Gwent Cross Country League Bridgend Oct 12^th 2008

Fox, Jones & Grist are flying!

There was a great turn out by the combined Wells and Yeovil team at the tough Gwent cross-country fixture held on Sunday at Bridgend, South Wales. Two minibus loads of athletes from mid-Somerset made the journey to contest a series of different age races and conditions were excellent for racing. This contrasted sharply with the last time we were here in the mud and the chill. Over 1000 athletes from all across the region took part in the various races.

A number of the other Welsh team athletes expressed their sorrow at the recent death of Angela Thomas, who had been a great competitor in the XC team these past few years.

Top billing this time goes to the Harrier’s Oliver Fox who dominated the u13 boys race over 2.5km when he took it by the scruff of the neck. He opened up an early lead over the firm course and was never headed, finishing well clear of the chasing pack. Oliver will still be young enough to compete in this same age group next year. Oliver also won the first of the season’s Secondary schools XC matches 10 days ago. For the girls, Jemma Jones ran an excellent race for 3^rd in the u13 girls. At the other end of the age spectrum, the top senior performance was by Pete Grist who demonstrated that his recent return to form continues to get better with every race. Here he finished 7^th in a field of 340 athletes over a 10km course.

Racing got underway with the u’11s novice race where two of the Harrier’s Monday junior group decided to give it a go over the 1.5km course. Luke Prior followed up his 2^nd place at Burnham from the week before to finish 3^rd here, whilst team-mate Danny Kennedy followed up his 2^nd place at the mid-week Street 1km race to finish 14^th in a large field of eager youngsters.

In the u’13 boys race over 2.5km Oliver ran a well judged race, looking comfortable all the way to win. Last year he was 5^th here, giving away up to 2 years on some of the rival athletes. Backing Oliver up was Matthew Cole, in 11^th and James Todd, 12^th who both ran really well – last year James was 18^th in the same race.

The u13 girls team over the same distance of 2.5km was equally well placed with Jemma Jones running hard from the off and finishing in an excellent 3^rd place, Emma Colebatch in 20^th and Abigail Gibbons just behind in 21^st. All very good performances, and as with the boys there are another 2 or 3 team mates to come into the team at the next fixture.

The u’15 boys race saw good packing by the boys. Cameron Rafferty continues to get stronger every week and finished 18^th here, with George Harris in 23^rd and Reuben Whitcombe having arguably one of his best ever runs in 26^th just behind. There was also an excellent debut by Tom Ward at this fixture with a 36^th place despite getting knocked at the beginning of the race.

In the u’15 girls race over 4.4km the Wells and Yeovil team had a strong squad of 5 athletes out. Siobhan Stewart managed to get ahead of team-mates Kayley Kennedy and Jessica Wood in the final 500m, with them each occupying 16^th, 18^th and 20^th positions respectively. Jessica Potter, 27^th and Roxanna Colebatch, 39^th, also ran well for a great team points haul to leave us well up the rankings.

Alex Wiltshire and Tom Thick contested the u17 men’s race over 6km which was combined with the u20’s race. Alex finished 17^th overall with Tom in 40^th, but we await their specific age positions. In the u’17 women’s race over the same distance Leighanna Chappell was 21^st and Lizzie Hart 22^nd for solid packing.

Due to commitments elsewhere, as well as one or two injuries, there was only 1 senior woman competing here and it fell to Katerina Prior making her club debut to turn back the clock on when she used to compete in this League some 15 or so years ago. Katerina finished in 88^th place in the large field. In the men’s race over 10km, despite many Harriers competing at a fast 10km road race in Chichester or at the Mendip Muddle 20km race, the Club still managed to field a squad of 7 athletes out of the 340 that toed the start line.

When he last competed here Pete Grist had not been able to finish the course, but this year he laid that ghost with a storming run to be placed at 7^th. Jon Gilling was next home in 42^nd, and then quite a bit of packing in the middle order with Ed Willingham 172^nd, Simon Prior, making his debut in 192^nd, Paul Chadwick in 213^th, Geoff Cole in 243^rd and Rex Whitcombe in 245^th place.

With a number of athletes due back in time for the next Gwent League fixture at Bath University on November 9^th, the omens are once again looking good for the combined Wells & Yeovil team. For those who fancy giving XC a try come and join us!

Many thanks to all team managers and parents. Our tent was once again admired by all!