Girl power Striders take second places in overall team events
THE final race day of the Gloucestershire Cross Country season at Pittville Park saw a good turnout from CLC Striders.
For the ladies, as has been the case all season, Helen Knight finished first for the club, 16th overall and second in her LV40 category.
Five seconds behind her, Kate Telford – a fortnight away from the Tokyo marathon – finished 17th and first in her LV35 category, with Liza Bradshaw 29th and fourth in the LV40 category and Rachel Vines 39th and seventh in the LV40 category.
Also running were Fiona Bradymiller and Steph Parker – finishing fourth and sixth respectively in their LV45 age category, Amelia Mullins, fourth in her LV50 category, Laura Leaver, Emma Abbey, Rebecca Reynolds, Julia Rose and Nicola Weager.
The ladies finished third in the open team competition, but were the first Masters team, and overall they finished as the second Open and Masters team.
David James raced in the ladies event as an MV70 competitor, putting in a gritty performance and claiming first in his category – taking the MV70 silver medal for the whole season.
The men were led home by Max Harrison-tosatto in 19th place, followed closely by Rob Green in 20th, but first in his MV40 category.
Tom Burgess finished 48th, while Richard Aarons and Liam Richardson completed their first season of cross country finishing 59th and 85th, with MV55 vets Gary Farquharson and Paul Northup also finishing inside the top 100.
Joel Freeland, Jack Wilde and Eoin Mcquone also ran, and the men finished ninth in the Open team competition and as the sixth Masters team, but across the season, Striders were sixth in the Open standings and fifth in the Masters.
Individual medallists at the end of the season were Green and Telford with gold in their MV40 and LV35 categories, Knight and James with silver in their LV40 and MV70 categories with a bronze for Mullins in her LV50 category.