Thanks to Tom for this latest report from the Ryde Harriers. Ed
The initial views across the pair of open fields that the 3km course comprised of looked benign, but tough treats lay ahead, especially for the senior men who had the pleasure of three laps of leg-sapping effort.
Island well represented
There was another healthy contingent of Island athletes on the start lines of the various races with performances of the day coming from Henry McLuckie and his team mates from IWAC in the Under 13 boys along with Joe Wade in the senior mens.
Henry ran very strongly for second place, anchoring the team to second overall as well and third in the league, the other team members included James Haggerty (12th), Felix Dubery (13th) and Izaac Kent (22nd). Joe Wade, who represents Aldershot, Farnham and District, also took second place but in the Senior’s race as he continued his recovery from injury with a pleasing run, just being overtaken on the final lap by Alexander Teuten from City of Portsmouth.
Youth runners
The juniors girls from IWAC had runners in the Under 15s with Lydia Cole finishing 30th and Elsie Lewis 50th, as well as the Under 13s with Maisie Witty 50th and Millie Bacon 52nd and Mabel Lewis 62nd.
The junior boys, as well as the aforementioned Under 13s, had Lawrence Lynch (43rd) running in the Under 15s and Sam Metcalf (11th), Aidan Pierce (17th) and Jacob Lewis (29th) in the Under 17s.
The Senior’s races saw another round of team battles between Wight Tri and Ryde Harriers. For the women Sarah Kavanagh from Ryde Harriers showed her returning form and fitness to cross the line as first Island women in 40th place closely followed by Sarah Woods from Wight Tri in 43rd.
The Ryde women moved up to eight place in the league with a great team performance as all seven runners from the club finished in the top 80.
In the men’s race, Paul Cameron made his league bow for Isle of Wight Road Runners and finished in 36th place with next Islander home Adam Tuck, another league debutante and one of three Tuck family members running as his brother Jay also represented Ryde, whilst father Graham ran for IWRR.
Wight Tri managed to just sneak the team win ahead of Ryde but only by a mere 2 points which has both teams nicely poised only 3 points apart in third and fourth place in the league with two fixtures remaining.
