Harriers win gold medals galore at SW XC Championships 2009

Well done to the team – this was an excellent day of racing and there were some fantastic performances across all age groups. It was particularly pleasing to see how much effort everyone made despite a number having had colds, flu, or training injuries over the past few weeks.

The South-west cross country championships on Sunday Jan 4^th saw almost 60 Harriers taking part in the races across the various age groups. The team was most successful in the junior team events with the u’13 girls team, and the u’13 boys team winning team gold medals against the best of the south west clubs, drawn from Gloucestershire to Cornwall. Other team medal-winning performances came from the u’15 girls, second, and the senior men’s team , third. A total of 34 of the Harriers also represented Somerset County as part of the Inter-counties match that was combined within the fixture.

The event was held at Bicton College, East Devon, fully utilising the fantastic setting in front of the old house, now used as the agricultural college. Proceedings got underway with the u’13 girls race, over 2.7km, where Emily Smith just missed out on a medal in 4^th place and Jemma Jones ran clear of the chasing group in the last 100m to grab 5^th place. Abigail Gibbons was next in for 23^rd and with Ellie Kirwan in 36^th place they had done enough to be crowned South-west Champions ahead of a strong Cornwall AC team. Smith and Jones were also part of the triumphant Somerset County team.

Next up was the u’13 boys race where Matthew Cole shone for the team with his 3^rd place, just ahead of Oliver Fox, 6^th, with James Todd in 23^rd and Philip Bridge in 42^nd doing enough for the team to finish winners well clear of an East Cornwall AC team. Cole, Fox and Todd were double gold medal winners as part of the Somerset team that won the Inter-counties match. Providing good team back up were Ollie Mullins, 49^th, and Charlie Martin, 50^th.

In the u’15 girls race over 3.7km, the team was second with Jessica Wood first home in 18^th, Siobhan Stewart, 23^rd, Lauren Willows 28^th , and Kayley Kennedy, 32^nd. In fact the first three clubs in this age group were from Somerset with Mendip AC and Taunton AC also gaining medals.

In the u’15 boys race, again over 3.7km, the team was 4^th with George Harris, 14^th, Cameron Rafferty, 28^th, Peter Byfield, 32^nd and Reuben Whitcombe 42^nd. Tom Ward in 48^th and Tom Hole in 54^th also gave great backing to the team. Harris was also one of the 4 counters for Somerset that were victorious in the Inter-County event.

The u’17 Women’s race over 5.6km saw new member Alice Murray-Gourlay finish in an excellent 9^th place, with Leighanna Chappell and Lizzie Hart not far behind in 11^th and 12^th place. The u’17 men’s race saw Tom Thick and Ben Venus running hard for 16^th and 18^th place, and a below par Alex Wiltshire in 27^th. Together with Nathan Young this was enough for Somerset to finish 4^th from amongst the Counties.

In the u’20 women’s race, Nicola Morgan again had a great race to finish in 5^th place. Morgan was part of the silver medal winning Somerset County team. Ahead of her in the combined field with the senior women was Anna Lewis with her 14^th place. Then came Ann Taswell, back racing again in 37^th overall, Linda Smith, 39^th, and Katerina Prior, 48^th. Frustratingly, the women’s team were one athlete short from getting the silver medals here.

In the men’s race over a relatively modest 7.6km the Harrier team finished in 4^th place overall with Elliot Haimes leading the way with 16^th place, followed in by Jon Gilling 27^th, Tim Hawkins 32^nd, Matthew Lewis 42^nd, Andrew Deamer 48^th, Nick Somerville 56^th, Neil Biss 64^th, Ed Willingham 68^th, John Rowe 69^th, Les Lock 70^th, John Irish 76^th, Dave Stanfield 77^th, Paul Knight 83^rd, Paul Chadwick 88^th, Jim Smith 89^th, Pete Wright 91^st, Geoff Cole 93^rd, and Rex Whitcombe 95^th. Smith was also the 1^st V60 home to win Gold in that age category. Simon Prior had to withdraw with a calf strain.

The next major fixture for the Harriers will be Saturday Jan 24^th when they will once again contest the South of England Championships. Back into the team for that match we will hope to see the Club’s Team GB senior men Frank and Ben Tickner, Andy Hennessy and Adrian Marriott, with top veteran Jon James also hoping to be fit in time. Please contact Paul Chadwick for details about the coach going to that match, or see the Harrier website.