After what had been a very wet week in our neck of the woods, we were expecting very muddy conditions at Lightwater Valley, but, as it turned out, the course and the weather were relatively benign.
Numbers-wise the turn-out was a little disappointing, but that was more than off-set by the splendid performances of all of those who ran, with three of our juniors gaining selection to the Yorkshire team, and everyone showing real effort and commitment.
Despite the low numbers we were able to achieve results with two of our teams: our U13 Boys were 7th and U15 Boys 8th.
In the U13 Girls Rebecca Flaherty, who has one more year in this age-group, ran superbly to finish in 3rd place, while Holly Walters, finishing in 61st place, showed a considerable improvement on last year’s performance. She, too, has one more year in this age-group.
The U13 Boys were led home by Samuel Mantle with a spirited, aggressive run in 14th place, ably supported by the ever-improving Theo Clay in 36th, Jake Wallace in 47th, and our newest recruit Joseph Smith in 72nd.
Ruby Firth was, once again, our only representative in the Under 15 Girls, and ran strongly to finish in an excellent 11th position.
For only the second time this season our U15 Boys were at full strength in what is a very tough age-group, with Alex Flaherty finishing in 15th place, Joseph Carnelley in 23rd, and Ben Rees in 40th. If they can stay together, they should be able to achieve even more in the races to come.
Unfortunately we were not able to put out teams in the two U17 races, but we did have some success on the individual front. Emily Field, who has run splendidly all season, was rewarded with a Yorkshire place in 5th, whereas Reuben Mantle, in 9th place was so unlucky to be edged out of the team in a photo-finish. James Askew gave his all in a commendable 27th place.
Junior Men and Women are not really part of my remit, but it was a real pleasure to see Matthew Merrick running so well and finishing in a strong 5th place, while Phoebe Francis, who has made such great progress under the guidance of John Smithurst, finished in a fine 9th place.
Lastly, if I may end on a personal note, it was a real joy for me (and for Graham and David) to see former Harrier Emile Cairess win the Senior race in such convincing and dominant fashion.
Results:
U13 Girls:
3rd Rebecca Flaherty;
61st Holly Walters
U13 Boys:
14th Samuel Mantle;
36th Theo Clay;
47th Jake Wallace;
72nd Joseph Smith
U15 Girls:
11th Ruby Firth
U15 Boys:
15th Alex Flaherty;
23rd Joseph Carnelley;
40th Ben Rees
U17Women:
5th Emily Field
U17 Men:
9th Reuben Mantle;
27th James Askew
U20 Women: 9th Phoebe Francis
U20 Men: 5th Matthew Merrick
Well done to all of those who took part and thank you to all the supporters.
Tony Kingham