Wells City Harriers athletes were again in cross-country racing action last weekend (Saturday 20th Jan 2018) when over 20 of the juniors competed in the Somerset Schools Cross Country Championships held at Aldon Hill, near Yeovil. There were a number of good performances with many finishing in the top ten in the various age groups and subsequently being selected to compete for the County schools team at the forthcoming South West Schools XC Championships on Sat 3rd Feb at Stover school, Newton Abbot.
Many of the Harriers were very familiar with the Aldon Hill course, some having raced on it either at the early season Wessex League fixture, or at the early January South West XC Championships. This of course didn't make any of the steep hills any less challenging!
Graham Goldsmid reports:
"With ideal weather conditions for cross-country the first race of the day was the Senior Boys with Ben Lloyd finishing 2nd in 23.01 & Dylan Dukes 7th in 24.27.
Next race up was the Minor Girls with Mackenzie O’Dea running a great race to win in 8.45. & Oliwa Czieczek 12th in 9.35.
Then came the Minor Boys race Jack Harvey was 4th in 9.59 closely followed by Oliver Bishop 6th in 10.21.
Intermediate Boys for school years 10 & 11 were next with Matthew Quarterman 3rd in 20.13, Archie Tyler 7th in 21.00, Will Carr 15th in 22.24 & Leo Stockman 18th in 22.37.
Next race was the Junior girls for school years 8 & 9 Hannah Blundy was 2nd in 13.41, Anya Evans 4th in 14.11, Kai Snell 10th in 15.03 and Bali Chapman 15th in15.50
Junior Boys were next with Dan Maydew 4th in 14.07, Toby Watson 6th in 14.22, Jake Fisher 8th in 14.38, & Bradley Glover 10th in 14.55.
The last two races of the day saw the Inter and Senior Girls start together. In the Inter girls race Holly Bigger was 2nd in 15.36, Lizzy Ingram 3rd in 16.03, & Abbie White 6th in 16.44. In the Senior girls race Lucy Pittard was 6th in 18.29
Well done to all who competed ."
Photo below of Ollie Bishop in the Minor Boys race; photo above of Jack Harvey. Photos by Andrew B
With Schools XC dominating the agenda for the next few weeks, the next serious outing for juniors, and a few of the seniors, on behalf of the Club will be at the National XC Championships to be held at Parliament Hill, London on Saturday 24th February. After that, the grand finale for the Club with the XC season this year will be the final Gwent League cross-country fixture at Blaise Castle, Bristol on Saturday 3rd March - make a note in your diary. Watch out for any further team announcements on the Team News tab.