CROSS COUNTRY: Young Swindon Harriers Emily Connolly, Richard Batsford and Chris Reade had to be content with second places in their events at the fifth Wessex cross country of the season at Avon Heath Country Park near Poole at the weekend.

Connolly, taking on the Under 15 girls event, had a fine home-straight battle with Poole AC athlete Becky Neal, who finished two steps ahead on the finish line.

"I have beaten Becky before, so perhaps it was her turn today", said Connolly.

"I stayed with her for much of the race, then she caught and overtook towards the end and we had to fight it out to the line".

The under 15 boys event saw the league champion Nathan Young from Mendip Runners take his revenge on Harrier Richard Batsford who had beaten him last month at Devizes, with Young finishing 150 metres clear in a confident run.

The Harriers squad did very well overall and secured good placements with Stuart Batsford third, Jon Jefferies sixth, and Joe Rejek finishing 14th.

In the Under 17 men's event, the two league leaders were in contention for the winning place.

Salisbury's Tom Woodhouse ran more than 100 metres clear of Harrier Chris Reade, with Shaun Mochan sixth, becoming the only young Harrier who had completed all five of the season's races to date.

"I stayed with Tom for the first half of the race," said Reade, "but when he put the pressure on I could not stay with him and he gradually pulled away to gain his strong lead and win."

Senior lady Kate Jacobs, the Harriers most successful adult athlete this season, finished fifth in the penultimate event of the day, with Pauline Morgan 19th, junior ladies Corinne Hunter (24th) and Laura Whiting (25th) and Tess Osman (35th) completing the squad.

The front of the race provided a forum for the top two ladies in the league to jostle for position, with Poole's Jan Palmer this time achieving success over Wells City's Ann Taswell, pushed into second place by about 30 metres.

Perhaps not surprisingly at this time in the season, the final senior men's race was also a close battle between two current front runners in the league, with Mark Le Gassick finishing a few metres clear of Wimborne's Ian Cardy.

The Harriers took their regular positions midfield with Paul Key (22nd), Ian Reade (43rd) and Steve Connolly (53rd) providing the club's first team and Mike Affleck (61st), Terry Byrne (79th) and Steve Morgan (92nd) securing the second.

Pewsey's Mark Anderson declared himself pleased to have finished 10th, having returned, in his view, from a period of unsatisfactory performances.

The final meeting of the Wessex season will be held adjacent to the grounds of Hestercombe House near Taunton (Junction 25 of the M5) on Sunday, March 12.

  • A second contingent of local athletes took themselves to Cirencester Park for the fourth meeting of the Oxford cross country league, with Harriers Simon Birley (27th), Jason Barry, Ashley Fox and Howard Moscrop securing places in the seniors race.

Among the Swindon Striders ladies, Carole Phillips (16th) took the lead, with Jude Rouse (46th), Claire Price (54th) and Helen Smith (77th).

For the Striders senior men, Neil Pringle (66th) led, with colleagues Steve Leighfield (84th) and Mick Willis (99th) secure inside the top 100.

  • Places for the very popular annual Highworth five-mile race to be held on Sunday, April 30 at 11am are being taken up fast. There are no entries on the day this year, so send your entries urgently to: 36 The Willows, Highworth, SN6 7PG.