Nene Valley Harriers are rapidly becoming the team to beat in The North Midlands Cross Country League after another fine showing in the penultimate fixture of the season at Heanor.
The muddy Shipley Park course seemed to suit the Nene Valley ladies, and they remain in contention for end of season honours in all age groups – from under-13 upwards.
The under-15 girls finished second on the day, and sit second in the team standings. Flo Brill ran well to take fifth place, receiving sterling support from Katie Tasker and Elisha Foord.
Lottie Hemmings secured fifth place for the under-13 girls, two positions ahead of Chelsea Bole, while Josie Knight finished 12th.
Spalding-based Harrier Grace Mullins was delighted to finish as sixth senior woman. Peterborough AC’s Sarah Caskey was hot on her heels, just seven seconds further back.
Nene Valley grouped well further down the field, with Emma Randle (25th), Sophie Wilkinson-Hargate (28th) and Lindsay Lister (32nd) all performing well.
The Harriers finished fourth on the day, and lie fifth overall.
Nene Valley also cemented their third place overall in the veterans standings.
Meanwhile, the under-17 girls are still in with a chance of winning the league, and are currently second behind Derby AC.
Josie Fortune and Amber Park had solid runs, finishing sixth and eighth respectively, while Hannah Ray closed the scoring team with 17th place.
Evie Hemmings was the only Nene Valley athlete contesting the under-11 race and had one of her best runs to date coming home tenth out of 29 youngsters.
Hugo Brill provided one of the day’s highlights finishing as runner up in the boys under-13 race.
Brill has a fine role model in older sister Flo who has been staring for the club for several years.
Harry Hewitt came in sixth, with Kyle Warner completing the scorers.
The boys secured second place behind Derby AC reflecting the current League standings.
Aaron Hunt led the Nene Valley charge at under-17 level with a seventh place finish, helping his team to fourth – one position below their overall league placing.
The under-15 boys race saw Sam Oakley in 13th and Harvey Hancock in 19th help Nene Valley finish fifth in a closely fought contest.
Felix Bowling made light work of the thick mud, coming home 15th for the under-11 boys.
Peterborough AC again highlighted their strength in the senior men’s race as they came in third and retained second place in the league.
With times almost meaningless in the Derbyshire mud, Steve Robinson’s ninth-place finish in 35.38mins and Shaun Walton 35.52mins for 12th position over the 10km circuit were particularly impressive. Kirk Brawn (25th), Simon Fell (27th) and Nick Stone (34th) completed the scoring team.
Nene Valley were led home by Mike Chapman, who took 57th place.
- Nene Valley’s Brad Spurdens had a good weekend at the Sheffield Open Indoor Meeting, finishing as runner-up in his 600m race with a 1.26.01mins clocking.
Spurdens also had a go at the 300m, finishing fourth in 38.89secs.
- Nene Valley under-15 pair Jose Downer and William Kong both recorded 60m PBs at The Lee Valley Open meeting. Downer ran a time of 8.56secs, while Kong won his race with a 7.47secs clocking.
