Clean sweep Under-15s take top five places in league race
AFTER a highly successful 20212022 season where Cheltenham Harriers won four individual Gloucestershire League titles and five team titles, the new season opened at Cirencester Park.
The senior women made a strong start, finishing second team thanks to a fourth place finish, (first Under-20) for Kiya Dee, fifth for Ella Burfitt (first senior lady) and an impressive debut for Tallulah Robin-redmond that saw her finish as 10th female and sixth Under20.
The B team finished in 10th (third B team) and the C team was 15th (second C team), while the Masters team came fourth.
Nicole Firth in 15th (third SL), Kate Alhadeff was 13th SL, Ellie Balfe took sixth F40 and Adele Potts was 19th SL. Jo Wilkie placed ninth F40, while Clare Hawling won the F60 category.
Angela Pippard was eighth F45 and Christina See returned to racing with ninth F60.
The Under-17 girls team of Isobel Watt, Milly Foster and Isobel Burfitt made a challenging step up in distance taking on much older opposition. The team came in a convincing first place with Watt finishing first Under-17 with one shoe on! Foster took fourth U17 and Burfitt was seventh. The over-65 men and U17 men also competed in the same race. Micheal Ede was second M65 and Bexley Turbard was ninth Under-17 man.
In the senior men’s race, Max Thompson and Max Kelly led the team home in 38th and 38th (23rd and 24th SM) respectively. Heath Bampton had a brilliant run to take first M55 in 42nd overall, Joel Frost finished in 50th overall (29th SM), Andy Gore took second M50 in 62nd and George Sheppard rounded off the A team in 64th (36th SM) as the team finished fifth.
The B team consisting of Elliot Prince (66th), Tom Evetts (78th), Dan Minors (80th, fifth M50), Martin Foster (94th, 10th M45), Matt Evans (99th) and Darren Dempsey (108th, 16th M40) came in 11th and fourth B team.
David Whitfield made the top ten in the M50 category in 114th, Rhys Pippard was 127th, Steve Bradley took 13th M50 and James Wilkinson was 171st and 29th M40. There were also two Masters teams with the A team taking fifth and B team taking 12th (third B team).
The age group races saw wins for Dom Martin in the Under-15 boys and Patrick Paul in the Under-13 boys. Martin took the win by six seconds from team-mate Sam Wilson.
The pair formed two thirds of the winning A team with Tom Wightman completing the team in sixth. Lucas West, Harry Knight and Edward Atkins formed the B team that finished fourth finishing as 15th, 16th and 17th Under15 boys.
The Under-15 girls competed in the same race and the team was led home by Maddie Thomson as second female and 10th overall. Strong runs by Jessica Sheppard in fourth and Bluebell Heathsmith in sixth saw the U15 girls also take first in the team competition. The girls B team matched the boys with another fourth place finish thanks to Amelie Paul in eighth, Harriet Smith in ninth and Georgia Howell in 21st.
Paul’s win saw Harriers fill the first five places as he was followed home by Teddy Spurr, Jack Pennell, Caleb Green and Oliver Wilson.
This meant they took the team win with the lowest amount of points possible and the B team also made the podium in third, with the C team ninth.
The B team included Noah Chatterton in 42nd, while the C team consisted of Lucas Baker in 63rd, Ken Umemurasmith in 70th and Tobias Danaher in 76th.
In the same race Olivia Avery pipped her twin sister to the line taking second Under-13 girl in eighth, with Evie Avery was a second back.
Martha Marsden ran well to take fifth U13 girl and secure the A team first place, while Eleanor Thomson was the first finisher of the fourth placed B team (first B team) in ninth with Orla Dowie in 15th and Rosie Atkins in 16th.
Isla Harvey, Freya Braiden and Heidi Woolley finished in 22nd, 25th and 26th meaning the C team finished seventh. Molly Pettingell came 30th and 36th.
The Under-11s saw Sam Unsworth finish in 11th with Ivy Wightman in 15th overall. Hattie Bennet ran a great race to finish as third Under-11 girl making the top 20.
Not much separated Lucas Oliveira, Archie Lait and Kimberley Hodgkinson as they finished in 23rd, 24th and 25th.
George Phillimore crossed the line in 34th with Leo Mccaffrey-endsor in 36th. Elena Williams finished as ninth female and Evan Lawler was 43rd overall.
There were also good runs from: Joseph Sheppee 48th, George Balfe 49th, Freddie Hole 54th, Niamh Pettinegell 22nd, Finn Lees 60th, Zachary Cherry 69th, Camille Ralph 30th, Henry Balfe 78th, Avery Church 35th, Grace Young 36th.