The Harriers enjoyed probably the best ever result at a North Midlands League match, with three wins, a second place, two third places, and two further top 5 placings in the individual states, with a further win, two runner up places & three further top 5 placings in the team events.
The 2nd Midlands League match was held over a surprising firm West Glebe park in Corby in good conditions with the rain holding off until the final men’s race was underway.
One of the performances of the day saw U17 Amelia McMurtrie win her first ever cross country race, after over 60 cross country races in a long career spanning 7 years McMurtrie was delighted to finally win a cross country race! McMurtrie, who has been steadily improving her aerobic performance since joining the Harriers in the summer, powered her way to a magnificent win with a perfectly paced race, sitting in on 2nd place PANV A/C’s Molly Peel until 400m to go she surged into the lead with a strong finish and produced an impressive sprint finish over the last 80m to take the win in style in 19:28 over the tough 5km course. This was a 4 place improvement from the opening fixture and McMurtrie now sits in third place in the overall league placings. Freya Batkin ran a solid race in her opening fixture of the season for 11th place in 21:10 with Toni Robinson making her XC debut for the harriers final scorer in 26th place helping the team to 4th place.
Amelia McMurtrie magnificent first ever win over XC in U17W race
U15 Alice Bates enjoyed another magnificent race, her 2nd straight win. Bates who likes to lead from the front sat in for the first 300m, then decided to take the race on and she opened up an impressive gap on the rest of the field including all the U13B running in the same race. Bates continued to dominate and it was only in the last 100m that the leading boy finally overhauled her, but she won the girls race comfortably by 16 seconds in 10:34 over the 3km course. Bates now sits as the clear leader after the two opening races. Supporting Bates was Josie Crick who ran a good race for 30th place (13:23) with Izzy Brockway the final scorer in 38th place helping the team to 6th place, with Niamh Sinnott the final Harrier in action in 40th.
Alice Bates continues fine form to win her 2nd successive U15G race
U13 Davey had a real battle on her hands, only just turned 11 she looked tiny in comparison with older girls, and seemed to struggle to make a big impression in the early stages after suffering a fall. She didn't panic, sitting in with the leading pack until the final 500m she decided to make her final push with a determined effort and she proved too strong for field opening a 40m gap by the finish to take a brilliant win in 11:28 over the 3km course. This was Davey’s first win in the age group reversing the defeat from Daventry AC’s Kate Pomerleau from the opening race, and with two more years in the age group there will no doubt many more to come. Davey also sits in first place overall in the league. There were great supporting runs for the U13G with Lara Turner running well making her league debut to finish in a fine 11th place in 12:04, with Maggie Gancheva also running a fine race for 13th place in 12:21 ensuring the team victory was secured from Darby AC. Ellie Separovic & Charlie Robinson also putting in a very respectable performances for 25th & 27th respectively.
Jemima Davey battled hard to win her first U13 Race
Emily Williams enjoyed a much better race to finish in an excellent 3rd place for the U20’s (9th place overall in the U20/ Senior Womens race) to spearhead the woman’s team finishing in 21:56 over the 6km course, and is looking stronger with every race. SW Elana Albery also enjoyed a fine race finishing in 38th place in 24:50, with further fine performances from Elaine Farbrother coming back into good form third Harrier in 69th place (26:45), and Kerry Munn 77th (27:12) winning the V50 category and completing the scoring for the SW team to help them secure a very respectable 10th place. Karen Albery ran well for 2nd V50 (92nd overall), with Nicola Robinson making her Harriers XC debut finishing in 103rd, Sam Brockway 110th, Stacey Barrett 126th & Val Nix 129th, to complete the large KTH women’s turnout.
Kettering Ladies with a fine 10th place overall.
Top Male performance on the day saw another great run from U13 Dylan White to finish in 2nd place for the second successive race with another strong performance to finish the 3km course in 10:45, and White sits in 2nd place overall in the league standings. White was supported well with James Clutton in 26th, the only other Harrier in action helping the team to 5th place.
U23 Josh Cara making a welcome return in the Red & White vest ran a brilliant race to finish in 3rd place in the senior men’s race over a tough 10k course. The 4th year at Cambridge medical student ran a shrewd race sitting in with Heanor’s Joe Rainsford until the final 400m when Cara put in a decisive surge to ensure third place in 31:33 showing that he has returned to good form. There was good support for Cara from Josh Cannell, running a great race for 51st (5th U20) in 34:56 just aread of sibling Edward Cannell in 60th in 35:28, with Phil West in 74th (36:09) & Tony James final scorer in 80th (36:26) securing an impressive 8th place in the team event. There were plenty of other Harriers in action in what was a huge turnout with Rafal Bozuk 106th, Jack Watson 108th, Andy Batkin 136th, Bill Robinson 166th, Andrew Clawson 171st, Ian Corns 176th, Martyn Winstone 185th, Rob Cole 201st, Andrew Crick 206th, Ian Hearn 226, Matt Pollard 227, Edward Murray 229 & Antony Poncia 234th.
Superb turn out for the SM and a fine 8th place team finish
There was a fine 4th place finish for U15 Luke Cole running another strong race to finish the 5km course in 18:01 to improve his placing from the opening XC match at Darby where he finished in 7th place. Support for Luke Cole came with fine runs from Ben Brooker in 8th place (19:07) & Lucas Rogers in 9th (19:15) who both ran strong races to help the team finish in 2nd place overall, Jake Nickerson ran well for 12th (19:43) along with George Separovic in 16th (20:23) & Ellis Johnson final Harrier in action in 30th.
In the U17M race over 6km there were good performances from Dylan Bowley top scorer in 13th place in 20:41, with Josh Clutton running well for 16th place in 21:04 being chased down all the way to the finish by Iday Jumbe one place behind in 21:06, the final scorer helping the team to 4th place. Josh Geddes also ran well for 19th place in 21:33 and there was a good debut for Siddharth Zumkhawala in 26th place (23:19).
For the U11’s There was a great team performance with the boys securing 2nd place overall with a fine run from George Sharp in 5th place completing the 2km course in 8:41, with Rafferty Davey coming through strongly taking 8th place in xx a huge 24 place improvement from the opening race, with Finlay Brooker also improving by over 12 places in 11th (9:01) final scorer & Zac Scott in 12th (9:02). For the girls there was a great debut for 10 year old Jess Lamb who made an impressive start with her KTH career running as a guest she ran an impressive race over the 2km course to finish in an unofficial 6th place in 9:20
All in all this was a stunning day of racing for the Harriers showing their strength in depth in all the AG, with clearly much more to come!
Brilliant running guys.