King of the South! Tickner claims another XC Championship Title

U’13 girls team finish 6^th overall from all of the South

Bruton’s Frank Tickner once again proved his pedigree by running away with the South of England Cross-Country Championships Title at Parliament Hill, London on Saturday. In addition to winning the individual Gold medal, the Wells Harrier also led his team-mates to 5^th place overall in the team competition. Best individual performance by the juniors came from Nicola Morgan, 12^th in the u17 women’s race, and by the talented squad of u’13 girls who finished 6^th from across the South.

Over 40 of the team made the trip, with the Championships once again held at their traditional home of Parliament Hill on Hampstead Heath. In glorious sunshine and reasonable conditions underfoot there were some large fields of competitors assembled representing clubs from Cornwall to Norfolk. Proceedings got underway with the u15 boys team tearing off up the famous steep hill cheered on by hundreds of supporters. George Harris was first home for the Harriers over the 4.5km course in an excellent time of 19.57, followed in by Tom Thick, 106^th, and not far behind Cameron Rafferty 158^th. The team finished in a solid 29^th place.

Next up was the u13 girls race over 3km, with the first 4 Harriers home ensuring that the team finished in an excellent 6^th place. Lauren Willows ran one of her best judged races of the season to date, finishing in 42nd place in 13.55, with Emily Smith a few seconds back in 47^th, Kayley Kennedy 52^nd, and Roxanna Colebatch 56^th. Siobhan Stewart 63^rd and Vera Assis 98^th provided good back up. In the u13 boy’s race, over a similar distance, the boy’s team was 19^th overall. Oliver Fox again excelled, following up his recent victory in the Mendip Schools League with his 56^th position here in 13.00. Tristan Goldsmid also ran well for 90^th just 24 seconds back on Oliver, and Curtis Stevens was just outside the first 100 in 101^st place. With Matthew Cole 170^th and James Todd 177^th, also running well the top 20 team finish was not unexpected. 4 of these 5 athletes will also be eligible to compete again at this age group next year.

For the u15 girls Lizzie Hart covered the 4km in 22.14 for 122^nd, running hard through the muddier sections of the course which by now was starting to get churned up at the pinch points. In the u17 men’s race Ben Venus ran a composed race for 67^th place in 24.40 over 6km, and was well supported by John Richardson who would have liked a few more weeks training but still ran well for 135^th place. In the u17 women’s race one of the best individual performances of the day came from Nicola Morgan despite her picking up an ankle injury part way round. Nicky was always in the mix and gritted her teeth to keep going to finish 12^th overall but limped away at the finish for First Aid. Nicky’s time was 21.13 for the 5km distance.

In the Senior women’s race with well over 300 competitors, Alice Hector was towards the front of the field as they crested the first big hill, and she managed to keep the pace going reasonably well for an overall 35.26 for the 8km distance. Next home was Jenny Moore, once again showing a clear appetite for cross-country with her 46th place and time of 37.11. Angela Thomas, 256^th and Cath Goldsmid, 285^th, also rose to the tough challenge.

It was left to the final race of the day for the Harriers to secure individual glory and their highest team ranking. Frank Tickner literally ran away from the field, opening up an appreciable gap half way round the first of the three big laps of 5km, to end with a 30 second victory margin in a time of 46.14. Andy Vernon of Aldershot won silver in 46.44, and Newham’s Keith Gerrard took bronze in 47.00. Frank is the current National Champion and his performance here follows on from his early season form when he ran for Team GB at the European XC Championships.

Next in for the combined Wells & Yeovil team were former Team GB man Andy Hennessy and Elliot Haimes in 28^th and 33^rd respectively. Jon Gilling and Tim Hawkins also finished well up the field as they helped to ensure that the men’s team finished an excellent 5^th place overall, easily the best from any Club in the south west. This was despite the absence through injury of two other GB internationals Ben Tickner and Adrian Marriott. The Harrier’s B team also finished well placed in 37^th place overall, with great runs by all that donned the vest, including Ed Willingham, Dave Stanfield, Geoff Cole. Well done to all. Further report to follow.

Many thanks to the team managers, the three Minibus drivers and all the parents that supported on the day. The next Wells & Yeovil Club XC fixture is the Gwent League on Saturday February 9^th at Brecon.