Nene Valley Harrier Wright impresses with strong London showing

Chris Wright did himself and Nene Valley Harriers proud with a 75th place finish in the Vitality London 10,000m last Monday.

It was the 25-year-old’s first race since April’s London Marathon, and he returned to the capital full of confidence after a pleasing marathon debut.

Wright clocked a time of 32.40mins on a circuit which took in many of the capital’s most famous sights as it wound its way from The Mall to the Bank of England and back. He was the only Harrier to finish ahead of ladies’ race winner Jo Pavey.

Michael Channing was the next Harrier home, finishing 160th in 34.19mins – just ten seconds ahead of Bretton chip shop owner Rob Brownlee.

Lee Harthill and veteran Sean Beard squeezed into the top 500 with times of 38.02mins and 38.42mins respectively, with Jay Belham 566th in 39.02mins.

Timothy Hunt completed the Nene Valley male contingent by coming home in 48.05mins.

Ruth Jones led the Nene Valley ladies’ challenge, crossing the line as 108th lady in 41.55mins.

Louise Blake finished 262nd in 45.43mins and Sophie Wilkinson-Hargate was the 292nd lady home in 46.22mins.

A handful of athletes from other local clubs were also in action, and perhaps the best performance came from Rosslyn Loutit – of Yaxley Runners – who ran a time of 44.35mins to finish as 16th over-50 lady.

Stamford Strider Simon Fell placed 254th in 35.45mins, 30 seconds and 33 places ahead of Peterborough AC’s James Sadlier.

Eye veteran Roy Young ran well, finishing as 45th over-55 with a new best time of 45.50mins.

Nene Valley youngster Josie Fortune had a fine run, finishing 9th in the curtain-raising Westminster Mile under-17 race in a speedy 5.36.9mins.

• Philippa Taylor had the honour of lining up alongside long distance running legend Tirunesh Dibaba on the elite start at the Great Manchester Run on Sunday.

The 49-year-old Nene Valley Harrier finished several minutes and 15 places behind the five times world champion and three-times Olympic gold medallist with a 38.33mins clocking.

Despite being slightly disappointed with her finishing time, Taylor was thrilled that she’d had the opportunity to run in a quality field in front of TV cameras.

She has a daughter at Manchester University and given the tragedy that befell the city last week reflected poignantly.

She said: “It was a moving day with such huge crowds and the emotion of it all.”