Thanks to Tom for this latest report from Ryde Harriers. Ed
The second Hampshire Cross Country League fixture saw a continuation of raising attendance from Island athletes.
IWAC had a representatives in all the junior races and it was the Under 13 boys who lead the way again with a third place overall with James Haggerty and Henry McLuckie both finishing in the top ten.
Four Island running clubs were represented in the senior’s race, with Laura Brackley, who runs for Aldershot, Farnham and District, providing one of the most impressive individual performances as she finished in the top 30 of the senior women’s race.
Ryde Harriers managed to turn the tables on their Wight Tri colleagues in the team placings after a clean sweep for the triathlon club in the first fixture. Harriers’ women managed to field eight athletes with their team captain Sarah Kavanagh anchoring them home whilst Samantha Fancourt posted the most noteworthy debut from a batch of first timers for the club.
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IW Road Runners also fielded a team in both the women’s and men’s races for the first time, with Jodie Giffard the first of their team home in the women’s. Both senior’s races saw record fields as the popularity of cross-country racing continues to build.
Lung-buster
Harriers latest club night event was the lung-buster that is the five mile race.
There was a superb battle for first place in the men’s and women’s races with guest, Connor Ambrosini, just pipping Adam Tuck to first place for the men with both runners dipping in under 30 mins as Connor finished in 29:45 and Adam in 29:55.
For the women, Sarah Kavanagh just managed to hold off the challenge of Julie King to take first in a time of 36:16 with Julie only four seconds behind. There were other impressive performances in the veterans categories with Andy Lewis taking the vet 50 crown and Graham Maitland the vet 60.
