There was some excellent running by members of the Wells City Harriers cross-country team when running for their County schools teams at the English Schools championships this past weekend. Two members achieved top 8 positions and will go on to run for England at the forthcoming home countries international.
Sam Sommerville for the junior boys, and Isobel Glaisher, for the inter girls finished in 8th places , and will now compete for English Schools at the international at Perth, Scotland in 10 days time. The Harriers team provided 18 other athletes across the age groups with the vast majority running for Somerset schools but with a few running for Dorset schools. Many train with us at Millifield on a Tuesday night or with the Yeovil squad on a Tuesday. All should be proud of their achievements in representing their County at these prestigious Championships.
The National schools Championships were hosted by the Somerset schools AA and it turned out to be a very slick operation with a great course for the 2000 or so athletes in the 6 different age-group races. The event was held at NAS Merrifield, near Ilton, and the weather stayed fine throughout the day.
In the first race of the day, the inter girls, Isobel Glaisher ran her usual steady race maintaining her pace throughout to capture 8th place over the 3.7km course. Next in from the Harriers 'team' was Emily Smith in 33rd place, and then Rebecca Carver 222nd, and Lilly Hawkins, 304th. That was a tough race and as with all the races on the day they should all be proud of their efforts.
In the junior boys race, Sam Sommerville also ran with his customary confidence and steady effort, keeping up with the leaders on the first lap and then maintaining his position in a chasing pack on the 2nd lap, to finish 8th. Mark Bailey came through for 120th with Luke Prior in 143rd. Luke managed to run virtually all of the race in one shoe, having lost one within 400m of the start.
In the junior girls race, Lucy Baldwin was home in 54th place with Amy Darcy in 264th over the 3.1km course. The Inter boys race over 5.9km saw Matt Dickinson finish in an excellent 16th place with Oliver Fox in 22nd, Charlie Martin 164th, Philip Bridge 175th and Matt Cole toughing it out to finish in 305th. In the senior girl’s race over 4.25km, Lauren Willows was 122nd, Siobahn Stewart was 189th, and Jess Potter was home in 239th place, whilst in the senior boys race over 7km George Harris was 84th, Sam Bedford 123rd, and Zak Stephenson 207th.
For the Somerset boys they gained the accolade of being top boys team across the three age groups for the Category C Counties, based on school population size. That was some good running by all of the athletes at these national championships, and we wish Sam and Isobel all the best for Perth on March 30th.