IN only her first full season, Chloe Crippen raced to a brilliant victory in the Swindon Schools’ Cross Country Championships, staged at Nova Hreod Academy on Saturday, writes KEVIN FAHEY.

Enjoying ‘home’ advantage over her school course, the 14-year-old newcomer claimed her first district title as she held off the challenge from the strong Commonweal pair of Freya Jamieson and Annie Pietek to win the inter girls’ race.

“Chloe has done really well in the past year since her dad brought her down to the club and she enjoyed it so much she joined up,” said Jason Campbell, who is a coach at Highworth Running Club and has worked closely with her.

“She managed to get into the Wiltshire junior girls’ team for the English Schools’ Cross Country Championships last year and also represented the county on the track over 800m at the South West regional championships.

“Chloe has come on leaps and bounds in the last 12 months and is a very talented young athlete.”

Having moved into the inter girls’ age group Crippen, who lives in Haydon Wick, will find competition even more intense this winter.

But on this evidence she will be a genuine medal contender at the Wiltshire Schools’ Championships which have been scheduled for January 10 at Grittleton House School.

Crippen wasn’t the only ‘home’ winner from Nova Hreod as Jack Rocket scorched to victory in the junior boys’ race and left Lydiard Park Academy’s Harry Skippen and Rajendra Limbu, of St Joseph’s Catholic College, trailing in his wake.

One of the most eye-catching results came in the junior girls’ race where the Warneford School trio of Chloe Hayward, Ella Dixon – whose dad Pete is an active member of Highworth RC – and Rowan Kitchener completed a marvellous clean sweep.

For 14-year-old Hayward, a member of Swindon Harriers, this represented arguably her best victory in her first full year in the sport and it will be interesting to see how she fares when tackling her first county championships in the New Year.

Not surprisingly, Hayward also led Warneford to the team title, although only by 10 points from Lydiard Park Academy.

There was also a clean sweep of the top three places in the minor boys’ race with the Ridgeway School trio of Tom Moore, Tom Lewis and Noel Beech dominating and ensuring a crushing team victory.

Kingsdown School’s Joe Castle performed strongly for the Harriers in track and field this summer and showed good stamina to win the inter boys’ title from Ridgeway’s Sam Palmer.

The other winner on the day was Gabby Jones, of Warneford School, in the minor girls’ age group.

There were no senior races but a team will be selected to represent the district at the county championships.