...The tough get going! Well done to the 40 Harriers out competing at the weekend. There were some great performances on Sunday December 4th.

30 Harriers of all ages made the long trek to represent the Club at the Gwent XC League at Swansea and faced the mud and heavy downpours to come away with smiles and tired limbs. Luke Baker (novice boys) and Oliver Dickinson (u13 boys) had the highest placings - finishing 3rd in their respective races. Another 10 senior Harriers competed at this year's Full Monty Cute over 10 miles of hills and mud and the Harriers won first team and had the first woman home in Clare Prosser.

SWANSEA REPORT (FULL MONTY BELOW)

At the cross-country held at Singleton Park, Swansea,  the headlines were made by Luke Baker and Oliver Dickinson who were both 3^rd in the novices and u13 boy’s races respectively against hard opposition. Luke’s sister Charlotte Baker had the best performance of the girls with her 4^th place in the u15 girls, whilst Rebecca Carver followed up her Saturday football by finishing 8^th in the combined u20/u17 women’s race with Rebecca being at the youngest end of the age range.

The course at Singleton Park is a true cross-country circuit with twists and undulations and on each lap two hills of varying length to contend with. As the races progressed and the heavy showers continued, the course became muddier and muddier. Rachel Packard raced again at the novice girls’ race and achieved a 15^th place here in a field of almost 50 girls over the 1.5km course. Luke Baker was 3^rd for the boys and Chris Ellis was 13^th in the equivalent novice boys’ race – both showing great form against our rivals from Wales. After 3 matches Luke is now 2nd overall and Chris in 6th and the novice boys team is 3rd overall- great!

In the u13 girls race over 2.8km Amy Darcy placed a well run 19^th,  and has kept the girls team in the top ten. In the u13 boys’ event, Oliver Dickinson with his 3^rd place was well supported by James Bridge in 6^th, Bradley Seagar, 13^th and Johnny Ellis in 25^th place. Oliver is now 2nd overall after 3 matches with James in 4th place and the u13 boys team up to 3rd overall.

The u15 girl’s race was intriguing as Abigail Gibbons led up the first hill and for the first half of the first lap, only to then suffer a recurrence of a long-standing knee injury. She gamely ran on and finished in 25^th position and in doing so bolstered the great performances by Charlotte Baker, 4^th, and Annabelle Arnold, 13^th with both Charlotte & Annabelle looking strong throughout. Charlotte is up to 6th overall and the team up to 2nd after 3 matches

In the u15 boys race Sam Sommerville and Luke Prior carried the hopes of the Club and both are top ten in the League standings so far. Here Sam paced his race well for a 4^th place finish with Luke not far behind in 14^th. Sam is now 3rd overall with Luke 9th overall after 3 matches with team nestled in 2nd place. 

In the u17 women’s race Rebecca Carver ran well for a top ten finish of 8^th, with some of the athletes in front of her being undoubtedly 3 or 4years older, as u20s. Lilly Hawkins gave good support here with her 10^th position finish and this helped propel her to top after three races in the rankings - well done! The u17 womens team is up to 3rd overall.

The u17 men’s team has been running well this year – a good squad that works well together. Here it was left to Philip Bridge to finish14^th, not far behind George Harris, running as an u20 in 12^th, and followed in by Matt Cole, 23^rd, and Sam Harding, 30^th. Philip is now up to 6th overall with Matt Dickinson in 7th and the team in 2nd after three matches. Meanwhile George is up to 3rd in the junior men's rankings after 3 matches.

The women’s race saw 4 Harriers toe the line and help boost the overall points total of the women’s team in Division One. Katrina Prior’s 27^th place was her best to date, and then came Sam Baker in 63^rd, Claire Thomas in 74^th and Tracey Halliday in 84^th amongst the 151 competitors. Katrina’s run moves her up to 12^th overall amongst the women and 3^rd in F35 category.

In the final race of the day there were 257 finishers in the senor men’s race. First home for the Harriers was Nick Somerville in 40^th place, 2^nd V50 in the race, whilst Steve Masters was 78^th and that helps place Steve in 2^nd place overall in the V50s after three fixtures.Other Harrier positions at Swansea: 123rd Pete Darton; 151^st Geoff Cole; 172^nd Rex Whitcombe; 173^rd Paul Chadwick; 174^th Simon Arnold; 219^th Adrian Bridge. That was some effort by the 'toughs of the Club' but it will be important, especially amongst senior men and women, that we have a good turn out at the final two fixtures of the Gwent League in February and March.Commisserations to Simon Prior who started but had to pull out part way round. The men's V40 team are in 4th place after 3 matches, whilst the men's V50 team are also in 4th place.

 Photos to follow will be in the next newsletter or on the Gallery soon.Official results when computed here:

http://www.gwent-league.org.uk/

FULL MONTY REPORT 

Results from the Monty here : http://fullmontycute.btck.co.uk/Results