There was another great set of performances by the Wells City Harrier squad at the 4^th fixture in the Gwent Cross Country League at University of Bath on Saturday Feb 9th. With almost 40 Club members competing in the different age races the Harriers have looked to consolidate their leading positions in a number of those age groups. Isobel Glaisher and Oliver Fox in the u17 women’s and u17 men’s race once again looked supreme, whilst there was a 1-2 in the u15 boys’ race where Sam Sommerville and Luke Prior set the pace. For the senior men Nathan Young was an excellent 2^nd despite a slight miscalculation.

First race was for the u11s novice race over 1.9km where Luke Macpherson was a good 7^th and Will Lawrence running for the Harriers for the first time was a competitive 29^th and Ryan Macpherson, running at least a year young was 54^th. In the overall League standings Luke is 8^th now with 1 fixture to go.

For the u13 boys Bradley Seager once again had a top ten finish with 9^th place, then Alex Williams 16^th, Luke Baker 21^st, Dylan Dukes 22^nd and Chris Ellis 28^th. The latter three will all be young enough to compete again in the u13s next year. In the overall standings the u13 boys team is now in 3^rd place and with a realistic chance to go 2^nd if all run to form at the last fixture. Alex is in overall 6^th and Bradley in 9^th in the individual standings.

For the u13 girls Elise Thorner and Harriet Fox ran shoulder to shoulder for much of the race and finished in 18^th and 19^th places respectively. There was good back up too from new members Jodie Mitchell and Charlotte Askew running for the Harriers for the first time in 46^th and 50^th places.

In the u15 boys race Sam Sommerville dominated once again and with Luke Prior finishing 2^nd, Oliver Dickinson 8^th, James Bridge 17^th, and Jonathan Greenwood 29^th the u15 boys team once again looks like they will win the League with one fixture to go with a commanding lead over Bristol & West. For the individual title Luke looks like he could do it with one final effort, and Oliver is in 6^th and Sam in 7^th place overall. In the u15 girls race we had 4 athletes competing and they all fared well with Charlotte Baker 7^th, Natasha Jones 21^st, Amy D’Arcy 24^th and Jess Morris 32^nd. Charlotte lies in 5^th place overall but it is nip and tuck with the other girls ahead of her.

The u17s men’s race saw Oliver Fox having yet another good race to win with Matthew Dickinson close behind in 3^rd, and Philip Bridge in 6^th. Overall in the League the order is Matthew 1^st, Philip 4^th and Oliver 5^th. For the team standings they have closed the gap on Cardiff AC who lead, and with one final push they could yet take the u17 men’s title if they can get enough out at the last fixture. In the u20 men’s race Sam Harding was 4^th here and holds 2^nd place overall for the individual League award with one match to go.

The Harriers u17 women’s team continues to dominate the League and have probably done enough already to start celebrating (‘many a slip…’). Isobel Glaisher won for the team here with Rebecca Carver 3^rd and Lilly Hawkins 6^th. In the individual standings Lilly and Rebecca are neck and neck and 1-2 with Isobel in 6^th place overall.

The Senior women’s team has struggled this year and it looks like they will be relegated from division one after the final fixture. This is despite the great efforts of those who ran at this fixture who continue to try and put valuable points on the board. Sam Baker was 78^th, Gill Macpherson 119^th and Julia Dukes 129^th. Well done to the trio for keeping the flag flying for the Harrier women.

In the men’s event, Nathan Young had one of his great runs and but for miscalculation on the course may have gone even better than 2^nd place here. Having said that, he was only 6 seconds behind the winner on the 10.3km course with his time of 33.37. Next in for the Harrier men was a very competitive Paul Maskell who is indicating that his marathon training is doing him no harm over the shorter distances finishing 24^th here. Lloyd Collins was 26^th and that keeps him in 1^st place overall after 4 matches for the overall V50 title – that’s great. Steve Masters was 55^th despite only getting there with seconds to spare and Andrew Deamer kept breathing down his next for 56^th.Tom Dukes also packed in with them in 58^th showing no ill effects to a big bang on the head earlier in the week. Then came Graham Goldsmid 113^th, Ed Tickner 124^th, Simon Arnold 135^th, Geoff Cole 147^th, Steve Dickinson 163^rd, Rex Whitcombe and John Beveridge 176^th and 178^th respectively, Pete Wright 185^th and last but not least the Chairman, Paul Chadwick, following up the rear in 191^st.

The Harrier men go into the final fixture in overall 3^rd place in Division 1 and will need a big push to get 2^nd at the final fixture from Cardiff AC. Harriers are also 3^rd in the V40 team & V50 team standings and can definitely move up in both categories if there is a good turn out next month.

Details for the final fixture to be held at Brecon on Saturday March 2^nd are now available on the Gwent XC League website at http://www.gwent-league.org.uk/2012/fix125.htm

This will be the 2nd fixture this season at Brecon but note that this will be a different (the usual) venue. The first race (for novices) will start at noon and the final race for the senior men starts at 2.20pm. Note that the individual and team awards will be made at the League AGM in May. Please contact Geoff or Paul for a booking for the minibus - let's get as many athletes out as possible!