Barnet Borough's powerful U17 girls' squad ran away with the team title in the London Youth Games Cross-Country Championships at Parliament Hill on Saturday.

Chloe Wilkinson was a comfortable winner, with Maryam Shakiba (third), Justine Nash (fourth) and Philippa Horton (sixth) also among the medals.

Lindsay Barr ran well to take second spot in the girls' U15 race and there was also a medal for Katie Alcock, who was sixth.

Good support came from Toni Fox (tenth) and Isabella Ramsay (17th), enabling Barnet to take second place. Gemma Prince (31st) also ran well.

In the U13 girls' event, Barnet were represented by Hannah Shelley (31st), Sinead (34th), Zoe Zinnott (35th) and Clair Longhurst (130th).

Among the boys, Chris Purdue (U13) and Daniel Russell (U15) excelled in finishing second.

Purdue was lying seventh at the top of the hill, but produced a storming finish to finish only five metres behind the winner Paul Rees (Barking).

Other Barnet places: 19 David Barr, 51 Neil Fordham, 61 William Brown, 82 James Goddard, 90 Josh Kemal, 95 Harry Thompson, 122 Ben Johnson.

In his first race of the season, Russell ran superbly to finish only five metres behind Tim Haughian, a finalist in the junior 1500m in the English Schools' Championships in the summer.

Other Barnet places: 11 Watari Kawia, 37 Edward Kearon, 39 Alex Horton, 62 Simon Defoe, 103 Noyan Ozturk.

In the boys' U17 contest, won by Michael Smart (Harrow), Sam Hall, always prominent, was fifth for Barnet. Michael Spillman was 23rd and Ati Kureshi was 62nd.

Barnet were third in the overall competiton behind Harrow and Ealing.

In the London Championships, held in conjunction with the youth games, Emma Fisher of Shaftesbury Barnet Harriers took the women's title, clocking 18mins 59secs for the 5,000m race on a heavy course.

She was 25 metres clear of H Jenrick (Highgate Harriers),with another SBH runner, Emma Murray, third (19mins 14secs). Shaftesbury were second overall in the team competition.

November 28, 2001 19:55