Harriers thin on the ground for their long trip to Cornwall

They were forced to make the long trek to Cornwall for their first fixture at Carn Brea and because of the distance involved - a 700-mile round trip - several regular athletes were unavailable.

And they were also further depleted by a clash with university commitments and a throwing event at Stoke Rochford organised by Geoff Capes.

As a result they found wins hard to come by and finished seventh out of the eight teams competing.

But team boss Tim Needham remained upbeat.

He said: “We were forced to field a very young team and they all performed very well in poor conditions.

“While the rest of the country basked in sunshine we endured chilly weather, heavy rain and a very strong headwind on the home straight which accounts for the slow times.

“The team deserved a far better result than they achieved with only a handful of points between fourth and seventh.

“The two teams who had the longest journeys - us and Trafford - fared the worst and I’m confident we’ll put matters right in the next fixture a bit closer to home at Chelmsford on June 4th.”

Nene Valley failed to record an A string win but Kane Wright came mightily close in the 200m with his time of 22.77. The winner clocked 22.52.

Veteran Sean Reidy was also second in the 400m hurdles A race while 19 year-old James McCrae ran well for third in the 1500m A race.

Harriers did manage two B string wins on the track with Daz Holding winning the 200m in 23.26 and David Bush the 400m hurdles in 57.83.

Sixteen year-old Oliver Bowling clocked a personal best 4.11.95 when taking third place in the 1500m B race.

Harriers were third in both relays.

RESULTS

Nene Valley performances:

100m - A 4 Kane Wright 11.5, B 8 Callum Crosby 27.62; 200m - A 2 Kane Wright 22.77, B 1 Darrellon Holding 22.65; 400m - A 4 Ashley Sandall 50.11, B 5 David Brown 51.20; 800m - A 6 James McCrae 1.57.89, B 6 Max Butler 2.03.37; 1500m - A 3 James McCrae 4.11.07, B 2 Oliver Bowling 4.11.95; 3000m - A 7 Oliver Bowling 9.37.18; 100m hurdles - A 6 Sean Reidy 19.67, B 5 Carl Titman 20.12; 400m hurdles - A 2 Sean Reidy 57.02, B 1 David Bush 57.83; 3000m steeplechase - A 7 Rio Chilvers 11.17.90, B 8 Adam Fudgett 14.03.78; 4x100m - 3 Nene Valley 43.61; 4x400m - 3 Nene Valley 3.25.3.

High Jump - A 8 Sam Richards 1.50, B 8 Sean Reidy 1.50; Pole Vault - A 5 Carl Titman 3.60, B 4 Adam Fidgett 3.00; Long Jump - A 4 Sam Richards 6.71, B 4 Matthew Hudson 6.32; Triple Jump - A 6 Sam Richards 11.63, B 7 Sean Reidy 10.88; Shot - A 4 Simon Achurch 12.30, B 5 David Bush 10.54; Discus - A 6 Simon Achurch 31.06, B 4 David Bush 30.82.

Match result: 1 Newquay & Par 360pts; 2 Chelmsford 292pts; 3 Yeovil 291pts; 4 Havering 269pts; 5 Bournemouth 266pts; 6 Southend 263pts; 7 Nene Valley 256pts; 8 Trafford 178pts.