Northern Cross Country Championships, Castle Howard – 27th January

In windy but relatively dry conditions, the Northern Cross Country Championships were held in the grounds of Castle Howard.

The club’s turnout of young athletes was lower than planned due to sickness, exams and other commitments but some good performances were achieved nevertheless:

• Elisha Tait was a fine 29^th in the under 20 women
• In the under 17 women Isobel Chaudhry was 43^rd
• Willow Morris was 64^th (estimated) in the under 13 girls

• Charlie McMillan was 21^st in the under 17 men, the club’s highest finisher on the day
• David Race was 36^th in the under 15 boys
• The under 13 boys did well to finish 8^th in their team race with Oliver Douglass 31^st, Theo Barron 36^th, Noah Curran 69^th and Ben Asquith 142^nd, backed up by Oliver Ezeoke 148^th

In the seniors, the women’s team was a creditable 21^st with Kim Simpson finishing 98^th, Jane Giles 106^th, Lisa Atkinson 136^th and Maggie Loraine 274^th.

We only had three finishers in the men’s race but all ran well with Ross Charlton, who travels from Scotland to compete, 120^th, Kevin Connolly 122^nd and Steven Medd 182^nd.

The standard was high throughout. Several of our young athletes should have done enough to confirm their selection for the NE team going to the UK Inter Counties.

Well done to all of our runners and thanks to everybody who supported them. Thanks also to the race organisers and officials, the event seemed to be a successful test run for holding next year’s National Championships at the same venue.