Essex XC League Round Up- Rice's Relegation Rescue Act - February 2026

On a day full of mud and hills, the cross country season drew to a squelching conclusion for many at Gloucester Park on Saturday.

Well done to the u13 girls who were an impressive 3rd with Phoebe Thomas 2nd, Sophia Norrington 6th and Isla Sandford 16th. The girls finished the season an excellent 4th overall and can look forward to challenging for future Essex team and individual medals with more training.

U13 boys team were led home by Charlie Matthews in 26th, Liam Tarasevicius was next in 35th with Luke Whiffin following in 41st and Finlay Maule finishing the scoring team in 45th. They finished 7th on the day and 8th overall for the season.

The under 15 girls had a strong turnout with 3 scorers bringing the team home in 5th place, scorers were: Marissa Mudzuri in 23rd, Frankie Foy in 26th and Sophie Hatcher in 27th.

Some debuts in this event and they should all be proud of themselves in what was a testing course, the team finished the season 8th overall.

George Riley also put in a good effort coming 39th in the under 15 boys race.

Senior Women

The senior women have had a great season and had 4 hardy scorers in the Women's race to just about fill the team quota. Leonie rounded off her excellent season, leading the way in 48th place. After dusting herself down from a training fall not too long ago super athlete Jodie Farrell was next in 59th. Vicky Purkiss capped off an excellent debut season in a great 98th place and the team were anchored home by Gloria Bullen whose finish off 116th place meant she took home the Women's v70 title, a well deserved achievement. Leonie, Jody and Vicky were all 5th overall in the league standings for their age groups.

The team were second team in Division 2 on the day and secured promotion to Division 1 with an overall 2nd place finish. Congratulations ladies!

Senior Men

The senior men had the minimum 6 scorers on the start line with a few injuries, colds and other commitments taking over. All finished and ran as well as they could with Alec Finch 31st, ever present Rob Doyle second scorer in a strong 70th, Scott Rice rolled back the clock with his best cross country run since pre covid to finish 77th. Keith Willett continued his running resurgence with a 'just outside the top 100' position of 112th. Next home was Simon Hatcher who rounded out an excellent debut season over the country with a 172nd place finish and team manager Bernie Johnson was in 177th overall and crossed the line to ensure Thurrock's survival in Division 1 for next year. 

The team were a season high 8th on the day leaving them in a 9th place finish overall with Springfield Striders and Billericay Striders relegated in 11th and 12th place to Division 2.

Very well done to everyone who competed and supported this season, it makes a huge difference and we should all be proud.