Treble triumph for Squirrels

​North Herts Road Runners achieved an unprecedented treble triumph in the Three Counties Cross-country League, taking a clean sweep of victories in the final fixture at Sharnbrook, Bedfordshire, to secure the ladies’, men’s and combined titles in the end of season standings.
 
Cross-country Rep and Men's Captain John Auld hailed ‘a tremendous feat’ in achieving what ‘NHRR have not accomplished before’ by lifting all three trophies. 76 Squirrels turned out across the League’s five fixtures and Auld thanked ‘everyone who contributed to the season - everybody should be very proud of their contribution to this amazing team effort.’
 
All three competitions came down to the last fixture on the 4.6 mile Sharnbrook course. Recent dry weather made for mostly firm conditions and the Squirrels sped around the fields and woods to narrowly edge out Bedford Harriers for the ladies’ crown and Ampthill and Flitwick Flyers for the men’s.
 
NHRR’s Katie Harbon and Mike Roberts led the way as first female and male across the line respectively.  Hannah Ridley (3rd lady), Tash Pitman(7th) and Rhia Botha (12th) joined Harbon in the ladies’ scoring team while the men packed their eight scorers into the first 21 finishers, with Nathan Pask (6th), Stewart Overton (10th), Wayne Bell (11th),Ben Sewell (13th), Ed Price (15th), Vince Wright (19th) and Matt Sayers (21st) all giving Roberts great support. 
 
Also in action at Sharnbrook for the NHRR ladies were Jane Clarke (22nd female), Paula Adams (24th), Laura Fairbanks (34th), Helen Cairns (47th), Lucy O’Connor (48th), Anna Gibson (54th), Cara Sutton (57th), Mel Flynn (60th), Helen Ankers (61st), Jo Harbon (75th), Dawn Power (77th), Natalie Philips (82nd), Linda Aird (89th), Sue Vaughan (95th), Amanda Greig (98th), Lindsay Cook (106th), Helen Cromack (107th), Miranda Morgan (119th) and Carina Quayle (120th).
 
Running for the NHRR men were Nick Malpeli (23rd male), Shahab (Ahmed (24th), John Auld (47th), Ian Datlen (62nd), James Walsh (65th), Steve McKeown (72nd), Michael Over (81st), Matt Roberts (107th), Dave Braybrook (118th), Richard Weber (143rd), Richard Harbon (160th) and Brian Judkins (194th).
 
There was individual glory for North Herts as well, with several athletes taking awards in the open competition and age categories:

Katie Harbon - 1st female
Mike Roberts - 2nd male
Hannah Ridley - 1st F25-29
Ben Sewell - 1st V30-35
Stewart Overton - 3rd V40-44
Jane Clarke - 3rd V40-44
Tash Pitman - 1st V45-49
Vince Wright - 1st V45-49
Ed Price - 2nd V45-49
Matt Sayers - 3rd V45-49
Paula Adams - 1st V50-54
Lucy O’Connor - 1st V60-64
 
Meanwhile in London, several Squirrels enjoyed success at the London Winter 10k. Elwyn Howell’s 45.00 finish time saw him secure an outstanding 11th place out of 239 in his age category and 983rd out of nearly 14,000 finishers. Alison Blunt said she ‘enjoyed my first run for a while’ and finished in 1.05.59.
 
Other NHRR finishers in London were Ian Harvey (40.32), George Wright (47.53), Viv Lucas (56.13), Stephen Bidewell (59.47), Georgia Barker (1.03.07) and Julie Taylor (1.08.51).