Harriers again dominate the XC League. 6 individual
Champions & 5 out of 10 team awards at
Harriers again dominated the awards at the end of season
prize giving following the final fixture in the region-wide Wessex XC League.
With over 20 clubs in contention at the various age groups, the Harriers came
away with 5 of the 10 1st team prizes, and 6 of the 10 individual
Championships. Harrier teams won the
u’13 boys, the u’15 boys, the senior women’s and the veteran women’s and
veteran men’s awards, and also finished runners up in the u’13 girls and senior
men’s awards. These awards follow hot on the heels of the Club’s success at the
National XC Championships where the men’s team finished 9th in all
The final Wessex League fixture was held at
Proceedings got underway this time with the women’s 4.8km race where Karen Buckley, 2nd, Jenny Moore, 3rd, Kyra Hawkins,11th ,and Debbie Keeble,32nd , provided a strong quartet of Harriers. Karen had already clinched her overall individual title after the previous outings and so had the luxury of running hard but relaxed here in preparation for a bigger event this coming weekend. Jenny Moore clinched her overall 2nd spot in the League, and 1st F40 category award for the season with her run and then set off to do a further 10km as she trains for the London Marathon. Not competing here but already victorious in the F45 League category was Tina Backwell.
Next race up was the senior men’s 9km race where the Harriers again fielded its 2nd, or is that the 3rd, string, in the absence of its internationals, with none of the previous weekend’s team of 6 that contested the English XC Championships appearing here. Leading the Harrier charge instead was Andrew Deamer who again ran well for 7th place, backed up by Les Lock in 13th, Graham Goldsmid in 22nd. Paul Chadwick, 25th, and Stuart Marsh, 27th. At the League’s awards ceremony Andrew was awarded the overall 1st V40 award and Les the overall 3rd V50 award for their performances across the season, whilst the veteran men retained their winner’s shield.
In the u’13 girls race that followed we saw an excellent set of performances to haul the Harriers up to 2nd overall in the end of season standings. Emily Smith again excelled with 3rd place, behind 2 athletes a year older than her, and was followed in by Lauren Willow, 8th, Vera Assis, 19th, and Elisabet Assis,32nd, for a solid team finish. In the u’13 boys race, Reuben Whitcombe showed that his recent increase in training quality was paying off with his best ever finish of 9th, with Austin Thorne, 11th and Cameron Rafferty, 13th, providing great backing. The boys had already won the u’13 boys League title at the previous match so it was a formality for the triumvirate to step forward at the end to collect the shield. George Harris who was not present here won the individual award following 4 straight victories in races 2 to 5 inclusive.
The u’15 girls race saw Leighanna Chappell prove her steadily improving form with her 2nd finish here, and with Justin Bowers finishing 4th and Lizzie Hart,13th, the Harriers provided a formidable team trio. The u’15 boys race that followed then saw a Harrier one-two with Charlie MacLean again running away with the race to add to 2 previous victories and one second, so as to finish overall League champion at the age group. Alex Wiltshire tracked Charlie doggedly on the course but couldn’t quite stay on even terms and finished 2nd here, and 3rd overall for the League.
The U’17 women’s race was a runaway victory by some 40
seconds or so for our League champion Laura Parker who looked comfortable all
the way round. Tom Lock tried to do the same in the u’17 men’s race but was 2nd
again, and had good support from Ollie Parson in 7th who has had a good XC season. Many of the Harrier juniors
will be running this coming weekend at the National Schools XC Championships
and we wish them well at