The Voice of Spalding and South Holland
Nene Valley Harriers had a great day in the Mansfield mud as they excelled across the age groups in the National Cross Country Relays staged at their traditional Berry Park venue.
Pride of place went to the under-17 girls, who exceeded expectations by finishing 22nd out of the 64 teams.
Josephine Fortune ran the first leg of the 2.5km course in a time of 9.54mins, and was followed by Ellie Piccaver and Amber Park with 10.19mins and 9.53mins respectively
The under-15 girls finished 45th out of more than 100 clubs, with Ella Robinson fastest on the day for Nene Valley with a 7.48mins clocking on the 2km circuit.
Nene Valley fielded two under-13 girls teams, with the A team finishing 48th of the 104 clubs and the B team 90th. Chelsea Bole, Lottie Hemmings and Amelia Devine all ran well.
The senior women had a good day with the A team (45th) and the B team (58th) both finishing in the front half of the field.
There was little to choose between the two teams with Emma Randall running the fastest A team leg, and Chloe Pavey fastest of the second string runners.
Nene Valley’s under-13 boys provided one of the day’s highlights. The speedy trio of Hugo Brill, Kai Chilvers and Joseph Reindel finished 26th, while the B team placed a highly respectable 60th out of the 97 contenders.
The under-15 boys also fielded two teams, with the A team 75th and the B team 84th. B team runner Matthew Colman recorded the fastest time of any of the Harriers, covering the 2k course in 7.25mins.
Aaron Hunt ran the quickest time for the under-17 boys, who finished 40th, 22 places ahead of the Nene Valley B team.
A junior men’s trio battled valiantly to finish 47th, while the senior men’s A team placed 84th out of 170 finishers.
Michael Channing impressed on the first leg as he covered the 5k course in 17.48mins.
A Nene Valley B team also finished 148th.
- Edgar Sumskis celebrated his first race back in a Nene Valley Harriers vest with victory in the Frostbite League at Ferry Meadows.
The long-striding Latvian international steeplechaser, who previously won a Frostbite League race five years ago, has returned to Nene Valley after a few years living in Spain where he was a serial race winner.
Leading from the off, the 29-year-old was a class apart from the other front runners, and crossed the line at the end of the five mile multi terrain race in a time of 26.50mins, 30 seconds clear of runner up Michael Taylor of Riverside Runners.
Eye’s Ben Heron came home third a further 15 seconds behind Taylor with Werrington Jogger James Whitehead fourth.
Triathlete Paul Vernon of PACTRAC, who has won more Frostbite League races than any other competitor since the league began 30 years ago, finished fifth, and Bushfield Jogger Phil Martin came home seventh.
Former Nene Valley athlete Jess Williams, now representing Riverside Runners, was the first lady home with a 32.03mins clocking.
Ramsay Road Runner Lisa Marriott was the second lady crossing the line in 32.45mins, while Sarah Caskey (PACTRAC) and Emma Tomlinson-McCrae also made the top ten.
Riverside Runners topped the team standings, with Nene Valley second and Yaxley Runners securing an impressive fourth place.
After two races Nene Valley and Riverside Runners are joint leaders in the league table.
The junior race was won by Angus Lawrence from Hunts AC, with his clubmate Isabelle Wilkins first girl.
Nene Valley Harriers’ Lottie Hemmings was the second girl home, leading her club to fourth place – which is also the position they hold in the overall standings.
- Close to 9,000 runners pounded the streets of Leeds in the annual Abbey Dash 10k.
Several of the area’s top runners made the trip north – and Nene Valley’s Philippa Taylor had the most to celebrate at she picked up the prize for finishing first over-50 female in a time of 38.38mins.
Rob Brownlee led the Nene Valley challenge finishing 174th with a 33.44mins clocking
Sean Beard also made the top 500, finishing 484th in 37.34mins.
Jay Belham and Simon Bell both made it round in under-40 minutes, while Ruth Jones clocking 41.19mins saw her finish 11th out of 770 in her over-35 category.
Two Peterborough AC men made their mark on the race with Steve Robinson coming home 192nd in 33:56 and James Skinner a minute behind in 251st.
- Nene Valley Harriers’ Megan Ellison won the second round of the popular 5k Harrier Handicap League at Lynch Wood in a time of 19.58mins.
Ellison finished 37 seconds ahead of runner-up Sarah Cameron.
Megan’s brother Ethan Ellison, also of Nene Valley, came home third in 18.34mins.
Nene Valley’s Bradley Allen clocked a time of 17.05mins, which was the fastest of the night and Ella Robinson, also of Nene Valley, was the quickest female as she clocked 19.27mins.
Gary Parr, from Eye Community Runners, currently leads the standings with father and daughter David and Alice Marr joint second.
