The clubs athletes made the journey up into the beautiful Northumberland countryside to Alnwick for the annual North Eastern X-Country Championships with the Historic Alnwick Castle overlooking the course. This is a testing course with plenty of hills up and down along with flat sections, but the wind was very strong which made it difficult in places, but our runners stood up to the test.
The U17 & U20 Woman raced together and our Ladies truly delivered by comfortably winning the Title with Elisha Tate (home from Uni) finishing in 2nd place closely followed by Chloe Wellings 3rd position (another tremendous run) and with Ines Curran running in the U17 age group finishing 5th (2nd U17 to finish) it was a comfortable Team victory, with Rosie Hughes backing up well in 13th position (8th U17).
Our Senior Ladies had a long wait as their race was last, the wind was still howling but the temperature was also dropping as they set away on their 2 lap journey. In a large field our ladies battled through the conditions finishing 6th Team with Jane Giles (getting back into shape again) Liz Porteous who had a tremendous tussle with Jane throughout, these two ladies were backed up well by the consistent Freda Summerfield, with Phillipa Paterson and the ever present Lisa Atkinson.
The run of the day (in the mens section) I think was by Charlie McMillan who ran a brilliant race in the U20 Men’s to cross the line in 1st position and North Eastern Champion, Charlie coming through well on his second lap, finishing strongly and taking the lead.
Lucas Sutherland who was running for the club for the first time supported Charlie well, unfortunately we did not have a 3rd runner to complete the team due to injuries and runners still at Uni.
Our Senior Men were looking to get Team medals but improve on last years Bronze and they too delivered by finishing 2nd Team and Silver medals. A large field set away on their 3 laps with our men getting settled in good positions, which enabled them to work through in really difficult conditions with the wind gusting. Calum Johnson (great to see him back up in the NE) was leading the chase and having a really good workout to take the individual Silver medal and it was a great start for the team who were supporting tremendously. The ever-present and consistent Conrad Franks finished in a very good 7th position and the lads backed up Calum and Conrad well, with James Cripwell, Dan Alexander (getting back into shape) Ali Bailey (running his first ever X-country) and our Senior Men captain Steven Medd closing in the 6 counters. These lads had to work hard as Kevin Connolly, Paul Waller and Peter Grimoldby were chasing them down, well done to all.
Thank you to all that helped and supported our athletes on the day, I’m sure they appreciated it on a cold/windy day. There are some fantastic photos on the Facebook page courtesy of Geoff Fenwick – a sprints coach who braves the cold 🙂
Overall it was a good club performance with Team and Individual honours, but we must strive to encourage athletes to compete, there is a perfect opportunity as on the 4th January 2020 we have the Sherman Cup/Davison Shield where results are counted in all the age groups and there is no reason why Gateshead Harriers in the Sherman Cup (Male) and Davison Shield (Female) cannot be very successful if we get athletes to compete.
Just to remind you that for all age groups the Northern & National X-country Champ.(Male & Female) close in early January, so if you wish to be entered can you contact the appropriate people please.
May we wish you all the best for Xmas and Happy/Successful running in 2020.
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