.

In her first serious race since winning this title in 2024 Eloise Foster came through unscathed, finishing strongly to claim fourth just over-taking clubmate Ella Spencer on the second lap. Both girls featured in the Wiltshire team that finished second in the inter-counties competition.

Ellie Charlesworth won a county silver team medal as the fourth and final scorer for the Wiltshire under-15s girls’ after placing 23rd, just ahead of clubmates Elsie Scrase and Freya McMeeking.

Harry Burdekin, Alex Leak, James Mayneord, and Reuben Linscott all finished in the top 25 as they won silver in the under-15s club team event.

In the opening race on a bitterly cold day, Molly McMeeking did very well to finish fifth in the under-11 girls’ race.

Meanwhile, over in Cardiff, the club’s track and field athletes got the new year off to a great start with a haul of seven medals.

The highlight was a trio of gold medals, two for sprinters Jonathan Dumbutshena and Tamiah Roswell in the under-17 men’s and under-13 girls’ 60 metres respectively and the third for Jesse Bryant in the under-15s 800 metres.

There were also two silvers for Freya Kayani in the U15s 60m hurdles and Esha Bhalerao in the under-15s pole vault plus bronze medals for Lowri Prosser in the under-15s pole vault and Sophia Kirk in the under-15s 1500 metres.