Stylish win for Tracy

Nene Valley Harrier Tracy McCartney stopped off on the way to a family holiday in Cornwall to win a trail race in the Quantock Hill son Saturday( writes Barry Warne).

McCartney, who is known for her love of unconventional races, ran up hill, down dale and over stiles in the appropriately named Maverick Original Somerset Race.

The 39year-old triathlete covered the 17k distance in a time of 1:27.34, which gave her a winning margin of nearly 20 minutes.

McCartney even had time on the highest parts of the course to look across the Bristol Channel to Wales, a country which she will return to next month to defend her Snow do ni a Marathon title. Despite a lack of training due to a chronic achilles injury, Philip pa Taylor raced to second place in the Guernsey Waterfront Marathon on Sunday.

Although well below her best, the 49 year-old Nene Valley Harrier crossed the line in a highly creditable 13th position overall and won the prize for being first veteran lady.

Nene Valley’s youngsters were out in force at Bedford on Sunday for the South of England Under 15 and Under 17 Track and Field Championships.

The event is only open to the south of England’s elite young athletes and William Hughes was among the star performers for the city club, qualifying for the Under 17 200m final in which he finished seventh. Lee Addison jumped 6.14m to finish seventh in the Under 15 long jump final. Peterborough AC were also represented and Under 17 hurdlers Megan Sims and Lewis Davey were the pick of the bunch, both placing fifth in their finals.

The Greater Peterborough Athletics Network (GPAN) were awarded the “Best Project” award for England Athletics Eastern Region at the Bedford meeting. The award reflected the network’ s collective achievements towards athletics and running in particular.

Tracy McCartney.