THE Essex League Cross-Country series ended on Saturday at the Abbey
Fields course in Colchester.
Best individual performance came from under 13 Harry Parker who was 3rd
but secured his runner up spot for the season. He led his team to
fourth spot on the day and 2nd for the season. They were beaten only by
the out of county team Cambridge & Coleridge. The rest of Saturday’s
team consisted of Finley Lowe 14th, Ben Prior 29th, Henri Willett 35th.
Lucy Ball, in the under 15 girls, had a real moment in the sun by
finishing 6th – an excellent pb. Heather Peterson was 17th in the same
age group. Likewise Brooke Mensah pb’d in 4th place in the under 17 girls
section.
Another top 10 finisher was Holly Dowsett-Ward who was 8th in the under
13 girls. She led a solid team to 3rd place on the day. The rest of the
team were Demi Briggs
8th, Keira Scott 14th and Amy Raven 26th.
The senior men finished 8th with their best score of the season at 307.
Alex Houghton, always a class act, was 16th. Scott Rice was 27th and
consolidated his 6th place in the competitive 40+ age group. Don
Lawless was 50th – 4th 50+ on the day. He took the bronze medal in that
age group for the season – a fantastic effort in this strong section in
the County. It was good to see Eamonn Shelley back in harness in 61st
spot and Adam Dowman who was 74th. Evergreen Mick Bumstead rounded off
the team in 79th spot. Other finishers were Iain Scott 96th, Bernie
Johnson 106th and John Chambers 118th.
In other age groups under 15 boys – Reece Scott 13th, Sarab Dhillon
15th. Under 17 men – Luke Strudwick 20th.
Jon Metcalf has proved himself a bit of a specialist in the indoor
scene. At Lee Valley on Sunday he returned a time of 2m19.8s for the
800m which at the moment puts him at the top of the V55 rankings for
this discipline. The main championship is in 5 weeks time, which Jon
anticipates optimistically.
