Wells & Yeovil athletes fly the flag for the south west at Southern XC championships

Report from Uxbridge Jan 24^th

Well done to all the athletes that made the long journey on Saturday to these prestigious championships, held for the first time at the home of Hillingdon AC, Uxbridge.

Team Highlights:

U’13 girls – 10^th team

U’13 boys – 11^th team

U’15 girls – 14^th team

U’15 boys – 28^th team

Senior Men – 16^th team

This set of results confirms the Harriers as the top team in the south west, with no other SW team so high up. There were great individual performances by Emily Smith 21^st in the u’13 girls; Oliver Fox 18^th in the u’13 boys; and Laura Parker for the best Harrier position of the day with her 7^th place in the u20 women’s race. Elliot Haimes was best placed of the senior men with a gutsy 49^th place finish.

The heavy rain that fell overnight on Thursday/Friday made it a course that was to the liking of those that like mud! After the event even the spectators felt that they’d competed just getting to and from the course from the car park. The course was relatively flat by comparison with the Parliament hill venue used every other year, but times were slowed by the conditions under foot.

Proceedings got underway with the u’15 boys race over 4.5km with George Harris leading the team home with his 114^th place in 17.11, followed closely by Cameron Rafferty in 136^th 17.28 and close packing by Harry Buckle in 150^th, 17.39, and Reuben Whitcombe in153rd place, 17.42.

The next race saw five of the u’13 girls competing and all ran really well for a top team position of 10^th. Emily Smith covered the 3km in a nippy 13.36 for 21^st place, a big improvement on her 47^th place of last year. Next home was a quartet all making their debuts at these championships with Jemma Jones in 52^nd place, 14.20, and then good packing by Abigail Gibbons, 15.14, Emma Colebatch 15.32, and Ellie Kirwan with 15.37 for 106^th, 128^th and 135^th places respectively.

In the u’13 boys’ race over 3km we had a quartet of runners out to bring the team home in an excellent 11^th place. Oliver Fox who finished 56^th in the Southern’s last year improved to 18^th this year in a time of 12.33. Oliver has one more year in this age group. Matthew Cole also improved from last year’s 170^th place to 32^nd here in 12.49. Then came James Todd in 125^th (177^th last year) in 13.52 and making his debut Charlie Martin in 171^st place with a time of 14.26.

The following u’15 girls race saw a great team turn out with all 6 entered athletes making the start line and resulting in a 14^th position for the team. The race covered 4km and saw Jessica Wood lead the team home for 54^th place in 16.40. Less than 30 seconds back was Siobhan Stewart in 77^th place, 17.02, and then 95^th was Lauren Willows 17.22, 116^th was Kayley Kennedy 17.37, Jessica Potter 139^th with 18.11, and Roxanna Cole with 19.47. All of this team, apart from Jess Wood, will be able to compete in this same age group next year.

In the u’17 men’s race Tom Thick was our sole representative and finished a really good 75^th in 23.35 over the 6km course. Tom will also be young enough to compete in the same group next year. In the U’17 women’s race over 5km we had two excellent finishers with Alice Murray-Gourlay in 40^th with 25.57, and Lizzie Hart in 56^th with 26.51. This race was combined with the u’20 women’s race and saw Laura Parker sweep home to finish top-placed Harrier with her 7^th place in 23.10

There were a number of withdrawals amongst the senior women’s and men’s entries, which left just two women competitors for the team. Anna Lewis was 67^th in 37.35 over the 8km course, whilst Katerina Prior was 206^th in 44.41. Both found the going tough with the courses getting harder as the day wore on due to the mud getting churned up.

The final race of the day saw the Harrier men’s team finish a creditable 16^th this year, but some way back on our 5^th of last year, when we also provided the individual men’s champion in the form of Frank Tickner. With the absence of Frank, his brother Ben, Andrew Hennessy, Adrian Marriott, and Jon James it was left to Elliot Haimes to lead home the Harriers with his 49^th place in 56.41. We hope all the seniors are fit and injury free to run in the National XC Championships next month.

Over the 15km course, covering 4 large laps, Tim Hawkins was next home just ahead of Jon Gilling in 133^rd and 140^th places, 60.56 and 61.16. Then came Andrew Deamer, a few strides ahead of Nick Somerville, in 195^th and 197^th places, 63.08 and 63.14. Matthew Lewis was 244^th in 65.38 and Neil Biss 374^th in 71.05, with Simon Prior in 432^nd for 74.10. Then came the final quartet of Ed Willingham, Rex Whitcombe, Paul Chadwick and Geoff Cole in 507^th, 512^th, 513^th, and 527^th respectively with times between 77.21 and 78.27. Mark Hann of Yeovil Town also ran a good race for 414^th place in 73.15. Well done to all for such gutsy runs.

Take a look at the Rogues Gallery for the various photos that we have from Simon and other sources.

The next Team outing at Cross country is the Gwent XC League fixture to be held on Saturday February 14^th at Brecon. The combined Wells & Yeovil team is riding high in the League with the following current positions after 3 of 5 fixtures:

Novice boys leading in 1^st position

U13 boys leading in 1^st position

U15 boys 4^th

U17 men 9^th

Senior men 9^th overall but 1^st in Div 3 (just!)

U13 girls leading in 1^st position

U15 girls 5^th

U17 women 4^th

U20 women 4^th

Senior women 15^th, 5^th in Div 2

Let’s try and make a big effort to get numbers out for this fixture.

There will be a minibus going. Please contact Paul on 01749 812420 if you want a lift.