Mansfield Harriers athletes hit new heights at the Charnwood Open

After recording a same best of 1.52.91 three times Mansfield senior Alex Hampson stormed round the 800m in an impressive new best of 1.52.37.

Also over 800 Amelia Arbon recorded a massive PB, recording 2.28.5 and also first time under the 2.30 barrier, with Beth Hamilton recording a seasons best after a year wrecked by illness and injury and Isla Millns was within a second of her best time with 2.40.32.

Maisy Slack was another who recorded a big PB after a terrific run over 1500. In a big field Maisy was controlled throughout recording 5.03.60.

Scarlett Jane was impressive in the 100m dipping under 13.5 for the first time with a new PB time of 13.42.

Sophie Peet launched the shot out to 8.46m, a massive new best of 40 centimetres and leaped to 4.21m in her Long Jump.

After getting desperately close to breaking four metres for the first time in the Long Jump at the last Charnwood Open, where she recorded 3.99m, Maya Bonser was delighted to leap to a new best of 4.03 and was close to her best with 1.30m in the High Jump.

Xander Arbon went in the U13 Javelin and continues his string of impressive throws this season, recording 20.53m.

Continued success on the roads came in the form of Alex Hampson taking the win at the Tara Kinder Memorial 10K in an impressive time of 31.48. Racing at the Brooksie’s Bash a trail race starting and finishing at Formemark Hall South Derbyshire Sue Lomas placed third in the 5K recording 34.43 and, returning from injury, Tina Copcutt finished in 47.41. Racing the 10 mile course Pete Copcutt finished in 1.47.55 and Michelle Simpkin 1.51.41.

Lewis Boswell made the long trip to London to race the Run Through Olympic Park 5K and came away with a win recording 16.26 with a margin of 54 seconds to the second athlete.

A good number of athletes competed at the challenging Hardwick 10K, starting at Pilsley and through the Hardwick estate, and Mansfield came away with the team victory.

In a field of 400 Ed Sankey was first Harrier home in sixth, Matt Bottomore 10th and first M40, Neil Kennedy 15th Will Sankey 16th.

A regular at the event, Wayne Lowe placed 20th and knocked a massive chunk of his course PB, Jason Taylor 46th, Steve Little 56th, Paul Castledine 59th, Neil Halstead 67th, Nic Hubbard 121st, Phil Beardsley 152nd, Sian Thornton 247th and Jo Horan 249th.

Four Mansfield Juniors had a first attempt at Fell racing as they travelled to the Big Stone event in the Peak District, the race also doubled up as the English Championship race.

All four athletes put in terrific performances and will have learned much from the experience with Charley Whysall fourth in the U13 girls, Jack Whysall 31st U11 boys, Will Mcclemens 22nd U13 boys and Oliver Mcclemens 17th U15 boys.

Harriers also travelled to Worksop College last week to compete in the penultimate fixture in this year’s Notts AAA Summer League competition, and the 55 competing athletes have put the club in a superb place to claim both team and individual glory.

With the one fixture to go the Mansfield women have put themselves into a fantastic position to claim the team trophy after terrific packing by the team at Worksop.

First athlete back and leading from the front all summer has been U20 Grace Manson who placed eighth out of the 172 women that finished and is a clear leader for the U20 title.

Grace first started at the club as an U11 and its great testament to both her and her development throughout the years.

The ladies team then had Kirsty Huntington 17th, Helen Jones 18th, and Nancy Britton 21st to complete the scoring team with Hannah Jones 25th and Alice Mortiboy 28th. The strength in depth is clear to see especially as the club has other athletes that were unavailable on the night.

Helen Pritchett was next athlete home in 40th, closely followed by Claire Watson 42nd, Laura Gapski 58th, Bev Armstrong 70th, Sarah Bradbury 78th, Natasha Carver 85th, Sharon Armitage 88th, Michelle Simpkin 107th, Gemma Bacon 109th, Lorraine Kuchta 110th, Christine Fell 118th, Sian Thornton 122nd, Karen Kowalski 124th, Daisy Allsop 127th, Heather Barber 131st, Sue Lomas 149th and Amanda Shaw 150th.

In a very close competition, the club placed third on the night but remain in front overall by 29 points from Holme Pierrepont who have the last race at that venue, so the league win remains firmly in the teams destiny.

The second senior ladies team placed 13th and the masters teams placed third, 8th and 14th with the club in a strong position to take the bronze in the masters team event.

Kirsty also has a great chance of an individual medal as she places third in the Masters 35 age group.

The men dominated the field of 262 with Dan Nugent second, Kris Watson 3rd and Jake Greenhalgh 4th in a thrilling five man sprint for the line.

The senior team won comfortably on the night with Jake, Lewis Boswell seventh, Jordan Boam 11th, Brad Caress 18th and Drew Hurst 27th and have an almost unassailable lead of close to 500 points.

The masters team of Dan, Kris, Dave Cass (23rd), Adam Wright (26th) and Matt Bottomore (33rd) placed second on the night and are only two match points behind the leading team with all to play for.

Such is the strength of the men's team the B team are in bronze medal position with one race to go and were fourth on the night with the C team 14th and the masters B team sixth and C team 10th.

James Mee continues his return to form placing 29th with Gary Berzins 34th, Jamie Macintyre 41st, Paul Whittingham 43rd, Martin Fickling 45th, Ben Mcclemens 53rd, Jack Cooke 54th, Neil Kennedy 55th, George Holden 69th, Wayne Lowe 70th, Fraser Bain 71st, Andy Walker 72nd, Andy Boulton 116th, Steve Little 124th, Jamie Harris 133rd, Joe Tromans 134th, Paul Castledine 138th, Dave Carver 166th, Pete Weldon 186th, Vaughan Chamberlain 197th, Colin Fell 215th and Geoff Voce 222nd. Mansfield have several men chasing individual glory with Dan Nugent second overall and first M45, Kris Watson third overall and second M35, Dave Cass second M45 and Paul Whittingham first M55. ​​​​​​​