There was a sight for sore eyes at Corby's West Glebe Park as the County Senior Men's Cross Country drew to a dramatic conclusion. Four of the leading group of five runners were sporting the red and white hoops of KTH, a far cry from recent years when the Harriers have struggled to raise a team.
Rugby & Northampton's impressive Junior Rory Grant won the sprint to the line, closely followed by Ben Sharman, Jonny Goringe, Dave Green and Damian Carr, who took the first four Senior places. Sadly, Corby AC's superb packing in places 6 to 13 gave them the team title, followed by Kettering, for whom Phil West (26th) and Steve Giles (29th) were the final counters.
It was great to see enough Harriers' men to form a second team enjoying a run over the country. Dan Thompson (31st), Dave Edwards (40th), Martyn Winstone (42nd), Andrew Clawson (48th), Anthony Poncia (50th) and Rob Britten (54th) completed the KTH contingent.
There was also great success for Kettering in the Women's race, as Sian Edwards recaptured her Senior title, with a powerful display of front running. In the same race Sophie Munn (12th overall) took the Junior gold. This was really a case of "keeping it in the family" as sister Hayley was Junior champion for the previous three years and mother Kerry (20th) joined Sian and Sophie in taking the bronze team medals. Also in action were Jill Tierney (23rd) and Alison Moxey (24th).
There were some great performances by the Harriers in younger age-groups, with pride of place going to Josh Cara, whose progress to the Under 15 gold medal looked effortless. He was followed by Jack Hope who took silver and Edward Cannell, whose 7th place ensured team gold for KTH by two points from R & N. Ben Tierney ran gamely for 11th. Looking at the County shield, this is the first time the Northampton club has been beaten since it was first competed for in 1995.
Not to be outdone, the KTH Under 15 girls also won the County shield, breaking a run of five R & N wins. Abi Coleman also took the individual bronze, with Maisie Green and Fran Ashworth right behind her. With Gemma Vaughan (7th) and Lauren Mehmet (9th) both in the top half of the field, this was a really strong performance by the Harriers.
Josh Coles went home with two silver medals from the Under 17 race. He finished just behind R & N's Jacob Allen, and with Liam Kirk (4th) and Matt Stewart (9th), was second team. Kayli Walford also bagged a silver in the equivalent Ladies' race, maintaining her fine form into the New Year.
The Under 13 Boys agonisingly failed to hang on to their team title, by just one point! Ethan Mehmet had the consolation of an individual bronze, with Gabrial Smith right behind him. Ryan Barritt (9th) completed the team, with Joe Pendred finishing 12th.
By a remarkable coincidence, it was just one point that denied the KTH Under 13 Girls the team title. Despite Tabatha Walford's excellent second place, and Dannielle Gaskell and Rebecca Hughes' 4th and 5th respectively, they were pipped to the gold medals by Corby. In the same race, Hannah Winstone (11th), Izzy Cara (12th) and Sophie Moss (13th) ran well in the middle of the field.
KTH were poorly represented in the Under 11 races, but credit is due to Isabella Moxey (7th) and Lauren Hughes (14th) for their performances.
We now look forward to further cross-country success in next week's County Schools Champs and the Midland and countrywide races that follow.