Mansfield Harriers took inspiration from being on home turf to hit the relay heights

The National Cross-Country Relays returned once again to Berry Hill Park its home for many years, and Mansfield Harriers lined up with multiple teams across almost every age group.

James McCrae on the second leg Senior Men’s team. | Lewis Tarnai- Wilson @ltw.photo

Strong performances across many age groups came to the fore in what is always a very competitive National competition, with Mansfield seeing an influx of clubs from afar. The Mansfield Junior men’s team stood out with a 10th place finish competing against some fantastic athletes from clubs and universities across the country.

The Senior Men’s race was the longest of the day with four legs of 5k, and Mansfield again showed their depth with three strong teams fielded.

In the A-team, Edward Sankey led off with a 15:51 leg for 47th place. James McCrae, continuing his fine form, ran 15:20 to move the team up to 20th position and hand over to Alex Hampson, who was another returning to racing after illness, he ran a creditable 16:35 on his push back to form to leave the team 30th, and give Liam Watson a nice run finishing in 16:43, retaining the 30th place finish.

In the B-team, Will Sullivan stormed around the first leg, running well to finish in 16:24 for 74th place, this handed over to Dan Nugent in a strong position, he finished in 17:15 to hold this 74th place for Lewis Boswell to run 17:07 and move the team up, before Chris Kilburn finished in 17:13 with the team 63rd position.

In the C-team, Drew Hurst led off in 17:29 for 108th place with another late call-up Andy Granville taking on the second leg running 20:02 to leave the team 114th, Jordan Boam ran 17:41 to move up to 108th, and Dan Trainor finished the team in 19:12 for a 105th place finish.

Mansfield also fielded three teams for the senior women’s race despite after losing some athletes leading up to the event due to injury.

In the A-team, Helen Jones led off finishing in 12:12 leaving the team in 79th place. Kirsty Huntington took over before running 12:33 to move them up to 68th, Kath Malone-Brumfitt was the anchor leg runner, a late move up from the B-team, and she finished in 12:42 with the team finishing in 61st place.

In the B-team, Hannah Wragg led off in 12:20 for 82nd place, before handing over to Sarah Maston to ran 13:08 and move up to 73rd, with Hannah Colton finishing in 13:15 with the team 67th place overall.

The C-team also had a late reshuffle before Helen Pritchett ran 14:06 for 108th place, Cristina Dinescu ran very well to finish in 12:20 to move the team up to 80th, then Jemma Arbon, a late call-up, finished in 14:44 with the team in 81st position.

In the combined Junior and U18 men race, Eddie Holden led the Junior Men off in an improvement on last years time of 8:44 handing over in 11th, Eddie also recorded the 15th-fastest leg of the whole race, in what is normally a very competitive affair due to the Universities targeting it.

Jacob Nugent took over and ran 9:13 to hand over in 14th place, Jude Ryan took over for the last leg, and after a tough few months with illness, Jude ran 9:10 for a promising return to national level competition to bring the team home in 10th place. Mansfield was also able to field two Under-18 Men’s teams. With Fraser McAllister leading off the A-team with a time of 9:07 in 10th place, before Lewis Marston ran 9:28 leaving them in 12th.

Oliver McClemens anchored the team, back from injury just in time to compete, finishing in 9:35 with the team in a creditable 16th place. In the B-team, Harry Tonksled off finishing in 10:48 for 79th place, handing over to Joe Parker who ran 11:02 to move up to 75th , before Dan Adams moved the team up to 67th by the end in 10:45.

Whilst Mansfield didn’t have any Junior Women’s team this year they were able to field two Under-18 Women’s teams in a combined race that produced a bigger field than is normally usual.  Charley Whysall led off the A-team.

She was boxed in at the start but worked her way through to hand over in third in a very respectable time of 8:40 over the 2km course, which ended up being the sixth-fastest leg of the whole race. Myanie Westwood, just having returned from holiday, ran a solid 10:01 to leave the team positioned ninth, and Emily Pares finished in 10:35, with the team ending the race in 21st place. 

In the B-team, Isla Milns started them off and ran a very strong 9:38 to hand over in 33rd place. Lucy Beardsmore, who  had returned at 3am on race day from a triathlon camp abroad, ran an equally impressive 9:51 to move the team up to 27th. Florence Kenney brought them home in 29th in a time of 10:53.

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