Harriers out in force at Gwent cross-country League

Report from Bath University  November 9th

 

There was an excellent turn out of 51 runners from the combined Wells and Yeovil team at the second of the tough Gwent cross-country League matches last Sunday at Bath University. Aged 10 to 61 the runners took part in the ten age-group races and all acquitted themselves well against teams drawn not only from Bristol and Bath, but also from the South Wales stronghold of cross-country. Top individual performances of the day by our members were by Oliver Fox, 2nd in the u13 boy’s race, Emily Smith, 3rd in the u13 girl’s race, and Team GB athlete Adrian Marriott, 3rd in the senior men’s event. Equally pleasing was the great team spirit and the debut of a number of athletes that have joined recently, including some Year 5 and 6 juniors taking their first steps at cross-country. Applause for: Katy Chinnock; Morgan Withers; Dominic Blackledge; Jessica Pate.

 

Races got underway with a competitive u’11s novice boys race. The Harriers finished with 3 athletes in the top ten with Luke Prior just getting ahead of team-mate Morgan Withers in the final 200m for them to finish 2nd and 3rd respectively. Danny Kennedy was next in for 9th, with James Bridge also having a great run for 12th. Dominic Blackledge was unable to finish but we look forward to him being with us again next month. In the u’11 novice girls’ race, Katy Chinnock made her debut with an excellent 17th place, with Jessica Pate also making the step up with this race finishing a whisker in front of Amy Gibbons for 30th and 31st places.

 

The u’13 races revealed the strength in depth of the team, with some great running despite a few of the team not being available this time. Oliver Fox who had also competed the day before for his school, and was the recent overall victor in this year’s Harrier sponsored local secondary school Year 7 boy’s League, had a great battle with his rival for this League, but this time lost out to finish 2nd. Not far behind Oliver, in 11th place was Curtis Stevens who was the recent Year 8 boys champion in the local Secondary school’s League. There was then some good packing by fellow team mates with Matthew Cole, 14th, James Todd, 20th, Charlie Martin 27th and Philip Bridge 38th all in great form. We await news of where the u’13 teams finished overall.

 

The u’15 races saw both Jessica Wood and Jessica Potter run good solid races and improve on their finishing positions of last month’s fixture at Bridgend. Here they finished 15th and 24th respectively. In the equivalent boy’s race George Harris returned to a bit of form with 13th, Cameron Rafferty 24th, Reuben Whitcombe 33rd, and new member Harry Buckle was 39th. This was a great effort by all in the large competitive fields assembled in this League.

 

In the u17 women’s race Leighanna Chappell and Lizzie Hart both ran well, whilst Nicky Morgan and Laura Parker were well up in the combined u20s race. Laura had made the trip from her new college near London, whilst Nicola had found time in her new training regime which is aimed at a tilt at triathlon. Alice Murray-Gourlay also competed here as a guest as she awaits clearance from her former club. Alex Wiltshire also had a good work out in the u17 men’s race and we await final confirmation of his position.

 

In the senior women’s race there was a trio of Harriers flying the flag with last year’s overall League winner, Jenny Moore, running well for 20th place and backed up by some solid running from Linda Smith, making her debut for the Harriers and Katerina Prior, finishing in 78th and 102nd places respectively.

 

Then came the men with a bumper turn out of 17 Harriers competing over the tough 10.2km circuit. Adrian Marriott ran excellently for 3rd place, with Pete Grist, 20th, and Elliot Haimes, 23rd in the high quality field of well over 300 runners. Next in for the team was one of the club’s top veterans, Steve Masters in 53rd place. Other finishing positions were: 72 Nick Somerville; 118 Dickie Wythe; 130 John Irish; 142 Ed Willingham; 162 Jason Tuck; 170 Simon Prior; 177 Rod Appleby; 187 Dave Stanfield; 199 Paul Chadwick; 204 Pete Wright; 214 Geoff Cole; 217 Jim Smith; 243 Ian Carpenter; 249 Andrew Pate.

 

Note:

Next Gwent XC Race: Blaise Castle, Bristol, Saturday Dec 6th – also the County Championships: £7 for seniors; £4 for juniors. All age groups from u’13 upwards

Club Social & annual awards: For both juniors & seniors: Saturday November 29th at Wells Town Hall. Please book tickets asap by e-mail to any member of the committee or at Street 5km race (Wed 12th) or at training sessions.