English National Cross Country Championships Feb 23^rd 2008

Saturday provided a day out for Wells City Harriers at Alton Towers, sadly not to experience the thrill of the rides, but rather the strain & pain of participating in the national cross country championships. These took place in fields adjacent to the theme park, and a testing course was provided which included one very steep hill and enough mud to break the stride. Once again the Harriers entered mainly senior men and women athletes in recognition of the heavy volume of racing that the juniors face at this time of the year with all of the Schools XC Championships kicking in. The Harriers team were depleted by injury and illness, but nevertheless a good team spirit was displayed and creditable performances were put in by all.

Pick of the day was the 23^rd place achieved by Nicola Morgan in the U17 women’s’ race, just over a minute behind the winner. Nicola was the one junior Harrier that made the journey and has excelled in all the local and regional competitions this season. Once again she did not disappoint with her tremendous run over a course short of 5km. She competed hard and finished in 23^rd place in a field of just under 200 athletes in a time of 15.53.

Anna Lewis, in her first cross country race for the club, was the sole Harrier representative in the senior women’s’ race, but enjoyed the experience and ran well to finish 108 out of the field of 495 finishers in an excellent 28.47 for the almost 8km course

In the men’s race the Harriers were without their GB international runners on the day with both Tickner brothers injured, and with Adrian Marriott ill, and all will now be hoping to be well and fit to line up at the trial race for the World XC Championships race in a few weeks time. This was a great disappointment especially for Frank Tickner who was unable to defend his senior men’s’ title of last year.

Those who competed in the men’s team however turned in great performances. It was left to Eliot Haimes to lead the club home in 71^st place, 35.23, over the approx 11km course in a field of around 1250 finishers. Eliot has performed well this season and he can look to build on this run. As is usual Jon James came through the field to finish 189^th, 37.29, while Alan Jones and Jon Gilling, both using the race as preparation for the London marathon, came 306^th and 343^rd respectively. Matthew Lewis, in his first national cross-country championships, ran well to come 446^th, 42.13, and Dave Stanfield had a solid run in finishing 794^th, 46.06, as part of his training for the Shakespeare Marathon. With all six men finishing, Wells scored in the team competition and did well to finish in 28^th position.

Well done to all. Many thanks to Jon James for team managing.

The final Club XC fixture for 2007/08 is at the Gwent XC league on March 1^st. See fixtures for details.