Report of the Gwent XC fixture held at Bath University November 8th 2009

Report of the Gwent XC fixture held at Bath University November 8^th 2009

Almost 70 of the combined Wells & Yeovil team compete at Bath
Individual winners in minor boys, u’13 boys and Senior men
Several other top ten performances
Solid packing throughout all races
Well done to those running for the first time
Team results awaited

We will need to buy a bigger tent if it goes on like this. Almost 70 competing athletes and many parents tried to get in to the tent out of the heavy shower that poured down early in the proceedings on Sunday.

We had some keen and enthusiastic youngsters to get racing underway and they were matched by keen and enthusiastic team managers and older athletes throughout the day (Thank you).

William Norcross, Johnny Ellis and Chris Ellis donned the Royal Blue and White vest for the first race – the minor boy’s race. William indicated a strong like for cross-country, gradually closing down on the leader to get ahead by the final bend and use his sprint finish to stay ahead. Johnny & Chris were equally sharp and ran great races for 23^rd and 31^st places.

In the minor girls races there was no less effort by the 5 that made the start line. Daisy Mant was first Harrier home followed by Harriet Fox and Mica Clarke, 26^th and 28^th, and then Jessica Pate and Madeleine Baldwin who were both well up in the field with finishes of 36^th and 37^th.

Oliver Fox once again ran away in the u13 boys race to make it 2 wins out of 2 in the League. Charlie Martin came through strongly for 5^th with Luke Prior in 14^th, John Greenwood 36^th and Tom Jones 46^th for good points. In the u13 girl’s race, we had another two in the top 10 finishers with Jemma Jones home in 5^th and Abigail Gibbons in 9^th. Annabel Arnold was next in 12^th with Rebecca Bowles making her debut finishing in 16^th. Lucy Flynn, 30^th, and Amy Gibbons helped score good points for the team to complete the team.

There was a great turn out of 7 for the team in the u15 boy’s race. Sam Bedford proved his stamina and finishing speed with his final burst taking him past a number of athletes to finish in 2^nd place. Harry Lane was next in 18^th, Philip Bridge in 34^th, Sam Harding 38^th, James Todd, 42^nd, and two newcomers to competition Zak Brown and Louis Stevens running really well to finish 50^th and 51^st in the large field of runners. Emily Smith finished 6^th in the u15 girls race, with Siobhan Stewart 13^th, Lily Hawkins, 26^th and Esme Sheridan running a gutsy first time race for 50^th.

The u17 men’s race was again combined with the u20’s race and so finishing positions given here are for the combined event. Tom Thick edged ahead of George Harris in the closing stages for them to finish 34^th and 35^th. Cameron Rafferty came home in 48^th and Reuben Whitcombe in 53^rd. In the u17 women’s race, also combined with the u20 women’s race, there was some great packing by the trio of Jess Wood, Jess Potter and Rosalie Dowding in 24^th, 27^th and 31^st place. Alice Murray-Gourlay was 13^th and Leighanna Chappell was 23^rd for the u20s.

In the senior women’s race there was another good turn out of Harriers. Despite racing the day before to win the Cheddar Half Marathon in 82 minutes, Jenny Moore finished 12^th here, as part of her final preparations for running for England’s F45 team next weekend at the Home Countries International XC match. Alice Hector was next home in 21^st, and then women’s team manager Anna Lewis who had also raced the day before at the Bath Victoria Park races, for 35^th place. Then came Katrina Prior in 54^th and newcomer Mel Sibley in 59^th. Alice Knight, 104^th, and Julia Hector, fresh back from competing in Australia, in 116^th place.

Before the final and largest race of the day the senior men’s team manager, Jon Gilling was pleased with the Harrier turn out and afterwards he was equally pleased with the performances. Harrier Life Member Ben Tickner proceeded to fly round the course and led the Harrier team home with his storming run, managing to lap a good number of the competitors on the 4 lap course. Alasdair Lindsay was next home for the club with 33^rd, then Tim Hawkins, 54^th, and Jon Gilling, 59^th before Matthew Lewis 74^th. Dickie Wythe finished just outside the first 100 with his 111^th placing. Simon Prior was 133^rd and Ben’s dad, Ed Tickner was 184^th before Rod Appleby in 208^th just ahead of Simon Arnold in 211^th. Jason Tuck (kit man) was 224^th and kept ahead of Paul Chadwick who finished in 232^nd. Rex Whitcombe finished fast in the final 400m for 234^th and Karl Watts just managed to hold off Geoff Cole for 245^th and 246^th. Pete Wright was back in XC mode with his 251^st and Mike Rusca made his XC debut with a gutsy 261^st in the huge field of over 300 runners. Well done Paul & Karl for also racing Cheddar and then again here.

Please forward any photos for use on the website (Rogues Gallery) and in the next newsletter.

WELL DONE ALL!

Note:

Saturday Nov 28^th Annual Awards & Social Evening at Wells Town Hall– we will celebrate the XC teams achievements. Please contact a member of the committee or Paul for tickets (must be booked by Nov 22^nd). See website for details

Monday Dec 1^st Deadline for advising Team managers if you want to compete in the Somerset XC Championships (Dec 6^th at Hestercombe), the SW Championships (Jan 10^th at Bicton College); the South of England Champs (Jan 28^th at Parliament Hill, London) –see website for details of team mangers and the actual events.