ERME Valley’s Luke Hayes, East Cornwall’s Georgie Gilbert and City of Plymouth’s Daisy Elliot and Lucas Sweeney were among the winners at the penultimate Westward Cross Country League Series meeting at Central Park on Sunday.
After a week of heavy rain, conditions were muddier than they usually are at the Plymouth venue, but that seemed to suit some athletes.
Hayes produced a strong run to win the under-15 boys’ race by an impressive 31 seconds. City of Plymouth’s Isaac Lamerton was third in the same event, with Tavistock’s Connor Duffin fourth and City of Plymouth’s Freddie Blight and Benjamin Marriot seventh and 10th.
Gilbert claimed her first league win in the under-17 girls’ race. She lies second overall in the series with one round to go.
City of Plymouth’s Molly Gilbey and Bella May were fourth and sixth in the same category, with Tavistock’s Freya Page seventh.
The under-17 girls once again ran with the senior women and under-17 boys.
In the senior women’s race, Tavistock teenager Charlotte Walker (U20) finish fourth overall behind Exeter University’s Inca Padfield, Tallulah Robin-Redmond and Millie Porter.
Walker’s Tavistock team-mate Jo Meek was fifth overall and first F45, with Plymouth University’s Ellie Robinson also making the top 10. Tavistock once again finished as second women’s team and first veterans’ team, while Sam Lake was first F40 and Caroline Stevens first F55.
In the under-17 boys’ race, City of Plymouth’s Finley Squires (8th), Douglas Richardson (9th) and Jacob Robinson (10th) all made the top 10.
Lucas Sweeney continued his good form in the under-11 age group with a convincing win by 25 seconds. Second place went to Tavistock’s Tristan Bigham, with City of Plymouth’s Jack Penny fourth, Sebastian Travers fifth and Jacob Sweeney ninth.
The under-11 girls’ race was once again dominated by Armada athletes.
City of Plymouth’s Daisy Elliot took victory by 12 seconds, with Tavistock’s Evie Welsh and Olivia Walkerdine second and third, respectively.
City of Plymouth then filled the next five spots courtesy of Margot Goodspeed (4th), Theia Jones (5th), Ruby Shattock (6th), Genevieve Stone (7th) and Tilly Day (8th), with Erme Valley Harriers’ Freya Norris 10th.
Tavistock’s Zoe Bigham claimed second place in the under-13 girls’ race, with City of Plymouth’s Elsie Goodspeed finishing third. City of Plymouth’s Ayla Orgacki and Jennifer Merrifield also made the top 10.
In the under-13 boys’ race, Tavistock’s Thomas Hennessey was fourth, City of Plymouth’s Finley Eales fifth and Tavistock’s Jack Antony 10th.
In a strong men’s race, Erme Valley’s under-20 athlete Matthew Gilvear came eighth overall, with City of Plymouth’s Kairn Stone ninth and second M45.
Tavistock Run Project’s Alex Peyton-Jones was first M40, while Erme Valley Harriers’ Ken Summers was first M65.
Full results can be found HERE. (picture gallery below).
Meanwhile, at the England U20 Indoor Championships in Sheffield, City of Plymouth’s Commonwealth Youth Games champion Ethan Glyde had to settle for second place in the high jump.
Glyde, who has a PB of 2.15m, leaped 2.07m in South Yorkshire but was beaten by Scotland’s Matthew Tait, who set a new best of 2.10m.
Also in Sheffield, City of Plymouth’s Rory Summers clocked 51.27 seconds in the heats of the under-20 400m, while team-mate Kinga Kudzia ran 7.97 seconds in the heats of the U20 women’s 60m.
City of Plymouth international David King continued his warm-up for the British Indoor Championships by running 7.67 seconds in the 60m hurdles at the World Athletics Gold Tour event at the Meeting Hauts-de-France. That was just one hundredth of a second off his season’s best.
On the road, fellow city of Plymouth international Poppy Tank helped England to a team silver medal in the women’s 3k race at the rain-soaked Armagh International Road Races.
In a packed field, Tank clocked 9.33 minutes to finish 14th overall in a race won by Megan Davies in 9.19 minutes.
Closer to home, Erme Valley Harriers’ Alison Thorn was first women at Saturday’s Exeter Half Marathon in a time of 1:24.38.
Pictures are low resolution and are protected by copyright so should not be used without permission.