There were some outstanding individual and team performances on the opening 2014/ 2015 Cross Country Season fixture held on the typical Markeaton Park North Midland League fixture, with two superb individual winners, Claudia Nevett U17 Woman, and Emily Williams U13 Girls both tasting victory in a NML fixture for the first time.
Claudia Nevett ran an outstanding race in the combined U17W & U15 Boys event to take her first ever Cross Country race victory in style, fresh from the National Road relay success Claudia took up a prominent position in the U17W race right from the start with only Derby's Jenni Willison for company, after the first km Claudia had dropped the Derby athlete and continued to use the U15 boys to pull her along at a solid pace, eventually finishing the 5km course in 17:13 with a comfortable lead of 18 seconds. The Harriers also secured a U17W team victory with Hannah Winstone running a solid race to finish in 9th position (20:22) and debutant in the KTH middle Distance Squad, Ella Palmer, showing her decision to change to endurance based training over the winter was a wise choice also running very well in her first XC race in Kettering colours for 11th (20:28) helping secure the only team win of the day for the U17 Women.
Emily Williams also secured her first win of the season with a superb race in the U13 girls 2.8km race, Emily was also prominent throughout the race but was pushed hard all the way with Heanor athlete, Lily Winfield. Emily eventually shook off her company in the closing 400m downhill section of the course making maximum use of her tremendous stride to power her way to victory in 10:09, six seconds ahead of her rival. The U13 girls team was also prominent finishing in 3rd place overall, with superb support the fast improving Robison sisters, Jennifer & Daisy, with Jenn again seeing off her younger sister finishing in an excellent 14th place (11:18), and Daisy also finishing in a solid 22nd position (11:46) to secure the team 3rd place.
The U15 Girls also had a full team and finished in an excellent 4th position, top scorer for the team and fast improver Sophie Moss ran an excellent race to finish in 8th position with 13:46, particularly as she completed the whole 3km race with just one shoe after losing in on the start line! Chloe Hearne also improving steadily ran an fine race to finish in 14th (13:58) & Amy Robinson also ran a solid race to finish in 22nd (14:44).
The best performances for the boys came in the U13B race with Henri Codling finishing in a superb 5th position with an excellent race over the 3km course in 12:35, supported well with Dylan Bowley who also put in a solid performance to finish in 14th position in 13:24.
Other performances in the limited boys teams were the Cannell brothers with Josh (U15B) finishing in 28th over the 5km course in 18:30, and Edward (U17M) battling hard to finish in 22nd over the 6km course in 25:58.
There were some good runs from some of the new Squad U11G's with Mia Brockway finishing in a fine 11th position for the shorter than advertised 2km course in 4:44, and Millie Houghton 15th in 5:00
In the Senior/ U20 teams there were again limited numbers competing, with the U20 women's sole representative Fran Ashworth running a solid race over the longer 6km course for 5th position 28:51, and Babs Fulton finishing in 8th in the V35 category (32:21). For the senior men Andrew Clawson was 141st with Martyn Winstone 161, and Anthony Poncia 230th
Well done to all who competed, the next XC fixture for most will be the next NML fixture on 08th November at Wicksteed Park - any help that can be provided in terms of setup, marshaling or taking down, please let adam henley know.
The winners Claudia & Emily are pictured below.
