Thanks to Tom for sharing the latest reports from the Ryde Harriers. Ed
January is traditionally the busiest time of the year for cross-country racing as athletes test themselves on the challenging terrain with the hope of putting strength and endurance into their legs for the rest of the year.
The first cross-country of the new year is traditionally the Hampshire Championships and a group of Ryde Harriers and IWAC athletes made the short trip to the new venue of Fairthorpe Manor. Unsurprisingly the ground conditions were most definitely heavy going, but the forecast rain mainly stayed away. Still, it required a supreme effort just to get round the course as a spectator never mind a competitor.
Juniors’ race
For the juniors, Henry McLuckie managed the most noteworthy performance of the day taking eighth in the U15 boys race, leading his team to fifth place.
There were other good performances from Izzac Kent who was 11th in U13 boys, Maisie Witty who was 19th in the U13 girls and Ellie Bacon who snagged 17th in the U15 girls.
Women’s race
In the senior women’s race first Islander was Ryde Harrier Sarah Blackwell who 34th.
Blackwell lead home a full women’s team for the Harriers followed by Julie King, who was 2nd Vet V50 in 59th place, Tracey Dillon in 64th, Elaine Parry in 73rd and Rosie Eldridge in 80th who finished very strongly to take two people in the last 200 metres.
The final two Harriers sandwiched two other Island runners, Grace Crumplin (75th) who runs for Havant and Katie Lewis from IWAC who was 77th.
Men’s race
In the men’s race there were two runners from Ryde and IWAC with Harrier Tom Blackwell first home in 92nd place.
He was followed club mate Trevor McAlister who timed his finishing sprint perfectly to sneak an extra place on the line. Rob Holdsworth (143th) and Brian Canning (145th) were the IWAC athletes.
Hants League in Reading
The following weekend it was back to league matters with round four of the Hants League at Prospect Park in Reading. Glorious sunshine met the teams although there was still plenty of mud and heavy ground to suck the life out of the legs on the course.
Ryde Harriers managed to field complete teams again in both senior fixtures with the men moving into second place in Division 3 with a real chance of promotion up grabs in the final fixture.
Their team of Jake Brougham (72nd), Tom Blackwell (77th) and Trevor McAlister (130th) all posted their best placings of the season. Aiden Pierce (32nd) from IWAC was first home Islander in the men’s, followed by club mate Daniel Ekersley (42nd).
In the women’s race Ryde’s women continued their strong showing with Sarah Kavavagh 29th, Samantha Fancourt 70th and Elaine Parry 80th. Katie Lewis (91st) from IWAC was the other Island representative in the race.
Stubbington 10km race
The following day it was back to the road with the annual Stubbington 10km race. Ryde had a good sized group in the field with the finest performance of the day coming from Julie King who was first Vet 50 in 43:27.
Trevor McAlister managed a double-up after cross-country the previous day and still posted a great personal best in 42:18. First Harrier home was Andrew McEwan in exactly 40 minutes with the rest of the team made up of Andy Lewis (43:04), Sam Cleare (43:39), Tracey Dillon (44:56), Charlotte Pacy (45:48) Ken Beak (46:47), Brian Warren (47:19 ), Rosie Eldridge (47:24), Elaine Parry (47:38), Abigail Cooke (48:11), Pete White (48:18) and Bridget Lewis (51:11).
Isle of Wight Cross-Country series
The annual Isle of Wight Cross-Country series is never an easy set of races but if the first of the trio of runs is anything to go by this year’s edition will be one of the hardest yet.
It’s 40 years since Ryde Harriers first moved the event to the fields around Ashey and by the end of the race the course looked like it had been used non-stop since then as the relentless heavy rain of the last few weeks contributed to very heavy conditions underfoot with large amounts of standing water to run through as well. Despite this a record 99 runners took on the challenge.
This being Ryde’s club championship the trophy winners from the races were Sarah Blackwell, who also was first woman overall, and Jake Brougham, who finished 2nd overall. Blackwell’s victory was her fourth in a row and her margin of victory over the nearest Harrier was nearly five minutes with Tracey Dillon next across the line in 45 minutes exactly to take the Vet 35 prize and Julie King third in 46:11 which earned her the Vet 45 title.
Brougham had a little more of a closer battle with Tom Blackwell but his superior strength in the final mile put just over a minute between him and Blackwell in second place after a neck and neck first six miles. Brougham finished in 54:01, Blackwell in 55:13 with Brian Jones (57:21) in third but first Vet 40. Steve Brougham took the Vet 50 title in 57:38 and Pete Young the Vet 60 crown in 1:00:07.
Harry Furmidge made his debut for the club and was first back on his shortened junior course in 39:07. Daniel Eckersley from IWAC was the first man back overall in 53:21.
Next meet
The next race in the series is the IW Championships on February 21st with races for U11/U13/15 before the senior races. These are open championships, see the Website or contact IWAC for more details on senior and junior races respectively.
