Hugo Milner and Lucy Jones win the English National at Sedgefield

The English National Cross Country Championships went to Sedgefield in County Durham on Saturday, the first time the race has been in the North East since 2013 and the first in the county for 25 years. Hardwick Park gave the organisers a rolling parkland loop with one proper climb and a windy stretch that looked gentle and was not. About 3,800 athletes ran across the ten-race day, roughly 1,800 of them juniors, and the senior men's field of about 1,300 was the biggest of the day.

Hugo Milner of Derby AC went to the front of that field from the gun. James Kingston of Tonbridge, the 2023 champion, went with him, and the two covered each other's moves and built a clear lead over three laps of the 12.4 km course. On the third lap Milner pushed and Kingston could not answer. Milner won in 37:07, Kingston ran 37:10, and the defending champion, Richard Slade of Chiltern Harriers, was a minute back in 38:10. Calum Johnson of Gateshead and Ted Higgins of Tonbridge followed. Milner won in 2024 and missed last year's race.

The senior women ran 8.3 km in two laps. Lucy Jones and Molly Smith of Herne Hill Harriers and Amelia Quirk of Bracknell led from early on; Smith lost contact, and Jones pulled clear of Quirk in the closing stages for her first national title, a year after finishing fourth. Quirk was second and Smith third, with Jess Gibbon of Reading and Niamh Brown of Aldershot fourth and fifth. Herne Hill won the women's team title and Tonbridge the men's.

The ground was dry and the wind got up after the first lap. A National without mud is rare, and a National with 1,300 men on one start line is why the race still matters.

Sources: Athletics Weekly; English Cross Country Association.