Mansfield Harriers' golden girls plough through mudbath

Lily Mason, who led Mansfield Harriers' U11 girls' team to first place.

Leading the way for Harriers at Shipley Park in Heanor were their exceptionally strong Under 11 girls’ team, who put in a dominant performance to win the team prize by fully 23 points.

Brilliant runs by Lily Mason, who was fifth, Amelia Arbon, who was sixth, Maisy Stack, who was 11th, Florence Kenney, who was 21st, and Grace Sinclair, who was 23rd, ensured the girls go into the final round of the series on top of the overall standings with a lead of 39 points.

For the U15 girls, Sophie Toyn produced by far her best run to date to place eighth, which is a fantastic reward for all the hard work she has put in. She helped the team finish fourth as Ruby Milnes came in 17th and Cailtin Dodds 20th.

Another solid run by U20 Louise Cocking saw her finish 20th in the senior women’s event, ahead of Bev Armstrong in 41st, Alice Mortiboy in 49th and Amanda Shaw in 121st to steer the team into eighth spot.

Thirteen of Mansfield’s men tackled the event, spearheaded by Andy Wetherill, who is in command of the masters over-60 age group after placing 92nd.

Paul Wright continued to impress in tenth position, while Dan Ellis (56th), Jim Wales (66th), Dan Ward (79th) and Chris Dale (99th) also made the top 100.

Meanwhile, on the roads, Harriers had a terrific turnout at the Bolsover 10K, with the highlight being Jonny Lowe winning the masters over-55s category in a time of 37 minutes, 24 seconds.

The first of the club’s athletes home was Martin Fickling, who clocked 36.53, just ahead of junior Harry Cocking, who posted a superb time of 38.17 on his debut at the distance.

Dan Ward also broke 40 minutes, recording 39.32, and he was followed by Gary Morley in 40.14, Steve Little in 43.33, Mark Fickling in 43.58, Steve Marlow in 45.11, Roy Smith in 48.00, Matthew John in 48.20, Shaun Arrowsmith in 49.52, Matt Bradbury in 50.36, Shaun Middleton in 52.21, Tim Richardson in 54.40, Kev Whitehead in 60.26, Clive Buck in 60.52 and Wayne Breider-Potton in 61.36.

The first lady home was Alice Mortiboy in 48.18, ahead of Sarah Bradbury in 50.43, Heather Barber in 55.31 and Carol Fickling in 59.24.