There was an excellent turn out, great individual running and some brilliant team performances by the 45 Harriers that competed at the 5th and final Gwent cross country League match at Blaise Castle in Bristol on Saturday March 3rd. Individual headlines on the day were made by Isobel Glaisher, 1st in the u15 girls race, Sam Somerville, 2nd in the u15 boys race and Matthew Dickinson 3rd in the u17/u20s race (& first u17 athlete home). but in truth we had a host of other great performances with a number of top ten finishers in the various races, and it was also great to see some Harriers competing for the first time in the League.
We have definitely 'punched above our weight' in the Gwent League this year. The Gwent League is contested by over 30 Clubs drawn from across the South-Wales/Bristol/Bath and Somerset area.The Harrier combination of Yeovil trained athletes with the Millfield based squad has resulted in the following overall positions for the teams after the 5 matches:
- Senior Men - finished 3rd in Division One, having come into this final match in 8th place
- u17 Women - finished 2nd with Lilly Hawkins winning the League
- u17 Men - finished 2nd
- u15 Boys - finished 2nd
- u15 Girls - finished 2nd
- u13 Boys - finished 3rd
- Novice Boys - finished 3rd
Despite this great showing we were pipped for the top Junior Club award - we think by Cardiff AC - but we await confirmation of that.
A fuller report with individual positions after 5 matches will follow, as will photos of the day on the Gallery slot top right of this website.But for now here are the finishing positions of our 45 competing athletes from Saturday:
Novice Boys (u11s): 5th Luke Baker; 6th Ollie Thorner; 7th Chris Ellis
Novice Girls (u11s): 5th Elise Thorner; 31st Rachel Packard (a Year 5)
u13 Boys: 3rd Oliver Dickinson; 15th Johnny Ellis; 25th Joe Heath
u13 Girls: 15th Amy Darcy; 38th Louise Rusca; 43rd Jess Pate
u15 Boys: 2nd Sam Somerville; 6th Luke Prior
u15 Girls: 1st Isobel Glaisher; 4th Charlotte Baker; 13th Annabel Arnold; 16th Abigail Gibbons; 29th Megan Rusca; 34th Amy Gibbons
u17 Men: 3rd Matt Dickinson; 21st Sam Harding; 22nd Matt Cole (note these are finishing positions in a combined u17 & 20 race)
u17 Women:5th Lilly Hawkins (combined u17/u20 race)
u20 Men: 8th George Harris (combined u17/u20 race)
Senior Women: 27th Katrina Prior; 41st Lucy Heath; 59th Sam Baker;69th Alice Knight;76th Tracey Halliday;86th Claire Thomas;109th Cath Goldsmid
At the presentations for the 5 matches, Katrina Prior picked up bronze for her 3rd place in the F35 category.
Senior Men: 4th Adrian Marriott; 9th Jack Bancroft;34th Jon Gilling; 51st Steve Masters;76th Tom Dukes; 89th Graham Goldsmid;91st Clive Harwood; 102nd Geoff Cole; 110th Simon Arnold; 130th Rex Whitcombe; 149th John Beveridge; 167th Paul Chadwick;171st Pete Wright;182nd Steve Dickinson.
At the presentations Steve Masters collected his V50 3rd overall award for his performances at the 5 fixtures.
Well done particularly to those making their debut for the Club at this Gwent League fixture: Lucy Heath & Alice Knight for the women; John Beveridge for the men; Amy Gibbons, after a gap of a few years. Without doubt getting as many athletes out as we did helped with our final team positions.
NOTE: We will update this report when times and final points/positions are available on the Gwent website
http://www.gwent-league.org.uk/