Mansfield Harriers trio impress for England in Masters Cross Country at Glasgow

In the 35 age group Paul Wright was making his debut for his country and looked strong throughout. With around 400m to go he was in a battle for second and third and coming into the home straight he used his trademark sprint finish to take a well deserved second place.

Having won the Masters 45 age group trial, Jan Bailey was always going to be amongst the favourites in the Masters 45 race. Having had a fantastic year of racing he fully justified this favouritism as he was always at the front and came away with a comfortable victory.

Also making his England debut, masters 40 athlete Dan Wheat competed in the open race and put in an impressive run to cross the line in fifth.

The second of the North Midlands Cross league was held at Kettering and, after a superb team performance at the first event, the Mansfield senior men were looking to consolidate their position as they aim to take the title for the first time in the long history of the league.

Although the club had some good athletes missing, those competing put in a massive performance to finish second on the day and remain in front overall with two races to go.

Leading from gun to tape, Alex Hampson won his first senior event in the league by an impressive margin and now has a fantastic chance of taking the overall title. Great packing saw Lewis Boswell 14th, Jordan Boam 19th, Dan Nugent 23rd and Brad Caress 24th completing the team.

Ben Hampson ran well for 50th and Michael Fox had a great run to place 135th.

For the masters Dave Cass was 34th with Ben Mcclemens 90th, Jamie Macintyre 94th, Wayne Lowe 111th and Stuart Whysall 156th.

The Ladies had a solid team performance.

Sophie Toyn returned from university and was first back in 27th, with Paige Roadley 30th, Alice Mortiboy 39th, Hannah Jones 40th and Sarah Bradbury 95th.

In the Masters race Kirsty Huntington was impressive in 33rd followed by Helen Pritchett in 68th, Amanda Hardy 75th and Bev Armstrong 89th.

In the junior races the club put in a string of terrific performances. Charley Whysall came away with an impressive win with Isla Millns having by far her best race to date, placing fourth in the U13s.

Another improving rapidly is Maisy Slack and she also had her best cross country race to date with second in the U15 race with Martha Walker running strongly for 19th.

The only U11 competing was Esme Evans, who ran a great race for ninth position.

In the boys’ races U17 Ed Sankey showed he was over the bad fall he had in training on the Monday before as he put in a great sprint finish to snatch third with Will Sankey 13th.

In the U15 race Jack Pares (seventh) and Oliver Mcclemens (13th) ran much stronger than in the first race.

Teddy Macintyre had a fantastic run for seventh in a very close race for the top eight in the U13 race with Will Mcclemens improving with every race coming in 18th and Mihnea Radu 21st.

Jack Whysall was the only U11 boy, placing 15th.