Report from the Gwent XC League Swansea Saturday Oct 13^th

This is the first year we have competed in this XC League. It offers some extremely competitive races with large fields at all age groups and pits us against some of the big city clubs of South Wales as well as Bristol and Bath, amongst others. We also like the fact that it is a well established, well organised League. This season the League will consist of 4 fixtures, which may be helpful if we also try to turn out competitive teams in the new 3 match South West League which will be our secondary League.

Last year we competed well in the Wessex League, winning 5 of the 10 team prizes and winning 6 of the individual age group awards, but we have noticed that a number of Clubs have started to use the Wessex as their second choice League. It has also not been helped by problems fixing the dates and venues of many of the Wessex fixtures. We will meet up with many of our friends from the Wessex at other competitions. In the Gwent League we have decided to compete as Wells and Yeovil to reflect the fact that we are a partnership.

Almost 30 Harriers made the long journey to Singleton Park, Swansea to compete in the first of the big Gwent XC League matches on Saturday Oct 13th. A number of juniors made their debuts and ran really well in very competitive races with over 50 runners in virtually all the races. The biggest fields of the day were the senior men’s race with 270 runners and the senior women’s with over 120. This compares to the Wessex where fields of 40 to 50 were not unusual in these races last year.

First off for the Harriers in the Minors races were Danny Kennedy and Abigail Gibbons, making their debuts for the Club at u’11 level. Danny who is a year 5 pupil was 24^th for the boys, and Abigail, who is now in year 6, and daughter of one of our Monday coach’s was 14^th. They ran 1.2km in an undulating parkland setting. Conditions were dry and it felt quite humid.

Next up were the u’13 boys over 2.5km with Oliver Fox leading the way with an excellent run for 7^th in a time of 9.10, despite many of the other boys being at least a year older than him. This was in a strong field of 58 finishers. Oliver’s father in earlier years had also competed in the Gwent XC League. Also running well in this age group were James Todd and Curtis Stevens for 28^th and 30^th places, whilst Matthew Cole had to retire injured due to calf strain. Matthew had attended a Somerset development squad the night before and had probably tried just a bit too hard in both races. Curtis was a bit disappointed given that he had won the 2km race at Street on the Wednesday before, but this was his first time at Club XC so the experience will stand him in good stead.

In the u’13 girls race, also over 2.5km, Vera Assis excelled with 8^th place out of the 60 finishers in 9.49, chased home by Kayley Kennedy in 14^th, Naomi Marable in 37^th and Elisabet Assis in 41^st. All four had also run well the previous Wednesday at Street. This squad was missing a few of the other u’13 girls and we hope that at the next fixture, at Bath University on November 11^th we’ll have more strength in depth overall.

In the u’15 boys’ race, over 3.7km, George Harris led the way for the Harriers with 18^th place in 14.09, with Cameron Rafferty 28^th and Reuben Whitcombe 42^nd. All three boys found it tough over the 3.7km course but they stuck to their task and agreed that this was the sort of race that would help them prepare for school XC championships later in the season. In the u15 girls over the same distance Lizzie Hart was our sole representative and finished a good 22^nd.

Next age group up over 5km we saw u’17s Alex Wiltshire and Ben Venus have storming runs for 8^th and 9^th places in times of 17.11 and 17.15. In the u’20s Ollie Parsons showed solid form to finish in 18^th place. Highest placing of the day for the Harriers was by u’17 Nicola Morgan in the u’17 women over 4.2km with her fantastic 2^nd place in the age group, 6^th in the combined race with the u’20’s, in a time of 18.04 just 13 seconds down on the winning u’17. Leighanna Chappell was not too far back in 12^th in a time of 19.42. Nicola has recently joined us and this performance comes close on the heels of her debut at the October Street race where she was first woman home.

In the senior women’s race over 6.2km Jenny Moore translated her recent road, fell and multi-terrain form to the country with her 8^th place, 1^st veteran, position with Ann Taswell in 26^th and Ange Thomas also going strong in 83^rd. The senior men’s team suffered from some late withdrawals but the 5 Harriers that toed the line did well in the race over 10.4km, covering 4 huge laps. Running the race made all present appreciate how tough the course had been for all age groups that day. Jon Gilling followed up his 2^nd at the Burnham Half with 33^rd place here, with Ed Willingham,109^th, Rod Appleby 145^th, Paul Chadwick 196^th and Geoff Cole 225^th.

Many thanks to the athletes themselves, and to the coaches, parents and team managers that once again achieved a good turn out for the Club. Now for Bath University on Sunday Nov 11^th. See the photographs from Swansea in the Rogues Gallery elsewhere on the Club website.