No stars but Yaxley still manage to shine bright

Nene Valley failed to field a full quota of ladies, which cost them dear. The additional points accumulated as a result pushed them well down the standings, but Yaxley and Eye made no such mistake finishing fourth and fifth respectively behind the top three of Hunts AC, Riverside Runners and March AC.

Dave Hudson from Huntingdon club BRJ squelched his way through the cloying mud to win the five-mile race in a time of 27:39, a full minute clear of PACTRAC’s Paul Vernon.

Riverside’s Michael Taylor finished third with a 28:54 clocking and Ben Heron of Eye found the swamp-like sections of the course to his liking wading home fourth in 29:08.

Nene Valley’s Simon Fell was nine seconds further back in fifth.

Beth Runciman of Ely Runners was comfortably the first lady over the line with a 33:39 clocking, while Cambridge and Coleridge’s Ellie Swire pipped Sarah Caskey from PACTRAC for the runner-up spot by just three seconds, with a finishing time of 34:03.

The scoring teams for each club comprise seven men and three ladies. The strong showing from Yaxley was very much the result a solid team performance, with no stand-out stars.

Mike Morley was the first man home for Yaxley in 31st place, but the seven scoring men came in thick and fast thereafter with Joe Wright their final scorer finishing 71st.

The ladies also grouped well with Kayleigh Draper in eighth, followed home by ninth placed Gina Crane and Roz Loutit in 12th.

Hunts AC’s Caspar Hiscock won the junior 3k race from Owen Wilkinson of Nene Valley. Hiscock crossed the line in 9:03, giving him a winning margin of eight seconds. Alex Devine of Yaxley finished third in 9:23.

Isabelle Wilkins from Hunts AC was the first girl over the line in 10:03 while Yaxley’s Amelia Devine was first local home, finishing fourth in 11:09.

Hunts won the junior race, and are almost certain to clinch the league title in next month’s final race of the series.

Hunts AC also won the senior event, but look set to finish runners-up behind Riverside Runners.

Nene Valley remain third, but Yaxley are now in hot pursuit.

BRITISH UNIVERSITIES

Two local athletes made finals at the big British Universities Indoor Championships in Sheffield.

Peterborough Athletic Club middle-distance star Daniel Mees coasted through the heats of the senior men’s 800m, winning in 1:57.20, and then he stormed to victory in his semi-final in a new indoor personal best of 1:52.27.

In the final he again ran well and just missed out on a medal by .3 of second when claiming fourth spot in 1:52.45.

Kane Wright of Nene Valley Harriers also won his heat (6.88) and semi-final (6.93) in the senior men’s 60m before finishing seventh in the final in 6.90. His winning heat time was a new personal best.