Berry Hill Park has hosted the event for over thirty years now with this year over one thousand teams from all over the country entered across the ten age groups. Pat Carlan and his army of volunteers put on another terrific event for the thousands of athletes and supporters that came to enjoy the days racing.
Mansfield Harriers embraced the meeting fielding a total of twenty teams across the ten races and was one of very few clubs that had a complete team in every race. Coming very close to National medals in two events the club is making big strides both in quality and numbers as the club was first Midland club home in four races and would have been top three in three more races. This shows the clear progress that the Harriers are currently making.
The Under 13 girls race saw a superb team performance as the team was in a shout for medals throughout the race just missing out on the final half a lap placing 9th and first Midlands team home after terrific runs from Olivia Wright 8.06, Evie Clifton 8.20 and Martha Manson 8.58 with the B team placing 52nd with Lauren Pate recording 9.38, Catherine Rivis 9.39 and Maisie Lowe 9.46. A strong Under 13 boys race saw them place 27th overall and third Midlands team home as Mihnea Radu took them out in 7.51, Oliwier Macutkiewicz 8.17 and Will McClemens 9.11. The B team placed 43rd through James Govier 8.39, Jack Whysall 9.10 and Harvey Evans 8.41.
In the Under 15 age group races the girls put in a sterling effort, placing 13th, always close to the top 10 with the performance seeing them second Midland team home with superb runs from Charley Whysall 7.52, Lily Mason 7.52 and Maisy Slack 8.38. Showing terrific strength in depth in this age group the B team placed 37th through Isla Millns 8.22, Emily Pares 9.01, Myannie Westwood 8.56 and the C team 54th with Lucy Beardsmore 9.28, Isabelle Davey 8.24 and Isla Jones 9.43. A solid team performance for the Under 15 boys as they placed 28th which would have been higher if third leg runner Dan Adams had not been held in the changeover area by the officials for longer than he should have been. Jack Pares recorded an impressive 7.05 on the first leg, Oliver McClemens 7.29 and Dan 8.01. The B team only had two athletes due to an unfortunate injury during the week with Rowan Tomsett recording 9.11 and Xander Arbon 9.58.
The Under 17 boys had the strongest performance of the day placing 4th, first Midland team home and missing out on medals by only five seconds. A superb first leg from Jude Ryan had him come home third in 9.09, Eddie Holden kept them in contention with 9.40 and a strong anchor leg from Jacob Nugent 9.20 saw him run out of metres before he could catch the tiring third placed athlete. Another strong B team saw them place 55th Reece Carver 10.33, Charlie Taylor 10.10 and Eddie Lowe 11.47. The girls team placed 37th with Amelia Arbon running strongly on the first leg recording 9.57, Rebecca Butt 12.05 and Amy Newbould 11.32.
The Under 20 women had a strong team performance to place 21st and another team that were first Midland team home. All three athletes have now gone into university education but returned to compete for the club with Grace Manson travelling from Birmingham clocking 9.38, Sophie Toyn from Leeds 10.13 and Amelia Corke from Manchester 10.16. The Under 20 men came in 41st through Ed Sankey 9.15, Johar Ali 9.37 and Will Sankey 10.35.
The senior women continue a remarkable progress finishing the highest they have ever placed in the event with an impressive 16th with the B and C teams racing strongly and finishing higher than the A team has in many previous years. Libby Coleman took on the first leg coming home in an impressive 10.34 followed by Hayley Gill 11.32 and Natalie Yates 11.06. Hannah Wragg was first out in the B team recording 11.59 with Kath Malone recording 12.41 and Paige Hampson 12.47. For the C team Gillian Newbould recorded 13.43, Cristina Dinescu 12.54 and Lottie Riddle 13.31.
The Senior men also put in it’s best team performance for many years with all three teams recording terrific results. The A team came in 24th and were the second Midlands team home through Alex Hampson 15.51, Paul Wright 15.55, Sam Gilliver 16.35 and Jake Richardson 16.07. The B team came home 57th with Lewis Boswell 16.42, Ben Burnham 17.29, Dan Wheat 17.59 and Jordan Boam 17.35. For the C team Dan Nugent went out first recording 17.12, Andy Granville 20.15, Martin Fickling 19.28 and Paul Whittingham 19.53