WRITTLE University was the venue for the third round of the Essex Cross-Country League. Harlow fielded teams at U13 Boys, and both U15 Girls and Boys. There was also an individual athlete in a depleted U13 Girl’s race. Only twenty-six runners made up the field for the U13 Girls and this had been one of the more heavily contested events earlier in the season. The lack of numbers may have been due to the fact that there was also a U11 race taking place on the same day elsewhere. Ciara Dobson finished in twentieth place and covered the distance in 15.46 minutes. Making her cross-country debut, Eloise Tyrell-Price was twenty-eighth in a small but very competitive U17 field.

George Watkins led the U13 Boy’s race from start to finish and the team were fifth overall. Watkin’s time of 11.13minutes was a full twelve second ahead of his nearest rival. Soshin Yoshitake-Thatcher was next Harlow runner home in thirty-first position. Luke Tyrell-Price and Lenny Parker completed the quartet in thirty-sixth and thirty-eighth places respectively.

The U15 Girls could not repeat their win from the race at Orion two weeks ago, but performed well enough to take third on the day. Isla Garrett was first runner home for Harlow in sixteenth place. Abigail Cowling was twenty-third, with Faryl Wright and Lola Biddle completing the scoring quartet.

It was great to see Harlow field a third team, for U15 boys, and they managed fifth overall. It was perhaps the most competitive race of the morning with eight quartets and a large field. Sonnie Mowatt was thirtieth and Conor McEwan thirty-first. Daniel Hundley was thirty-sixth and Daniel Scofield forty-second to ensure the team had four runners to count.

It is pleasing to note that even though several athletes were unavailable there was still the enthusiasm and depth to field three teams as middle-distance leads the way in growing Harlow’s competitive base. Next weekend, a small number of athletes will compete at the first indoor event of the season at Lee Valley.