Essex Cross-Country League
THE last round of the Essex Cross-Country League was held at Basildon on Saturday and among the plethora of statistics some great performances from the Harriers emerged.
Leon Wheeler dominated the under 15 boys’ race to win the individual title for the season and led his quartet to the team title. Henri Willett 11th (pb), Ben Prior 17th and Jamie Mack 27th ensured the winning trophy came to the Harriers.
In-form Hayley Instance won the under 15 girls’ race and this consolidated her second place in the age group for the season. Sarah Blockley 18th, Emily Fall 19th, Amy Raven 22nd brought the team to 2nd place on the day and 7th for the season.
Senior man, Alec Finch finished 3rd overall for the season. On Saturday he was 7th but his top 10 placings over the season ensured his bronze. His senior men’s team gained promotion from Division 2 by a vast margin but will find it much tougher in division one next year.
On Saturday Scott Rice 51st, Keith Willett 80th, Tim Martin 86th, Jon Metcalf 94th, Don Lawless 99th, Gary Rowlatt 139th made up Saturday’s squad.
It’s a case of might have been for the 17 men. On Saturday they won, led by Sarah Dhillon in 5th place.Joe Logan was 9th, Jack Exley 10th and Taylor Newell 15th. The might have been is that they needed to turn out four runners each match, but frequent injury prevented this.
Under 13 boys were fourth for the season. On Saturday Dylan Harrod pb’d in 6th place, Cassidy Dike made an eye-catching debut in 16th place. Improving Sonny Vehitt was 17th, Kai Lovelock was 21st and Noah Trencher 31st to take the squad to 3rd place on the day.
In the under 13 girls Demi Eves was 7th on Saturday and can celebrate her call up for the full Essex squad. Rosie Spring 30th, Leah Brewer 35th, Madeleine Booty 41st were in the team to finish 5th on Saturday.
Lucie Ball was a solid 16th in the under 17 girls event and Sue Beck made a pleasing debut in 45th place in the 100 strong senior women’s field.
