Cross Country Round-Up

1. English Schools Championships and inter Counties Championships

Over the last 2 weekends several of our young athletes have represented their counties in the English Schools Cross Country Championships and also North East Counties in the Inter Counties Championships. Despite a few call offs due to injury and illness, there were many fine performances including

• Iness Curran, 25^th in the Inter Counties and 33^rd in the English Schools
• Charlie McMillan, 35^th in the English Schools
• Elisha Tait, 71^st in the Inter Counties and 83^rd in the English Schools
• Ethan McGlen, 33^rd in the English Schools

Well done to all those selected and who competed, particularly those who ran in both races, in the most testing conditions over successive weekends.

Our only senior selected for the North East Counties was Conrad Franks who finished a creditable 88^th in the Inter Counties. Conrad was 3^rd counter for the North East Counties, after originally being selected as a reserve.

2. North East Harrier League 2017/18 – final report

The final, re-arranged, fixture at Alnwick was held in freezing weather on 17 March. The turnout was reduced, partly because of fixture clashes with the English Schools and other races, but there were still several good runs by our athletes.

• Our promising group of under 11 boys showed up well with William Wells finishing 2^nd, Sonny Lewins 3^rd. Harry Garrett 10^th, Lewis Harmieson 14^th Alfie Cook 20^th   Alex Wells 44^th and Tristan Crang 47^th
• In the under 13 boys, Theo Barron continued his recent good form with a 5^th place followed by Noah Curran in 16^th both running from the fast pack
• Anya Crowder also ran well from the fast pack to finish11ith in the under 13^th girls. After a heavy fall near the start Jessica Ord battled on to come in 32^nd
• Our only under 15 runner was Jack Garrett who did well to finish in 18^th place
• In the under 17/20 women, Jasmine Crang was 3^rd followed by Amy Baker in 6^th both encouraging runs
• The womens team of Jane Giles, Elizabeth O’Connor, Lisa Atkinson and Maggie Loraine, closely backed up by Freda Summerfield, were 4^th in their team race
• Conrad Franks was an excellent 4^th in the mens race followed by Kevin Connolly, Steven Asquith and John McConnell

In the overall Grand Prix, pride of place goes to Ines Curran for her 1^st place in the under 15 girls. Other top 10 finishes included Theo Barron and Oliver Douglas (under 13 boys), Anja Crowder (under 13 girls), Elizabeth Raven (senior women), Conrad Franks (senior men) and Jane Giles (veteran women).

In the team competition, our under 17/20 women were rewarded with 1^st place. The senior women and under 13 boys both achieved 3^rd place, the under 13 girls 4^th, the senior men 6^th, the under 17 men 8^th and the under 15 girls and under 15 boys, 13^th and 14^th.

Well done to all of our runners who have competed in the league this season and thanks to all who helped with travel and the club tent. Final thanks go the league officials and host clubs for organizing the fixtures, often in very difficult conditions.