Mansfield Harriers end cross-country league season in style

A week after being crowned county champions, the club’s U11 girls’ team put in another dominant display at Wollaton Park to claim victory on the day and also seal first place in the league’s overall standings that cover all four races of the series.

Amelia Arbon finished third to take overall silver, while Lily Mason was fourth, Florence Kenney 15th and Lillie Marlow 30th. Overall, Kenney was tenth.

Harriers’ U13 boys also raced to victory thanks to terrific runs from Eddie Holden, who was second, Ed Sankey, who was third, and Will Sankey in 20th. Holden was placed third in the overall series.

The U11 boys ran well to come home third, with Dan Adams sixth, Harry Woodcock ninth, Harry Milnes 12th and Mitchell Smith 26th, while the club’s sole runners for the U15 and U17 boys, Harry Wilkinson and Joel Whittaker-Naylor, placed 32nd and 16th respectively.

For the U13 girls, Isabel Westwood was 15th and Olivia Marlow 34th, while for the U15 girls, Ruby Milnes finished a fine ninth.

The one winner for Harriers at the meeting was veteran Andy Wetherill, who finished top of the overall standings in the masters 60 age group after coming home 90th in the men’s race.

Much further up the field was Paul Wright, whose superbly-timed run over the 6.7-mile course earned him an impressive fourth spot.

Teammate Dan Ward was 88th, which clinched him 32nd overall, while Chris Dale was 122nd, Gary Morley 124th, Craig Linacre 134th, Rob Smith 175th, Graeme Baguley 183rd and David Ward 245th. Linacre ended up 48th overall and sixth best in the masters 50 category.

As a whole, the Mansfield men's team finished 13th on the day and 11th overall, while the ladies’ team were tenth on the day and eighth overall.

Helen Pritchett was the first lady home in 51st, followed by Alice Mortiboy in 54th and Bev Armstrong in 56th. Armstrong was 20th overall and fifth in the masters 45 age group.