Golds & Silvers for Harriers at Southerns: Sept 25^th & 26^th 2010

It was a great weekend of road running by the strong Wells City Harrier teams competing at the South of England Road Relay Championships at Aldershot this past weekend. Headlines were made by the two Harriers that were awarded Gold Medals for recording the fastest times on the day in their age-group events, and by the two junior teams that were awarded the Silver medals for runner-up spots.

Over 50 Harrier athletes accompanied by many supporting parents and team-mates made the journey to Aldershot. On the Saturday it was the turn of the juniors and senior women to compete whilst Sunday saw the senior and veteran men race. The Championships attract the best of the southern teams from Cornwall right the way across to Norfolk with many of the age group races seeing 70 teams toeing the start line.

Individual Gold medallists were Matthew Dickinson for the u15 boys, and Jon James who recorded the fastest time of all competitors for the veterans. Additionally one of the Club’s TeamGB athletes, Frank Tickner, made a come- back from injury to finish with the second fastest time amongst the high quality senior athletes.

Proceedings got underway on the Saturday at 11.00am in bright weather when the three girls in the u13 race were assembled. All three acquitted themselves really well. Amy Darcy ran a really solid first leg over the 2.3km traffic-free lap in a time of 9.15, before team-mate Charlotte Baker carried on with a 9.24 and Megan Rusca finished off with a 10.21 clocking to bring the team home in 31^st place out of the 70 teams that ran. That’s some good running by athletes making the step up to a southern championships!

Next up was the u13 boys with a mixture of the experienced and the new to this event amongst the team of four. Over a 2.9km lap the team was led off by Luke Prior who brought the team home in 7^th with a time of 10.52, to be carried on by James Bridge, 11.13, moving up to 6^th team and then Jonathan Greenwood, 11.58, to hand over to Sam Sommerville who proceeded to blast round in 10.36 and in doing so passed four other teams to bring the Harriers home in 2^nd place. Sam’s time was 5^th fastest on the day and Luke’s 11^th in this age group. They very proudly wore their silver medals after the presentations.

Then it was the u15 girls’ race over the same 2.9km distance. We had two teams of three go amongst the 81 teams entered and they did not disappoint. In fact all six ran so well that we finished both teams in the top 20. Emily Smith and Rebecca Carver took the pressure leg of stage one for the two teams and both came home strongly. Emily’s time of 10.42 was 5^th fastest on the day, whilst Rebecca’s time of 11.33 was brilliant. Next up came Jemma Jones for the A team with her 11.51 and Abigail Gibbons in 12.00 for the B team. The final glory leg for the A team was run by Isobel Glaisher with a clocking of 10.53 to bring the team up to 2^nd and by Rebecca Bowles who ran a great 12.25 to bring the B team home in 20^th place. The A team accordingly gained the silver medals and demonstrated that the Harriers success earlier in the day wasn’t just a flash in the pan.

What could the u15 boys do? Well, yet again we had two fantastic teams up for the challenge and they did not disappoint. The A team tried as hard as they could but were to miss out on medals by the thickness of a vest, being clocked at the same time as the bronze medal winning team. First leg was run by Curtis Stevens who seems to get quicker every time out – here he dealt well with first leg pressure to hand the team over in 12^th place with a time of 10.04. Then Matt Cole, who the previous weekend had been at the National multi-events finals but showed little sign of tiredness here, clocked a second quicker with 10.03. Then Philip Bridge ran a composed race in a great 10.38 to hand over in 5^th place in a cumulative time of 30.45 some 9 seconds behind 4^th place and 26 seconds behind 3^rd place. Matthew Dickinson set off like a man possessed and steadily reeled in the runners ahead. His effort in the home straight showed that he used every ounce of effort to achieve his task but he fell agonisingly short, just running out of road. His time, however, of 9.34 was the fastest of the day. After he’d recovered with some medical aid he could then enjoy the fact that he had won the individual Gold medal.

The other u15 Boys team finished an excellent 39^th and saw Tom Swann set off as first leg runner to record a great 11.05, before Tom Jones with a 12.20, Callum Moir with a 12.28, and James Todd with a final flourish of 11.18 bring the team home. That was some good running.

The u17 men’s team came to the start line with the quartet of Sam Bedford, Ben Armstead, Reuben Whitcombe and Cameron Rafferty all ready to go on the 3.8km circuit. Three of the team were making their debuts at this event with only Cameron having previous southern relay experience. Sam took them out with a good 13.11 for a mid-field position and handed over to Ben who recorded a 14.18 to keep the team in 33^rd, and then Reuben ran a 14.48 bringing the team up to 31^st, whish was then improved on further by Cameron with his 14.00 clocking being good enough for the team to finish 28^th overall.

In the final race of the day on the Saturday it was the turn of the senior women’s team to have a go over the 3.8km circuit. Jenny Moore had had to withdraw on the morning of the race so team manager Anna Lewis stepped in to complete the team. Team England international Laura Parker started the team off with her trade-mark running but part-way round had to ease up and handed over to Lizzie Hart in an unusual 43^rd place. Lizzie managed to pick up the pace and ran well with a 14.21 clocking and moved the team up to 22^nd. Katerina Prior’s 15.57 was just a smidgen down on her time of last year and it helped set up Anna Lewis for her 15.02 which brought the team in for 20^th place, or 18^th senior women’s team if we discount the two veteran teams ahead.

More to follow from Sundays senior men’s & veteran men’s races

Photos will be loaded on to the Rogues Gallery in the next few days – please send other photos to chair@wellscityharriers.org.uk so that we can celebrate that weekend of racing.

Many thanks to all Team managers, parents and supporters.