CITY of Plymouth’s Annabel Arnold, Elsie Goodspeed, Olivia Walkerdine, Evie Bolt and Lucas Sweeney and Tavistock AC’s Freddie Whybrow were all race winners as Newquay hosted the second Westward Cross Country League meeting of the season on Sunday.
The event, which this year saw a change in the course direction, was combined with the Cornwall County Championships and there were some great finishes to a number of the races.
One of the best finishes came in the second event of the day – the under-13 boys’ race, where Lucas Sweeney made up about 20 metres on the run-in to overtake Cornwall AC’s Sam Bradbury right on the line.
Both runners were given the same time of nine minutes and 27 seconds, but Sweeney took both the Westward League victory and the Cornwall title.
He had just seen his club colleague Olivia Walkerdine win the opening race of the day – the under-13 girls’ event. She pulled away on the second half of the course to win by eight seconds from her City of Plymouth team-mate Evie Welsh, who was second. Tavistock’s Fearne Brodgen also made the top 10 of the race.
Arnold then kept up City of Plymouth’s winning form in the women’s race, which was third on the timetable, along with the under-17 boys and girls.
She held off the challenge of Cornwall AC’s Tamara Beach to win both the league race and the county title by five seconds.
Tavistock’s Charlotte Walker was fourth woman overall, with her club colleague Jasmine Gray 10th.
There were age group first places for Erme Valley’s Sally Erith (F40) and Emma Lake (F50), Tavistock’s Jo Meek (F45) and Jenny Jeeves (F55) and Plymouth Harriers’ Karen Blakemore (F60).
In the under-17 boys’ category, Erme Valley’s Luke Hayes finished third after Torbay’s Theo Glew just held him off in another brilliant sprint finish where they both clocked the same time. Tavistock’s Connor Duffin was eighth under-17.
City of Plymouth then made it four wins out of four, with Evie Bolt holding off Cornwall AC’s Ishamael Niyah to claim the under-11 girls’ victory.
That category was dominated by City of Plymouth, who had six runners in the top 10.
Genevieve Stone came third, with Serena Bigham fourth, Theia Jones sevenths, Shara Ingleby eighth and Millie O’Brien 10th.
In the under-11 boys’ event, City of Plymouth’s Jack Penney tried his best to snatch victory at the death, but Cornwall’s Fred Pochee just held him off and so Penney had to settle for second. Tavistock’s George Lake was 10th in the race.
Tavistock AC did dominate the under-15 boys’ age group with two finishers in the top three, and four in the top eight. Freddie Whybrow took the honours by 12 seconds, with team-mate Thomas Hennessey third. City of Plymouth’s Finley Eales was fourth, with Tavistock’s Athur Norton fifth and club colleague Eldon Young eighth.
Elsie Goodspeed made sure City of Plymouth had another age group winner in the under-15 girls’ race. She took victory from Torbay’s Annalise Little by seven seconds, with Plymouth team-mate Zoe Bigham fifth.
The senior men’s race saw a strong field of nearly 150 runners and was won by Cornwall’s Freddie Fielding.
Erme Valley Harriers’ Ben Holmes, who had come second on his debut for the club at the opening race of the season at Newnham Park, was fourth this weekend on a softer course, with Tamar Trotters’ Jacob Landers fifth overall and third in the Cornwall Championships.
City of Plymouth’s Scotsman Fraser Holman came seventh on his Westward League debut, with Tavistock’s Martin Exley-Deane finishing as first M65.
There were also top 10 finishes in the under-13 boys’ race for City of Plymouth’s Tristan Bigham (4th), Sebastian Travers (8th), Rafe Jackson (9th) and Micah Martin (10th) and Tavistock Run Project’s Frankie Smith (7th).
Full results can be found HERE.
Meanwhile, Plymouth Harriers’ James Cartlidge, who did run at Newquay on Sunday, won the Tavy 5k on Saturday in 17.39 minutes. Adam Porter was second with Andy James third. Laura Campbell was first woman home in a time of 20.28 minutes, with Storm Plymouth’s Georgia Farr second and Plymouth Musketeers’ Raegan Leather third.
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