Worksop Harriers stay in chase for Inter Club titles at midway point of the series

Little has changed on the Clowne course over the years, but it never gets any easier with a 5.5 mile mix of unpaved roads, muddy fields and plenty of climbing of stiles.

Men’s team captain Tom Shaw returned to the squad to bolster a superb team performance as he led both the Harriers and the race home in first, which, followed by a flurry of Green & Black at the front, started a great day for the club.

Dom Fielding narrowly missed out on a top three in fourth while Nick Moore and a very strong run from Adam Turner put four Harriers in the top 10 (seventh/eighth).

Aidy Hopkinson and Matt Daly formed another strong partnership to take 12th and 13th.

And there was also a fine debut by recent recruit Paul Parry in 20th, which gave the Harriers not only their best score to date of 65 but was enough to take the match win and pull back a point on leaders Clowne to make it 2-1 with two matches to go.

The men’s team was bolstered by another fine team turnout of over 20 men to ensure no points were left on the table.

Not to be outdone, the ladies also achieved their strongest result to date as they were led home by Hannah Miller in an excellent fourth position.

What followed was a string of Green & Black vests as Sally Ormrod and Amy Ogden took 18th and 19th followed by Natalie Cunningham (23rd) and then a procession as Rachel Silcock, Cathy Mhembere and Julie Holloway finished 27th, 29th and 30th.

Once again a great team showing saw 19 ladies, including a few first timers, finding their feet in the mud which meant it was a team of everyone playing their part as they finished second on the day.

The overall trophy is now a close three-way match between Retford, Clowne and Worksop.

The next and penultimate match takes place at Killamarsh on the 18th before what could be a very exciting finale as the Harriers host the final match on Manton Pit Top on 25th February.

On Saturday, representing Bassetlaw, several junior Harriers competed for their school years (5/6, 7, 8/9, 10/11 and LVI/UVI) in the Schools Cross Country at Worksop College.

They raced across distances from 1,500m up to 6,000m for the oldest groups around the grounds of the College and nearby golf course.

Starting with the youngest, Aya St Juste finished 24th in a packed field followed by Eliza de Villars. For the boys, Isaac Beresford bagged a top 10 finish, followed by Charlie Parker, Mason Heath and Myles Hall.

Moving up an age group, Holly Bulmer ran strong to finish 16th whilst the boys nearly had a double podium as Theo Bezoari-Oldfield grabbed silver in second with Oscar Wallace finishing strongly behind, narrowly missing out in fourth.

Rounding off with their oldest junior, Miley Townrow ran well to finish 12th despite only recently returning to training.

It wasn’t just the juniors putting in the work on Saturday, though, as a good group of senior members volunteered to help provide opportunity to these young athletes as they directed and marshalled around the course making sure the running and racing was the focus of the day.