Brillint start in opening XC race

North Midland League 1 Markeaton park - There we some brilliant performances today from the squad with some fine runs throughout all the age Groups!

Alice Bates making her NML debut had a brilliant opening race in her first XC outing of the season over the 3km loop racing together with the U13B. Bates surged to the front shortly after the start she pushed the pace hard from the onset, after the final hill she made her decisive break with 800m to go and opened a gap on the chasing pack headed by Lincoln & Wellington AC’s India Barwell, storming home with a fine win in the U15 G race in 12:10. Izzy Brockway & Niamh Sinnott were also competing finishing in 40th & 41st place respectively.

Superb North Mids League debut & opening win for Alice Bates

In the same race, Dylan White also put in a terrific performance to finish second in the U13B race to make a fine start to his season, he also started strongly and finished in a comfortable 2nd place in 12:02 & he looks to be a terrific prospect over the coming season in his second year in the AG. The U13B team finished in a fine 5th place with good support from Finn Currie in 21st (13:33) & James Clutton in 40th (15:24).

U13 Dylan White terrific run for 2nd place

Jemima Daley also enjoyed a fantastic opening race finishing in second place in the U13G race, Davey perhaps regretting letting the eventual winner Sutton Harriers Iris Clarke get too much of a gap early on, as she finished like an express train closing her in all the way to the line in 10:39 over the 2.5km course just 4 seconds behind Clarke. Davey will have x2 more years in the AG so still has plenty of time to make significant improvements. Ellie Separovic enjoyed a fine race finishing very strongly in 23rd place in 12:41 to help just the 2 girl team finish in 4th place.

U13 Jemima Davey outstanding run to finish a close 2nd place.

Amelia McMurtrie also making her debut in the league ran a fine race to finish 5th in the U17W race, running at a consistent pace McMurtrie just lacked the legs to reel in 4th place, finishing the 4.5km course in 17:27. In the same race the U15B produced the best team result of the day finishing in 2nd place overall behind Darby AC. Luke Cole was top scorer for the Harriers finishing in a fine 7th place with a terrific performance in 15:28, with good support from Lucas Rogers who had a fine run for 13th place in 16:34, Ben Brooker who finished in 19th (16:57) & George Separovic finishing in 21st (17:12).

The U20, Senior & Vet Women had a great performance to finish in a brilliant 4th place just 7 point behind Charnwood. U20 Emily Williams had a steady start to her XC campaign finishing in 12th overall (4th U20) in 25.26 over the 6.5km course, and enjoyed good support from Senior Elana Albery with a terrific performance for 35th in 28.03, with Elaine Fairbrother the final scorer in 62nd (29:46). There was a strong contingent of Harriers with Karen Albery (97th in 31:58), Babs Poncia (104th in 32:14), Sam Brockway (123rd in 33.33) & Paula Sinnott (131 in 34:12).

The U17M had just two Harriers in action, with Josh Clutton top scoring in 19th place in 24.17 over the 6km course with Josh Geddes one place behind in 20th in 24.49

The senior men also had a good turnout and finished in a very respectable 11th place in the team stakes, with Edward Cannell top scoring for them in 85th position, completing the 10k course in 36:57, and importantly just piping younger sibling U20 Josh Cannell to the finish line who finished 4 places further back in 89th (37:17) after reeling him in on the final lap. Tony James was the third scorer finishing just 2 second behind his club colleague in 90th (37:19) finishing 6th in the vet 45 category. U20 Jack Watson was next home for the Harriers in 123rd (38:33) with the final scorer Ross Brown finishing in 164th (40:41). The three other Harriers in action were Martin Winstone (213th 43:05), Rob Cole making his XC debut in 239th (45:02) and Any Poncia in 286th (50:32).

There were a number of younger U11B’s in action over the shorter than advertised 2km course, with Zac Scott running an impressive race for 8th place (4:47), with Finlay Brooker in 23rd in 5.07, and Rafferty Daley making his Harriers XC debut in 32nd in 5.10.

Next NML race is on 09th at Corby where we will be sure to have many more of the squad out to try and impose ourselves as the dominant local club.

Well Done to everybody who ran.