Home Countries Cross Country International Meeting
Margam Park, Port Talbot
The 2017 Home Countries International cross country meeting was staged in the majestic surroundings of the Margam Country Park in the shadow of Margam Castle in Port Talbot South Wales. The cross country meetings in the last three months have generally been held in atrocious conditions but this time the weather in Wales had been kind and that was good news for the competitors as the course was dry but it was still a testing run as Margam Park included some tough uphill and downhill stretches.
A total of 291 athletes competed in the range of races across the different age groups and there were teams representing the four home nations England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland as well as further representative teams from Northern England, Midlands Counties England and teams from Scotland Schools and Wales Schools.
Kingston’s Harry Powell added another representative vest to his collection after being selected for the Northern England where he was a member of the Northern three man team who competed in the junior men’s 7.1 Kilometres race where his two team mates were Joshua Schofield from the City of York club and Joseph Massingham from Rotherham Harriers AC.
There were a total of thirty three athletes competing in the race and Harry Powell was the first of the Northern trio to cross the finishing line where he did so in 11th place and he covered the course in a time of 23:46 sec. The next team runner over the line was Joshua Schofield who took 14th place and ran a time of 23:54 sec and Joseph Massingham’s run of 24:16 sec saw him cross the finishing line in 24:16 sec.
The Northern England junior men’s team finished in 4th place in the team competition, behind the teams representing England, Scotland and Wales.
The 2016/2017 cross country season has been an exceptional one for Harry Powell who has put in top notch performances at all of the major championship meetings where he has finished high up in the field at every one. The cross country season is now over and Harry turns his attention to the track where he hopes to carry his form with him into all the big races on the horizon in the new track & field season.
