There was some great running by all competitors at Blaise Castle, Bristol, on Saturday (Feb 2nd). Please send any photos for the website.Report below & provisonal results here:
http://www.somersetschoolsathletics.org.uk/page73.html
Next fixture for the juniors (& seniors) with the Club is next Saturday (Feb 9th) at University of Bath for the 4th round of the Gwent XC League. Next schools fixture for the Somerset schools athletes will be the County XC Championships on the re-arranged date of Saturday Feb 23rd at NAS Merryfield, near Ilton.See school's website for timetable and details.
Blaise Castle provided a testing muddy course. With over 30 from the Club selected to compete for the various Somerset Schools age-group teams they helped to contribute to one of the best overall County Schools team performances in recent years. The best performance on the day was by 16 year old Oliver Fox when he won outright the Inter Boys race, for school Years 10 &11. For many who were competing for the first time this gives them a bench-mark against which to set their targets for next time: can they finish higher up amongst the Somerset qualifed athletes at the County schools event on Feb 23rd?
Proceedings got underway with the Minor Girls race for Year 7s, where the Harriers provide 4 of the Somerset team of 10. Elise Thorner was 21st, Harriet Fox 22nd, Connie Little 39th despite losing a shoe early on, and Jessica Cooksey was 48th. In the Minor Boys team Chris Ellis was 28th and Ollie Thorner 33rd.
In the Junior Girls race for Year 8 & 9 pupils, Lucy Baldwin was 26th, Jess Morris 53rd and Amy D’Arcy 54th. The Somerset team was 2nd overall. The Junior Boys team went one better being crowned SW Schools County Champions. Oliver Dickinson was 3rd home behind County team-mates from Taunton, with James Bridge home in 7th, Bradley Seager, 35th, Alex Williams 50th and Jonny Ellis 52nd. Jonny was only a reserve until he arrived on the day and then discovered he could run so that was a bonus.
In the Inter Boys race, Oliver Fox showed the form that he has displayed at previous Club Championship races when he romped away from the field to win by over 30 seconds. Team-mate Sam Sommerville was 4th, with Charlie Martin coming back into some form for 12th, just ahead of Luke Prior in 13th. Felix Rusby was 32nd and Jamie Williams.40th. In the Inter Girls race Charlotte Baker, running for Dorset Schools finished an excellent 6th.
For the Senior Girls the Harriers again contributed at least half of the Somerset County Schools team, with Emily Smith finishing in 3rd, Lilly Hawkins 9th, Hermione Toomey 10th, Esme Sheridan 15th and Rebecca Carver 17th. for Dorset schools, Lauren Willows also had a good run finishing in 12th place. Likewise in the senior Boys race, Harriers were selected for 5 out of the 10 County team places and there was some excellent running. Matthew Dickinson was 4th with Seb Harris 24th, Philip Bridge 27th, Max Travers 39th and Tom Baldwin 41st.
For many of these junior athletes they now look forward to competing at the Club’s next Gwent League match this coming Saturday at the University of Bath. First race is at 11.30am.