Llandow Race Circuit, Cowbridge 11th April 2010

Newport U17 Men in dominating form

The official Welsh Athletics race preview had marked Newport U17s as hot favourites and they were not to disappoint. Lead-off man Elliott Hardee set off at the front of the pack and held form to establish a 42-second gap over 2nd place Cardiff. Dan Chesworth extended the lead on leg 2, which also saw Newport’s Chris Carpanini further down the field guesting in a scratch side. Emrys Penny anchored the team to a comfortable victory though his time was hindered by some rogue marshal’s tape that wrapped around his leg at the mid-point.

Newport Harriers U17 - champions

Final team placings

1 Newport Harriers

2 Cardiff AAC

3 Swansea Harriers

Senior Men fly the black and amber flag

Even as they trailed behind the might of Swansea’s C team, Newport’s senior men ran with black and amber pride. Lead-off man Neil Hardee produced our fastest leg of the day as part of his preparation for the Antwerp Marathon in two weeks time, handing over in 7th place. On leg 2 Johnathan Morgan debuted in the senior relay team and held off Swansea C to maintain 7th position. James Nasrat dropped a place but at least he ran with a smile on his face as he nursed himself back to full race fitness. New recruit Abdi Tulu made his Newport debut and anchored the team to 8th place, and we’re all looking forward to seeing Abdi running regularly in the black and amber vest.

Stuart Pearce and Dave Griffiths ran as an incomplete B team. Stuart handed over well ahead of Swansea B Women and Dave maintained this status until their challenge petered out through lack of team-mates on the final two legs.

Newport Harriers Senior Men – 8th place

Newport Harriers B (incomplete)

Final Team Placings

1 Swansea Harriers

2 Cardiff AAC

3 Swansea Harriers B

4 Cardiff AAC B

5 Neath

6 Les Croupiers

7 Swansea Harriers C

8 Newport Harriers

9 Les Croupiers B

DQ Neath B

incomplete Newport Harriers B
Incomplete Bridgend AAC
incomplete Swansea Harriers D

Senior Women in cheerleading form while junior boys go AWOL

We had three Newport ladies present – Ann Saxena, Rhian Loudon and Jane Carpanini – and they surely would have claimed a medal place in one of the Masters categories. Unfortunately injury and lack of race fitness meant they couldn’t field a team. However, they seemed to enjoy the day out cheering on the menfolk.

No such excuses for the U15 and U13 boys who preferred to spend the day playing football instead. Similarly the U13 girls entered a full squad but couldn’t muster a complete team on the day. Road Manager Dave Proffitt was unavailable for comment.