Nottinghamshire Summer League silver medal glory for Worksop Harriers

The final match this year was held at the National Water Sports Centre, Holme Pierrepont, and despite being moved from its traditional May spot to August, it did nothing to help the conditions which were as wet and windy as ever.

Going into the match the Worksop Harriers men’s team had moved up to second place in the series after a superb result at Worksop College in July, and although first place was out-of-reach there was still much work to be done to hold off the chasing pack and secure silver.

There turned out to be no need to fear as the Harriers produced their best result to date, scoring just 124 points (with previous scores of 215, 259 and 157).

James Lonsdale put in an excellent battle at the front with the race leaders coming in fifth overall, followed by Tom Shaw (16th), a closely packed duo of Dom Fielding and Matt Daly (29th and 32nd) and Ben Rhodes making up the scoring five in 42nd.

The second place finish means Harriers' men won silver medals for their performance in the county league.

A superb team performance over the four race series with those five joined by Henry Brady, Adam Turner, Ethan Ellery, Paul Marriott and Matt Chappell all making contributions to the scores.

It wasn't the only medal they taken home as U20 athlete Ethan Ellery not only made team score contributions in the races but also secured an individual silver in the U20 competition.

Although no medals this year, there were as always some excellent performances from the Harriers ladies as Hannah Miller was the first Harrier home for the ladies in 11th position and also finished a very respectable fifth overall in the Series individual competition.

Joining Hannah in the scoring four were Charlotte Rushby (69th), Cathy Mhembere (89th and narrowly missing out on an Age Cat medal!) and Natalie Cunningham (93rd)

On Yorkshire Day, Dave and Sally Bulmer along with Bryan Cherry celebrated it by competing in the Flat Cap five mile trail race, an undulating and scenic route from Dewsbury crossing the River Calder and then the Calder & Hebble Navigation.

A day after the summer league plenty of Harriers were back in action as 13 took part in the next edition of the popular KMR series as they took on the mostly off-road Butchers Dog Leg, taking its name from the so-named pub at the start and finish.

A great night both for results and enjoying the evening saw Matt Daly continue his successful run in the series, finishing second overall, scoring valuable points for the series and yet another bottle of wine for the growing collection.

Also, Hannah Miller finished third (and of course yet more wine).

It was a lovely evening not just for the race but of course the post-race refreshments and chips back at the pub that help make this excellent little series such a popular one!

On Friday it was a bit of an away day for a few Harriers as Sally and Jim Staveley, Leanne and Mark Manley and Camila and Barry Mercer all took part in the curiously named ‘Run-Next-The-Sea’ at Wells-Next-The-Sea as part of the Wells Carnival.

It offered a lovely five mile scenic route through the Pinewoods and along the beach, racing not just each other but also the tide as the ran to ensure cleared the beach in time!

At the weekend Julie Wragg was the sole Harrier in more carnival running as the Bassingham Bash five mile race.

It was clearly a wet carnival as the wind and rain raged across much of Saturday but it takes a lot to put off a keen runner and Julie finished in 43:48.

A final bit of holiday running saw both Dave and Sally Bulmer take part in a firm favourite of theirs alongside Kate Thorneloe in the Indian Queens Marathon

A hilly half from Indian Queens, Cornwall, the out and back course undulates as it heads through Goss Moor Nature Reserve, David clearly embracing the holiday spirit as he ran 1:51 while Sally and Kate completed together in 2:10.