The England Junior men made a very positive start with Ed Bird and Ben Brown quickly leading the way through the first lap (small lap) of this excellent course at Tear Drop Lakes, Milton Keynes. Despite the strong pace being set at the front of the race, the leading pack was still 18 strong going into lap 2.

The sharp hill climbs and narrow sections of the course did little to breakup the field on lap two (medium lap) with the main protagonists still locked together. It was disappointing to see that Daniel Maydew had dropped out leaving Ed, Dan and Louis Small to challenge for the top team spot with the South of England (SOE).

Lap three. The athletes charged through the start area for the final time and with just the large lap of the picturesque parkland course to circumnavigate the result was still far from clear. It was proving to be a great race and without a crystal ball it was hard to predict the outcome. To add spice to what was already a hot race we had several races within the race. Louis Small (England) versus his brother, Jack Small (SOE), Ed Bird (England) versus Luke Birdseye (SOE), both had represented Great Briton earlier this year in the European Athletics U 18 championships in Jerusalem. There were also training partners looking to be top dog in their training group.

As the athletes went around the lake for the final time they disappeared from sight before reappearing at the top of the course. With only 300m to go the first to show at the front of the field was Luke Birdseye (SOE). Luke had broken clear and was set for top spot on the podium. Rowan Miell-ingram had clearly got over the stomach problems that affected him in Cardiff to secure an excellent 2nd place. The SOE closed in on the team victory when Jack Small prevailed over his twin brother to finish in an excellent 5th place.

England finished in second place with Ed Bird (4th), Ben Brown (6th) and Louis Small (11th).