England U17/U20 Indoor Championships, Gloucestershire XC League + More

16 February 2022

Another incredible weekend for the club saw an England Championship bronze, two club records and some incredible team spirit in the rain and mud.

Having started the year with a club indoor 60m hurdles record that saw her jump straight to 3rd in the UK rankings meant Jess Duncton entered the England Indoor Championships in Sheffield with a medal within her reach, however as we all know this potential also comes with extra pressure. Duncton built experience through 2021 of dealing with this kind of championship expectation and seems to thrive when the heat is on. Duncton won her heat and semi final with ease, running 8.75 and 8.81 respectively. There was then just over an hour for Duncton to compose herself before taking to the track one last time for the final. Remaining composed and pushing to the line, Duncton timed her dip perfectly to hold off 4th place and earn a spot on the podium with her 2nd quickest time ever, 8.68. The bronze medal was well deserved after a fantastic day of races.

(Photo: Jess Duncton celebration England Indoor Bronze)

On the same day Alfie Wood competed in the U20 Long Jump, putting together a fantastic series of jumps to beat the club U20 and senior indoor records three times in total. Woods' furthest jump of 6.87 bettered the previous mark by 15cm and earned him a brilliant 5th place finish.

(Photo: All smiles from Alfie Wood after breaking the club indoor long jump record)

Alastair Klemz took part in the U20 60m and lowered his PB by 0.1 to finish 6th in his heat in 7.28. Ruby Brook was also in PB form running 59.66 over 400m for 4th in her heat.

 

Over in America George Watson broke his 2nd club record of 2022 this time over 3000m indoor. Watson knocked a massive 16 seconds off his previous PB and 12 seconds off the previous club record running 8:04.46.

 

The long awaited second fixture in the 2021/2022 Gloucestershire Cross Country League arrived with strong winds, strong rain and a strong sense of club spirit. Those mad enough to attend, athletes, spectators and officials, came together to make a brilliant event.

As always the U11 races kicked off the day with 25 Harriers taking part across the boys and girls races. Eleanor Thomson was first Harrier home in the girls race finishing a superb 2nd, just 3 seconds behind the leader. Martha Marsden followed close behind finishing in 3rd. Completing the winning A team was Lucy Perry in 6th. The B team, consisting of Kimberley Hodgkinson (10th), Isla Harvey (12th) and Rosie Atkins (13th) finished 3rd. The C team were one place behind in 4th thanks to the efforts of Katie Whitfield (15th), Jessica George (18th) and Eliza Nolan (19th). The depth in the team was impressive, with only the Harriers being able to field 4 teams, the D team finished in 7th place with Maisie Scott finishing 20th, Alice Osborne 23rd, Emmie Finch 34th and Florence Lloyd 35th.

The Harriers were also the only club to field 4 teams in the U11 boys race. The A team once again took the win led home by Monty Wilkins in 7th. Wilkins was supported by Noah Chatterton in 10th and Bertie Rodgers in 14th. Arthur Roberts (29th), Milo Parsons (31st) and Rufus Buckland (37th) combined to form the B team which finished 7th. The C team of Lucas Baker (38th), George Phillimore (41st) and Freddie Hole (42nd) finished in 9th and the D team of Evan Lawler (44th), Alex Willet (45th) and Morgan Wilson (46th) finished in 11th.

The U13 boys and girls races featured an impressive double Harriers victory through Maddie Thomson and Patrick Paul. Both athletes have been in brilliant form this year and looked unstoppable on their way to victory. Adding to the similarities both A teams also took the win. Thomson was backed up by a superb run from Olivia Avery to finish 3rd and Evie Avery in 7th. While Paul was followed home by Tom Wightman in 5th and Jack Pennell in 6th. The U13Gs B team of Verity Lilley (8th), Freya Braiden (18th) and Anna Anderson (24th) finished 4th. Edward Atkins (15th), Harry Knight (16th) and Samuel Jarvis (19th) all ran well to bring the B team home in 5th. William Peng also had a good run to finish 22nd. 

Isobel Watt was the first Harrier in the U15 girls race running a strong race to finish 5th. Harriet Smith and Amelie Paul battled throughout the race, with Smith just pulling ahead to finish 7th one place ahead of Paul. Watt, Smith and Paul formed the A team which finished in 2nd. Kate Mills completed the course in 10th, Abigail Thornley was 14th, Si Ning Cham was 16th and Isobel Burfitt finished 17th. The B team finished as 1st B team and 3rd overall. 

Dominic Martin and Sam Wilson competed in the U15 boys race running well to finish in 4th and 6th respectively. 

The next race up was the combined U17 men and women, Senior women and M65+ race. By this point in the day, although the very worst of the weather had passed, the rain was still coming down strongly and the course had severely churned up, making just staying on your feet a challenge. U17 Kiya Dee is no stranger to tough conditions and took it all in her stride finishing as first U17 and 1st lady overall. Meanwhile U17 boy Bexley Turbard also ran well to finish 4th in his age group. Fresh from a strong run at the even muddier British University Championships Ella Burfitt wasn’t phased at all by the conditions and ran strong to finish as 1st senior lady. Jo Wilkie made a very welcome return to competition after a string of injuries to run beyond her own expectations and finish as 3rd Harrier and 5th L45. Just behind Wilkie was Sarah Sheppard who finished as 6th L40. Nicola Whiteman then finished as 3rd L45, Brittany Crombie was 10th SL and Holly Derrick was 12th SL. Overall the A team finished 6th, the B team was 10th and the Masters team was 4th.  

(Photo: The Senior and U17 women’s team)

The final race of the day was the senior men who had three long laps to contend with. Chris Wagstaff demonstrated himself how tricky the course was, taking a big fall on the first of his river crossings. Wagstaff continued on determined and finished as 5th SM, 6th overall. U20 Jamie Bell also ran a brilliant race to finish as 3rd U20 and 10th overall. Rupert Denny and Dan Minors finished within touching distances of one another in 30th and 33rd respectively. After having set the course up, marshalled and helped manage the younger teams Elliot Prince ran brilliantly to finish in 48th. Next home was Darren Dempsey in 51st, Matt Evans in 79th, Ross Swain in 99th, James Wilkinson in 101st and Mark Potter in 109th. The men’s team scored well to finish in 3rd overall.

(Photo: Caught in the act - Chris Wagstaff on his way to 6th place)

On the road Kev Spillman competed in the Dursley Dozen where he finished 2nd M55 in 1:49.27.

(Photo: Kev Spillman looking strong in the Dursley Dozen)