Alex Hampson’s finest hour in a Nene Valley vest came back in 2013 when he won the Under 17 South of England Cross-Country Championship.
The long-striding 18-year-old has had his fair share of ups and downs since then but now seems to be returning to his consistent best.
He demonstrated this with a sparkling run in the North Midlands Cross-County League race at a sunny Shipley Park in Heanor.
Running in the senior men’s race, Hampson asserted himself early on when he was up with the leaders.
Despite his tender years, the 2015 Peterborough Grand Prix champion showed great tenacity on the energy-sapping course, finishing in 17th position overall and, perhaps more significantly, second placed Under 20.
This was a fine achievement especially given that the Bourne-based athlete has a further year in the category.
Michael Channing was next home for Nene Valley in 40th with Niamh Payne 45th and Austin Herbert 51st.
The Under 17 girls are closing in on the league title after finishing as runners-up in Saturday’s race and they lead the series with one race to go.
Megan Ellison was towards the front of the field as usual, finishing third, while Josie Fortune in seventh and 11th-placed Ellie Piccaver provided strong support.
The team will hope to clinch the league title at the final fixture of the season in Nottingham.
Nene Valley’s Under 17 boys secured third place with Brad Allan leading them home in seventh position ahead of Ollie Oakley in 12th Codi Leigh-Middleton two places further back.
A feature of the senior ladies this term has been the consistency of the athletes and this was in evidence again on Saturday.
Despite lacking the classy Philippa Taylor, the ladies ran well as a team and were led home by Nicky Morgan in 28th.
Ruth Jones, Sophie Wilkinson-Hargate and Louise Blake occupied 31st, 32nd and 33rd positions.
The Under 13 boys finished fourth with Hugo Brill 17th, Angus Bowling 18th and 20th-placed Freddie House making up the scoring team.
Matt Dowling was 10th in the Under 15 boys’ race and Jack Haunch took 13th place for the Under 11 boys.
Nora Brill, one of three siblings at Nene Valley, was fourth in the girls’ Under 11 race with Evie Hemmings finishing 11th.
Lottie Hemmings led the Under 13 girls into third place with Elisha Foord and Niamh Rushton providing sterling support.
Amber Park ran well for the Under 15 girls, taking 11th place which was four positions ahead of Katie Tasker.
