Northern Cross Country Championships – Junior Report

The Northern Cross Country Championships were held in relatively mild conditions at Pontefract Park.  The  fast but deceptively tough course and the depth of competition made it a real test particularly for those new to this standard of racing.

We didn’t field any full teams in the junior age groups but with valuable experience to be gained, and some inter counties places to go for, there was still plenty of incentive to run well.

In the under 13 boys Noah Curran and Ben Asquith were 53^rd and 98^th, both encouraging runs in a big field.  Jessica Milburn was our first under 13 girl in 53^rd closely followed by Annabel Milburn in 59^th with Lucy Oliver doing well to finish 144^th.

A few seconds covered the first 10 finishers in the under 15 girls.  Ines Curran was 8^th, the club’s highest finisher on the day, followed by Rosie Hughes, 82^nd, and Jessica Ord in 148^th.  In the  under 15 boys, David Race had his best run for some time to finish 15^th, despite losing his shoe with 300 metres to go.  He was followed in by Theo Barron, 79^th, and Will Seager Rooke, 137^th, both in their first year in this age group.

Chloe Wellings ran strongly in the under 17 women to finish in 28^th position.  Amy Baker also had an encouraging run in an estimated (her chip had come off) 61^st position.  After a cautious start, Charlie McMillan had another promising run getting through to 11^th in the under 17 men, beating several of his local rivals.

The senior women maintained their recent good form to finish 10^th.  Brigid Dennehy was first finisher in 56^th, followed by Jane Giles 64^th, Aife McSheffrey 89^th, Elizabeth Raven 129^th, Lucie Wilkinson 133^rd, Charlotte Perkins 141^st, and Maggie Loraine 222^nd.  As third club from the north east to finish, it was another encouraging performance form our womens team.

Led by Conrad Franks in 42^nd, the senior mens team were 11^th, with James Cripwell 105^th , Ross Christie 106^th,   Matthew Linsley 136^th, , Daniel Alexander 138^th , Steven Medd 176^th , Steven Asquith 196^th , Kevin Connoly 228^th and Peter Grimoldy 420^th .  With some runners clearly below par and Matthew twisting his ankle on the 2^nd lap, the men did well to finish as second north east team.

Well done to everybody who competed and thanks to everybody who assisted with transport , the tent and supporting the runners.  Thanks also go the race organisers, host clubs and officlals.