A huge congratulations to the 4 ladies and 23 men who turned up to Sutton Park to make it one of the best days in Westbury Harriers' recent history. The ladies team finish 4th, whilst the men's A team finished 9th, the B team 33rd, the C team 62nd and our D team were battling hard in 77th, when they had to call it a day after 5 legs!
For the ladies Debbie Marsden started the race and came home a strong 5th in a time of 15.34, before Sophie Voller ran a great leg to take the team up to 3rd, having briefly led the race outright along the top stretch of the course. Then Robyn Golding took over and overhauled Notts AC into 2nd, before Annabel Gummow from Bristol and West came storming through into the lead with the quickest time of the day (14.23), Robyn put in a great effort up the final hill to finish in a time of 16.18. On the last leg Lizzy Smith put in another great performance knocking over a minute off her previous best time over the undulating 4.3km course finishing in a time of 16.40 for 4th place - which gave the ladies their best finish for many years, behind winners Bristol and West, Birchfield Harriers and Notts AC.
The men produced an equally amazing performance. First off Dan Studley ran the leg of his life to finish 5th in a top quality field with a time of 18.08, handing over to Matt Ellis. Matt then put in the leg of his life as he overturned the 26s advantage of Bristol & West and was within 2s of the lead as the finish of the leg arrived. Matt running 18.17. A third incredible leg, this time from John Collier - who knocked nearly a minute off his previous best time in 18.49, to hold on to 3rd place (in fact he too briefly led the race!), as Notts AC's Tim Hartley raced through the field with a time of 18.11. Then Will Massey took over and ran 20.09, handing over to Sam Dalgleish in 5th, who then ran 20.01. Si Everington then ran the final leg to close the side out in 1.55.39 for 9th place - the best performance for the mens team since 2004! The race itself was won by our neighbours Bristol and West in a time of 1.49.06, to complete what must be a very rare mens and ladies double! Well done to them. 2nd were Notts AC - just 4 seconds behind - and 3rd were Coventry Godiva.
The B team were an outside bet to reach the top 25 and qualify as of right for the Nationals and were given a perfect start as Anthony Glover ran 20.05 and Rich Collinson 19.53 to haul them into 29th place. Robin Phillips then run 21.17 for 28th place, Colin Johnson ran 21.51 for 36th place, Gregg Ward held position running 21.11, before John Terry closed the team out with 20.44 for a time of 2.05.01 for 33rd place - inside the top 25 A teams, but not the top 25 itself - still only 2 minutes away, a definite target for next year!!!
There was more to come from the Harriers as the C team of Karl Dunn (22.01), Jullian Bailey-Gard Jnr (22.29), Matt Lavis (25.02), Malc White (23.03), Bob Pringle (24.19) and Warren Pickles (20.40) ran home in 2.17.34 and 62nd place.
Our D team of Chris Palmer (23.42), Tony Jefferies (24.41), Geraint Torrington (25.00), Tim Westmacot (23.40) and Alex Miller (24.42) were in 77th place, when they had to bow out of the action. Such was the strength in depth of the club, only 2 sides had complete D teams out, and ours was the next biggest contingent - awesome!!!
A massive thanks to all you guys and girls for taking the trouble to represent and support the club on its travels - you were all great and gave us all some real excitement. It can only be a matter of time before the club rightly retakes its place amongst the medals!!!
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