A great morning for Harriers at the Bath leg of the Gloucestershire Cross Country League which doubled as the County Champs and Four Counties Champs with the best of Wiltshire, Avon and Somerset regions facing off against Gloucestershire.
A long drive was rewarded with some lovely sunshine and firm footing on the course. A quick and firm downhill was livened up by some cunningly hidden rocks and cow pats. The U11 girls kicked the day off and battled bravely against some talented teams, with Emilia coming an amazing fourth in Gloucestershire and Elodie holding off a whole wave of sprinters behind her to finish in top ten for Gloucestershire.
The U11 boys followed close behind with a furious mass start. As the race turned up the long drag hill, Freddie and Fraser started reeling the front runners in and they came around the final corner in a tight group of five. Afterburners on and Freddie finished 4th overall, 1st for Gloucestershire with Fraser just behind in 6th and 2nd Gloucestershire. Max smashed the course to secure 20th overall and 4th for Gloucestershire, just missing an individual medal but securing the A team title. Behind him, Grayson and Alfie showed their sprinting class to pull away in the home straight finishing 25th and 30th with Josh not far behind in 32nd securing silver for the B team. But the squad weren’t done, Edward, Harrison and Ivar all finished in top 40 overall to also put the C team on the podium as well. Elliot Rupert and Max also ran well to finish in 40th, 49th and 52nd.
Jess Bailey continued her impressive early season form with 6th place in the U13 girls race and 2nd Gloucestershire. Matilda Lawton was just 4 seconds behind getting herself on the county podium in 3rd and 8th place overall. Completing the A team was Avery Church who finished 16th and 4th Gloucestershire. There were strong runs from the remaining U13 girls team with Elena Williams in 25th, Niamh Pettingell in 26th, Philippa Cary in 28th and Elsie Thornton in 31st. Otto Devenport Jones led the U15 boys team. In a very close race where the top 9 athletes finished within 20 seconds Otto finished a superb 6th and secured himself the Gloucestershire bronze medal. Next in was Joseph Bradshaw in 11th just missing out on the podium as 4th Gloucestershire. William Bell and Charlie Neale finished just 1 second apart in 15th and 16th. Theo Litman and Lewis Shirlaw weren’t far behind in 18th and 22nd completing the B team. Benjamin Lewis, Lucas Oliveira and Benjamin Pearce formed a strong C team finishing in 27th, 32nd and 44th respectively.
Jack Shingler won the second individual gold medal of the day for Harriers finishing 3rd overall and 1st U15 boy for Gloucestershire. Noah Seabright made it two Harriers on the podium with bronze and 13th overall. Ethan Hendry held on well down the home straight to finish in 20th and 7th Gloucestershire. The team showed strength in depth with all athletes finishing in the top 50. Monty Wilkins was 23rd, Seb Sheppard 24th, Sebastian Heath 32nd, Dylan Jones 33rd and Theo Green 43rd.
Not to be outdone the U15 girls also managed to get two Harriers on the podium. Ivy Wightman led the way as 3rd overall and 2nd Gloucestershire and Rosie Atkins was a convincing 3rd Gloucestershire (7th overall). Bella Watts was just 12 seconds behind as 5th Gloucestershire (10th overall) and the B team scored well with MEgan Cowley in 14th, Kimberley Hodgkinson 15th and Martha Woods in 35th.
Maddie Thomson was U17 girls County Champs winner with a 2nd place overall finish. Jessica Sheppard and Freya Braiden both ran brilliantly just missing out on the podium as 4th and 5th Gloucestershire respectively. In the U17 boys race Oliver Wilson had a tough battle to the line finishing as 3rd Gloucestershire, just 1 second behind silver and 4 seconds behind gold. Tom Wightman made the top 10 overall and finished as 4th Gloucestershire and Rhys Haines was 23rd and 6th Gloucestershire. There were promising runs behind from Thomas Harvey 28th, Bertie Walmsley 31st, James Worthington 34th, Harry Knight 35th and Charlie Cotterell 36th.
The U20 age group produced double Gold for the Harriers with Erin Musty and Sam Wilson both topping the podium. Erin finished 7th overall in the U20+ women’s and M65+ race and Sam impressed finishing 4th in the U20+ mens race. Fellow U20s Milly Foster and Katie Agombar ran well with Milly finishing 4th Gloucestershire U20 and 16th U20 overall and Katie 19th U20 overall.
The medals came thick and fast for our seniors. Jane Fairbairn was 33rd female overall and took Gold in the W50 age category. Petra Vymetalova finished 39th and took W40 Silver, clubmate Ellie Balfe secured the Bronze in the same category with 42nd overall. Hannah Miles has shown big improvements this season and had another strong run finishing in 68th. Jo Wilkie took Bronze in the W45 event in 72nd overall just one place ahead of Sophie Bestwick competing in only her second ever cross country. Clare Hawling completed the women’s team in 106th and won Silver in the W60 category. Michael Ede won a silver medal in the M65 category.
On the men’s side Jamie Bell was first home in 39th with Harrison Miles finishing well in 50th. Heath Bampton was competing in the Wiltshire county champs and won M55 Gold. Martin Foster took Silver in the Gloucestershire M45 race in 76th overall. Danny Hunter was 4 seconds behind in 78th and Peter Digweed won M45 Bronze in 88th. Ross Swain, Matt Evans and James Wilkinson completed the Harriers in 92nd, 105th and 141st.
