The warm weather made for an unseasonal start to the Kent League as 12 Cambridge Harrier Junior boys and men made the long journey to Beech Grove Academy in Nonnington.
The U13’s were first up over 3k on this deceptively tricky course.
In one of the stand out performances of the day James Barnes claimed 3rd place after working his way through from 5th to finish strongly over the last 500m.
Gervace Card made his competitive XC debut for the club in a creditable 34th and he was followed in by Dontay Thomas looking far too comfortable for a sprinter, before Jack Adams came home well off his usual pace and straight into the medical tent after a problem with his ankle.
The U15’s were next with Ethan Fiore and Liam Carr, joining 2nd year U15’s Luca Treadwell and Freddie Nordgren in the step up to the longer distance of 4k.
After a troublesome XC season last year Ethan benefited from a strong Autumn block of training to settle in around 20th before making up 5 places with fast finishing last 300m. A solid result to build from.
Freddie worked his way through the field well in being able to hold off his team mates Liam and Luca.
The long journey had put a few people off and John Okomayin was our sole U17 participant. John ran consistently throughout, a smart move on a course than gave little respite.
Josh Olawunmi ran well to finish 8th and he was followed by Kavinder Boralugoda who found the going tough in 15th. I would expect to see place improvements from both of these athletes in future League races providing they are able to increase their training load.
It was then left to our 3rd U20 Bayley Massey to put in another of the days stand out performances in mixing it with the senior men.
Fresh from his pb at the Bournemouth HM, mix it he did to finish 3rd U20 and a fantastic 14th overall.
The XC races come thick and fast from hereon in and this gives all of the athletes something to build on for the winter ahead.