IT was not such a great day at Gloucester Great Park, Basildon, for Harlow AC, as the club could not muster enough athletes to compete as teams in the various competitions. So, it was left to individuals to shine in this Match Two of the Essex Cross Country League.

In the first of only two Under 11 events, open to Year 5 and Year 6 aged children, Harlow had two athletes. Leah Kilkenny made her debut in the girl’s event and Reggie Stanley-Kinsella made his first outdoor appearance, following his indoor success last weekend.

For the U11s, the distance was 1.5km. Kilkenny ran a creditable 8.25 minutes to cover the distance and was seventeenth of twenty-two finishers, with several more not completing the course. Stanley-Kinsella ran an excellent race and was sixth overall in the boy’s race. Twenty-four boys completed the course.

At Under 13 level, Ben Tucker ran the 3km course in an excellent 12.43 minutes to record a PB. This was an excellent result as there were fifty runners in the race.

Whilst not as large as the boy’s field, the U13 girls had a good field of thirty-nine athletes. Ciara Dobson was Harlow’s sole competitor. She was twenty-ninth and her time was 17.16 minutes.

A field of thirty-seven girls contested the 4km U15 course and two Harlow runners were on show. Faryl Wright made her first appearance of the season and recorded a time of 23.28 minutes. She was twenty-sixth.

Isla Garrett was the club’s best finisher in tenth, recording a season’s best in the process. Her time was 19.50 minutes.

The Under 15 boys also ran a 4km course and again there were two Harlow Athletes. Manny Richards was eleventh in the thirty-three-man field and his time was a season’s best. There was a good scrap to the funnel, Richards ended up sandwiched between two rivals and his time 16.58 minutes was another season’s best.

George Watkins jumped up from fourth in his last race to second in this one. His time compared favourably with his 5km pace for park runs; 15.27 minutes was another season’s best for a Harlow athlete.

There were no U17 women for the club and only a single man. Conor McEwan completed the 6km course in 28.43 minutes. This was his first event in the age group and the time is a good target to beat in the remaining fixtures.

Despite the low turnout, Harlow Athletic Club thanks all at Brentwood Beagles for hosting the fixture and look forward to a better turnout at Match Three, to be hosted by Chelmsford at Writtle College next week.