Over 40 of you made the short hop across the Suffolk border for Sunday’s final NESS XC fixture of the season. The undulating course more than made up for the dry and sunny conditions, as our men’s and women’s teams both put in a strong performance – finishing in third place for the second race in a row.

Our four ladies’ scorers were: Magdalena Komorowska, who finished in 8th place and secured herself a well-earned spot on our Top 10 performances list, Lisa Briggs (11th), Vicky Presland (20th) and Meera Rajoo-Oakley (26th). Our eight men’s scorers were: Tim Ballard (9th) Doug McGillvray (17th), Mark Jasper (19th), Richard Heath (25th), Charlie Keitch (38th), Jon Mann (44th), Chris Warren (53rd) and Matt Laverack (59th). However, everyone who turned out in blue throughout the season contributed to our team performance as we secured a third-place finish in Pool A behind Colchester Harriers and Ipswich JAFFA, which is a fantastic result for our club.

In the Junior race, Charlie Sharp and Amelia Ballard finished in 8th position and we were the 8th team overall for the season.  Charlie was 39th in the boys race and 6th in his age category overall. Amelia also ran very well in her second run of the season. Well done to every single junior who raced for Great Bentley this season.

Whilst XC may have been the main event of the weekend, plenty of you still found time to fit in some parkrun on Saturday morning including Bee Brent (37:46) and Robbie Lee (23:45) who were on the tourist trail at Jersey Farm and Preston parkrun. Closer to home Marion Simmons (30:34) finished second in her age category at Colchester Castle parkrun, whilst Gráinne Hallahan completed the undulating course in 32:26 as she continued her comeback from injury. Stephen Patrick Walsh also put in his best parkrun of the year at Harwich, crossing the finish line 24.48.