The youngster’s second place in the U13 boys, which spearheaded a Hampshire team bronze in the age group, made him the stand-out performer of the five young Sarnians wearing county colours at Nottingham’s Wollaton Park.
He, Erin Greenfield, Josh Pailing, Grace King and Eleanor Jamieson had all earned representative rights after high placings at January’s Hampshire Cross-Country Championships. This included a gold for Friedrich, silver for Jamieson and bronze for King.
Lee Merrien, sharing coaching duties with Alun Williams for the Inter-Counties trip, felt the youngsters had also done the Guernsey Athletics Club proud.
‘It’s quite a step up to national level, and running in busy and congested fields can take a bit of getting used to, but Erin, Paul, Josh, Grace and Eleanor were excellent ambassadors for the club this weekend,’ he said.
The 100th Inter-Counties doubled as the UK Cross Challenge final and attracted stacked fields through the age groups, but Friedrich showed that he can run with the best of them in the U13 boys, finishing just 5sec. down on a victorious Luis Da Silva.
Over a roughly 3km course, he tracked the lead group early on before putting in a very strong final third and crossing the line in 10min. 45sec.
‘Paul’s performance was obviously very good and he’s great to watch in races,’ Merrien said.
‘I think what I like most, though, is his attitude and his multi-sport approach.
‘He’s very chilled outside competition and he is also an active young man via other sports, too, and I think that’s a great approach at this age.’
King had the honour of being lead Hampshire runner in the U15 girls, where she also finished 57th overall – still no mean feat at this level and an improvement of 53 places on last year.
She managed her efforts superbly and picked up over 40 places during the second half of the race.
Being relatively young for the U20 women’s age group, future Island Games hopeful Jamieson produced a respectable 115th place finish.
Merrien highlighted Jamieson’s approach to athletics, commenting that she is ‘starting to flourish as a late developer in the sport in the U20 category and showing what can be achieved if you just keep enjoying the sport alongside a determined attitude’.
Greenfield and Pailing acquitted themselves well against huge fields exceeding 300 athletes on their Inter-Counties bows.
Greenfield relished the experience en route to finishing 210th in a 316-strong U13 girls’ age group.
In Pailing’s case, he accepted a late call-up just five days before the race and finished 262nd of 314 U15 boys.
‘I think Josh has been one of the most improved athletes this winter and that’s down to his commitment to training and racing,’ Merrien added.
