The most prestigious race of the season took place this year at Donnington Park, a spectacular setting worthy of such an event. Fortunately the weather was bright and the conditions underfoot were as good as they could have been after such a long, wet winter.
Our small band of dedicated racers, some of whom travelled down in a minibus with the coaching team and with a group of young, enthusiastic supporters, made the most of the day with some splendid results.
The Club was represented in all of the races bar the Junior Men, even though the representation was a little thin in places.
After Vicki Merrick, suffering badly from a chest infection, was forced to pull out of the opening race, the U17 Women, it was left to Reuben Mantle to get the ball rolling in the U15 Boys, and this he did most emphatically with a fine 97th place.
Sarah Dewhirst, in the Junior Women’s race, showed just how much progress she has made since she went up to university, with a splendid 62nd place, a huge improvement on last year’s result.
In the largest junior field of the day, with 449 finishers, Grace Dawson and Ruby Firth battled through impressively, finishing 143rd and 147th respectively in the U13
Girls – we really must find at least one more counter to support them.
Matthew Merrick, like his sister, had had a tough week with a chest infection and decided to cut his losses by running conservatively. In the circumstances his 154th place in the U17s was a brave effort. We hope that he feels better in the two big races that he still has to do.
In the U15 Girls Eliza Findlay displayed her usual battling qualities to finish in 144th place, while Lucy Miller, in her 3rd National, suffered a bad attack of asthma, but still managed somehow to get to the finish in 336th. I do hope that she has recovered from having to spend the night in hospital.
For the juniors the afternoon finished on a high point with the performance of our U13 Boys. Most importantly they achieved a team position – 25th out of 43 teams – but there were also some fine individual performances. Pride of place must go to Alex Flaherty who finished 38th in his first year in the age-group, a first-class effort. He was ably supported by Joseph Carnelley in 221st, Samuel Mantle 260th and Ben Rees 271st.
Congratulations to all of those who ran (not forgetting Alana Gill and Ben Marriott who represented the senior side of the Club), thanks to all the parents and supporters, and a special thank you to Martin Peace for organising the minibus : David Potter, Graham Smith and I had a great time!
Tony Kingham