The Charity cup, one of longest established cross county events in the country dating back almost 100 years and run over the traditional Wicksteed Park course saw the Harriers senior men retained the Charity cup with a huge winning margin. There were also dominant individual and team performances which saw 6 individual Gold medalists, and 5 team Gold performances won on the day.
The first race of the day saw the combined U11 boys & Girls getting off to a winning start with a remarkable run from 10 year old Jemima Davey who showed a clean pair of heels to both the boys & girls with a brilliant race over the 2km course in 7:43, almost 2 minutes ahead of 2nd place female Wellingborough & District’s AC Iona Ellwood and 30 seconds ahead of the winning boy. Davey lead the team to a Gold medal with Alyssa Preece (4th) and Evie Brooker( 5th) both running well in support.
Jemima Davey remarkable run beating all the U11 Boys & Girls
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It was an individual & team victory for the U11 Boys with James Clutton taking the victory in 8:12 just managing to outsprint team mate Finn Currie (8:13) into Silver and solid support from Zachary Scott in 3rd place (8:16) for a perfect team gold with just 6 points.
In the mixed U13 B&G race the Harriers picked up two individual Silver medals with bottom year Maggie Gancheva running a strong race over the 3km course, closing down the leader all the way to the line to finish just 8 seconds behind Corby AC’s Lexi Wilkinson in 12:22. Gancheva also led the girls team to a Silver team medal with good support from Isabella Brockway & Ellie Warboys in 6th & 7th respectively. Dylan white ran a great tactical race to win a fine Silver medal, having a good battle with R&N Lewis Robinson throughout the race her surged past him with 300m to go to finish in 11:15 behind R&N Arthur Tilt. The U13B also secured a team Silver with a good run from Lucas Rogers still returning to full fitness in 4th place (11:54) & Harry Dent in 5th (12:13).
The U15 B race saw another victory for the Harriers with an impressive win from Josh Geddes over the 4300m course, never looking troubled he won from Wellingborough & District’s AC Stanley Taylor in 17:37. There was a great run also from much improved Luke Cole in 3rd place (18:02) with Josh Clutton (18:22) in 5th place running well to help secure the team Gold.
Josh Geddes, fine run to win the individual & team U15B Gold medals
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The combined Senior Women’s/ U20/U17 saw an imperious performance from U17 Emily Williams to win by almost a minute from Senior Sarah Ward from Harborough AC. Williams who is making good progress to full race fitness took to the front from the start and gradually increased her lead over the 5.5km course to win in 22.26. Elaine Fairbrother enjoyed a fine run to win the NAA masters race in 26:06, finishing 6th overall, and with great support from Karen Albery 3rd masters (9th overall 27:50) & Trudie Pike 4th maters (11th overall 29:12) they easily secured the NAA masters team Gold. Elana Albery returning from University for the weekend had a fine XC opener finishing in 8th overall in 26:53.
Emily Williams working back to full race fitness with a fine win in the SW race
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In the U17 men’s race over 6600m Dylan Bowley ran a good race finishing in 2nd place in 22:56 behind the winner Archie Parkinson, & Morgan Potter ran a solid race for third in 25:33.
The final race of the day saw the Senior Men retain the Charity cup with ease from R&N and Corby AC with a fine team performance and a winning margin of almost 50 points. First harrier home was Matt Fowler who enjoyed a race long battle over the tough 10k course with former Harrier Jack Chennell, surging past him in the final 200m to win the NAA Masters race in 35:48, finishing in second place overall. Edward Cannell reversed the position from a week earlier with younger sibling Josh to finish in 4th place with a strong run in 36:15, with Josh finishing in in 9th place (37:37) just behind fellow Harrier Phil Brigden who finished in 8th place overall and 5th in the masters race helping the Harriers on to win the masters team medal with good support from Tony James 6th master (11th overall 37:56) & Phil west 7th master (12th overall 38:04), with all six athletes contributing to the team victory. Other Harriers in action included two U20’s with Tom Jawad in 21st (39:38) & Jack Watson in 29th (42:23) with Robert Cole with a solid run in 40th place overall (27th master) in 47:28.
SM & NAA Masters winning team Matt Fowler, Phil Brigden, Tony James, Phil West, Josh Cannell, Edward Cannell
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In all it was a brilliant day for the Harriers, who now look to get a hard block of training in before the new year cross country fixtures begin with County Championships on 05th January.