Weekend Round Up 4-5/12/21

08 December 2021

U15M Oliver Belbeck enjoyed a brilliant start to his indoor season at the South West Indoor Championships in Cardiff. Belbeck added 63cm to his shot put PB to take silver with a throw of 10.10m and then equalled his 300m PB with a run of 40.98 for a fantastic gold medal! 

(Photo: Oliver Belbeck with his two south west medals)


Last weekend the senior men and women’s endurance teams headed to Northampton and Stratford Upon Avon for the second round in the Birmingham and Midland Women’s Cross country League.

(Photo: The Senior women’s team in Stratford)


Rachel See led the women home with a strong run on a tough hilly course to finish in 17th and equal her highest position in the league. Next to conquer the course was Petra Vymetalova in 55th place and 11th master. Holly Derrick made her club debut with a fantastic run for 89th. Nicola Whiteman and Lucy Goode ran well for 95th and 157th respectively. 

Over in Northampton Chris Wagstaff was in flying form , bettering his first round position by 13 places, to finish in 37th against high quality opposition. 38 seconds then separated the next five Harriers across the line, led by Roger Mullins in 115th, a huge improvement on his first round performance of 191st. Harrison Miles and George Sheppard battled all the way to the line and earned 124th and 125th place. Just behind in 129th was Andy Gore and Martin Foster in 132nd both also improving massively on his first round placing. Making his club debut was Rhys Pippard with a solid run for 155th. Kevin Spillman and Michael Ede ran brilliantly for 185th and 205th respectively.

 

The previous weekend the Liverpool Cross Challenge and European Cross Country Championships Trials took place in the middle of Storm Arwen. Not to be deterred, two Harriers still made the long trip up North. Kaitlyn Sheppard competed in the combined U17 and U20 race; after having enjoyed a brilliant start to the season in Cardiff Sheppard set her sights high. Battling all the way to the line Sheppard hung on for a superb 16th place (12th U20) against international standard competition.

In the Senior Women’s 8km race Rachel See enjoyed testing herself against high quality opposition, finishing a pleasing 94th.

 

The 2021 Gloucestershire Road Race Series has seen three Harriers take home medals. Martin Foster took a well deserved silver in the M40 category after a consistently strong year. Foster won 2nd place in the Bourton 1 mile, 1st place in the Cranham Chase and 2nd in the Bugatti 10k. After a 4th place in the Bourton 1 mile, Cranham Chase and Guy Fawkes 5, a 3rd place in the Bugatti 10k and 2nd place in the Angels 10k it was a brilliant silver for Paul Barnes in the M60 age category. Finally, Martin Fords wins in the Bugatti 10k, Angels 10k and Guy Fawkes 5 earns him silver too!