Gwent XC League Match report – Carmarthen March 14^th 2009

& initial end of season report

Harriers excel at Cross-country again!

The combined Wells and Yeovil team went on their longest journey so far this season when 26 young and not so young athletes made the 280 mile round trip journey to Carmarthen on Saturday. They were not to be disappointed with their effort.

Held on a relatively flat course just outside of the town, proceedings got underway here with the senior women’s race. Katerina Prior once again stepped forward to compete and was rewarded with her highest League position of the season in 36^th place. Next up were the men’s team, and it was left to the motley 6 present to ensure that the Club was promoted from Division 3 to Division 2, following on from last year’s promotion. Ed Willingham led the way with 59^th place, followed in by Simon Prior, 76^th, and not far behind Simon Arnold in 92^nd who had gamely offered to run at the last minute in order to bolster the team. Then came Paul Chadwick in 105^th, Geoff Cole in 120^th and Rex Whitcombe in 130^th, all moving up positions from the previous months. Well done guys.

And then the real racing began…The Minor boys race saw a fantastic trio of blue Harrier vests to the fore early on. Luke Prior took up the pace early on and had a real battle with Carmarthen’s Jordan Richards. Jordan had won every League race this season…until Saturday. Luke showed true grit to run stride for stride with Jordan and even when it looked like Jordan had got ahead with 50m to go, Luke still made one super effort to snatch victory in the final couple of strides. Luke picked up his overall League silver medal afterwards. Not far behind was Danny Kennedy in 4^th and just a stride or two further back was James Whitlock in 5^th in his first ever League match. Remarkably James is still in Year 5 and will have another year in this section. Danny finished 6^th overall for the season just outside of the medals. They did however win the Minor boys team prize for the season. Great effort.

In the Minor girls’ race for u’11s, we had a new member step forward – making the long journey to compete in a race that was over in less than 10 minutes. Annabel Arnold showed that she wasn’t scared to take it out and ran extremely well, opening up a good gap in the first half before being reeled back in with some 300m to go. She was disappointed immediately after the race due mainly to being out sprinted to the line, and thus finish 4^th on the day. To those watching however we knew that we were watching someone who next season with more racing experience behind her will be a real force in the u13 girl’s races.

Before the u13 boys & girls races we knew that one more good team effort would deliver the gold medals for the season for both teams. We know now that the boys have succeeded but we still await the final count to know how the girls have fared. This has been a busy month for many in this age group as they have been asked to compete at Club, schools and intercounties fixtures on successive weekends. Matthew Cole indicated that his racing form hadn’t been blunted by such a schedule as he led the race coming into the final 400m and in the end was just pipped by a couple of metres by the eventual league champion Kyran Roberts of Carmarthen. Matthew’s efforts here gained him 5^th place overall for the season. Next in here was Oliver Fox in 6^th place, which was good enough for him to confirm 2^nd place overall in the League, and Oliver will still be in this age group next year. Charlie Martin came home in 13^th, James Todd in 16^th and George Whitlock a really solid 26^th for a fantastic gold-medal winning team finish.

In the u13 girl’s race, team numbers were down slightly but the trio of Abigail Gibbons, Jemma Jones and Lydia Guest ran really well for 11^th, 13^th and 37^th places which may still be good enough for League team medals as we await confirmation. Jemma finished the season with the individual silver medal after a great set of results across the 5 fixtures, with Abigail just outside of the medals.

Then came the u15 boy’s race where George Harris, Reuben Whitcombe and Tom Ward all ran well for 8^th, 19^th and 20^th places. George’s results gave him 5^th overall in the League. In the u15 girls race it was left to Jess Potter to bring home the team and as if inspired she came home in her best ever position of 12^th. We await confirmation of final team places.

In the u17 competitions combined with the u20 races, we had two women and a sole man competing. Laura Parker, back from College, ran well to win the women’s race and was 1^st u20 woman home, and then Leighanna Chappell finished in 6^th in the same race but we do not yet know how many ahead of her were u20s. Leighanna’s efforts ensured that she finished in 3^rd place overall across the season and also guaranteed the u17 women’s team a final 2^nd team position for the season.

In the very final race of the day when many were naturally distracted by the League medal presentations that were going on in the hall, it was left to Tom Thick to complete racing for the team. He ran well for 10^th place in the combined men’s race and we wait for clarity as to where that places him in the u17 positions.

We hope to have Carmarthen photos on the Rogues Gallery as soon as they arrive, and intend to hold an end of season XC event on the afternoon of Saturday March 28^th when we’ll be able to watch the World XC Championships on Live TV. (Details to be confirmed)