Cross country success in the mud for Worksop Harriers

Saturday saw the Nottinghamshire & Derbyshire County Cross County Championship taking place at Bulwell Hall, Hucknall, where a very rainy spell had left the course in a significantly wetter state than last year's edition but still provided a full day of racing for Harriers of all ages.

Aya St Juste raced over 1,500m for the U11 girls while a full team in the U11 boys saw Isaac Beresford, George North and Charlie Parker combine to take a team bronze in the1,500m, joined by team mates Mason Heath and Myles Hall.

Holly Bulmer ran the girls 3,000m whilst Theo Bezori-Oldfield secured a county vest, joined by Rufus Lee raced in the boys race, and Miley Townrow ran 4,200 in the U15s, also securing a coveted county vest.

However, that wasn’t it for the medals or county vests for the day as a six man team competed in the Men’s 10,000 m to take on every obstacle on the course with three large laps of the course.

Tom Shaw led Harriers home, finishing seventh senior to secure a county representing spot, followed shortly by an excellent run by Dominic Fielding to make the county reserve list.

Nick Moore made it three in the top 20 for the senior race, followed by a superb pairing of Matt Daly and Adam Turner, dragging each other round, while Bryan Cherry rounded out the team to place the Harriers in a medal position and secure a team bronze.

A day later over 50 Harriers kicked off the local Cross Country Series with the first match at Retford.

It was a 5.8 mile mostly off road course out of East Retford and through Gringley Woods on a course that still proved to be muddy on what was a better day.

The going was hard and the mud thick, but a fantastic turn out from the Harriers showed they weren’t fazed as they took on Clowne, Killamarsh, Handsworth and hosts Retford.

In the men’s match it was a repeat of Saturday as Tom Shaw led the team home in second overall, followed by two pairings for some great team work as Dom Fielding and Nick Moore worked together to bag sixth and seventh then Matt Daly and Adam Turner in 10th and 12th.

Chris Bliss (29th) and Super-Vet Kevin Saville (31th) made for a fine start to the men’s team to round out the scoring seven while a great team out meant points scoring was maximised as the men finished second overall to Clowne.

That means there is plenty to play for when the series continues at Handsworth in two weeks.

Hannah Miller led the ladies home in eighth, while Sally Ormrod made a very welcome return to the ladies team in 12th.

Madi Spencer and Sam Marriott followed next in 19th and 20th places while Nat Cunningham, Cathy Mhembere and Jo Campbell, who finished 29th, 31st and 34th respectively, rounded out the scoring seven and another excellent team turnout made it maximum points on offer gained.