Harriers dominate Yeovilton Summer Series

Harriers dominated the 6th and final race of the summer’s Yeovilton 5km races held on Wednesday last. 33 Harriers toed the starting line out of a field of 142, and the club ended up with the first 4 men and 1st woman home.

The Tickner brothers of Bruton led the way with elder brother, Ben, GB international, getting away from his brother, Frank, England international, to win by 10 seconds. Ben’s time of 14.36 will undoubtedly see him rank in the top 10 of the national 5km rankings for the month. Ben’s position also reflects his standing as the Harrier’s number one athlete over the period 2004/05, and Ben will receive the Club’s annual award at a Harrier’s social event being held on Friday Sept 23rd at Priddy.

3rd and 4th men at Yeovilton were Harrier veteran Jon James, recent easy winner of the Baltonsborough race, and new signing Peter Grist in 15.16 and 15.26 respectively. 1st woman home was the Harrier’s Welsh international Clare Martin in a nippy 17.11. Also running well in his debut race at Yeovilton was Harrier youngster Adam Bowers with a sub-17 minute clocking, whilst Shepton’s Pat Challis again took a chunk off her time in this year’s Series as she continues the battle against cancer treatment. Bob Martin made his return from a year away in Australia to record 19.57 and Claire Thomas made a great return 6 months after the arrival of her first born in 23.02.

Other Harrier times at Yeovilton:
10th Tom Bush;21st Angus Henderson 16.57; 23rd Dickie Wythe 16.59; 30th Dan Culliford 17.28; 33rd Jon Sharp17.54; 40th Chris Kelsey 18.34; 42nd Dave Stanfield 18.40; 52nd Gary Tubridy 19.26; 56th Neil Jones 19.36; 59th Martin Bailey 19.47; 67th Ian Roberts 20.33; 73rd Tracey Halliday 20.56; 74th Tim Hamblin 20.56;78th Joseph Lewis 21.13;84th Ian Carpenter 21.29; 86th Sue Cook 21.36;93rd Carol Buckland 22.05; 96th Becky Lee 22.25; 100th John Sutton 22.49; 107th Chris Storie 23.31; 108th Angela Thomas 23.36; 115th Terry Exell 24.09; 124th Tatiana Storie 25.27; 124th Sue Hamblin 25.27; 127th Jenny Slade 25.53;135th Corinne Hawkins 29.15.

In the Series awards made straight after the race, Harriers again featured heavily without quite winning either of the main awards. Club Treasurer Tracey Halliday gained a deserved champagne 2nd prize in the women’s rankings following 6 competitive outings, with the best 5 counting. Carol Buckland was 5th overall amongst the women. For the men Peter Grist also gained a champagne 2nd prize having finished no lower than 6th in any of his five outings over the summer. Tom Bush was 3rd overall, and Dickie Wythe was 1st Veteran over the Series finishing in 6th place overall.

Planning is now well underway for the Harriers to host the first of this season’s cross-country matches in the Wessex XC League involving over 20 Clubs. The fixture will take place on Sunday October 9th and volunteers to marshal are requested to contact Clive Thomas or Paul Chadwick. The following Wednesday, October 12th, also sees the first Street 5km race for adults and races for juniors over 1 and 2 km.