25 CARMARTHEN HARRIERS made the long trip to Monmouth to compete in freezing temperatures against the best cross country runners in South Wales and the South West of England. This good turn out was critical as three of the teams entered the fixture in a podium position. The Under 13 girls and Under 15 boys demonstrated real strength in depth maintaining their team positions at the top of the league.
In the Under 13 girls five girls ran and the Welsh cross country relay champions continued their domination of the league with performances that defied the freezing temperatures and cold. Leading the way was Phoebe Davis (6th) Daisy Thompson ( 7th) and Maddie Morgan (15th). Newcomer Mollie Cressey-Rodgers was 20th and Siwan Jones-Evans finished 25th.
The Under 15 boys also dominated the team event again and Ben Thomas ran strongly as always in a closely fought race to finish behind two English athletes who possibly benefited from not having to race midweek in the Welsh schools. He did well to finish 3rd less than a minute ahead of Iestyn Williams (9th) and Archi Morgan (16th). One of the best runs of the day was from Caspar Farquhar in his best ever position of 24th and followed by Haydyn Roberts in 39th.
In the first race of the day the Under 11 boys maintained their place in the top three teams. With sickness depleting the team 3 boys stepped up to the plate with Ioan Cressey- Rodgers starting slowly but finishing fast and securing his best ever position of 4th overall closely followed by two of Harriers youngest members Ifan Bowen (12th) and Harry Billingham (24th).
The individual performance of the day came from Iwan Glynn where the Welsh international ran a fantastic race against some outstanding athletes to finish 2nd in the Under 13 boys. Strength in depth was evidenced by Liam Edwards who followed up his 4th place in the Welsh schools in midweek to finish 10th in this tough race. Dafydd Jones (28th) and Leon Campion (49th) claimed crucial points.
In the Under 11 girls Seren Davies made her debut for the club having just turned 9 years old. In a fine run she went out at the front of the field but was eventually pulled back into the pack by the older athletes holding on to finish a very good 10th. Followed by Emma Brazier (22nd) and Milly John (28th) this was a good overall team result for the Harriers youngest girls.
Other results included two athletes (Eva Edwards and Taylor McArthur) who ran together for much of the race eventually finishing 27th and 31st in the Under 15 girls. Gordon Orme maintained his position as the best veteran over 70 with a now expected 1st place, Thomas Jones had a good run in the Under 17/Under 20 men with a 6th place finish and Louise Jones-Evans was 34th in the Senior Women.
The teams will now be ready for a final push for gold at the last league event of the season in Brecon on March 5.
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