Back in November, we saw a number of our Junior athletes qualify from their various local school cross country competitions in South West Durham and Darlington. This gave them the chance to run in the Durham Schools Championship and an opportunity to qualify for the Durham team in the Inter-Counties race against the best of North Yorkshire, Cleveland, Northumberland and Cumbria… And also the chance to get their hands on the revered ‘Purple Durham Hoodie’!
In the Durham Championship, the top 16 in each category would qualify to represent Durham at Inter-Counties (And a purple hoodie!) with the best 8 performers of those 16 (selected from both the Durham Championships and the Inter-Counties race) going on to represent Durham in the English Schools Championship, held this year in Pontefract. (Year 7’s only go on to the Inter-Counties round and not the Nationals in this competition).
Year 7 Girls
Sasha Patterson was our sole Year 7 Girl, representing SW Durham. She continued her impressive cross country form, qualifying for the Durham team comfortably in 3rd place, 19 seconds ahead of 4th place and 22 seconds behind the winner. Well done Sasha, top work!
Year 7 Boys
We had a strong showing in the Year 7 Boys race, with 4 qualifying in the top 16. It was Ollie Curran narrowly missing out on being a Durham Champion on debut by just 11 seconds (7:06), beaten into a superb 2nd place by Henry Engelhart of Durham Central. He was followed home closely by another 2 Darlington boys, LJ Heslop in 5th (7:17) and Dan Callaghan 6th (7:27). Monty Bowden was the final Harrier home in 10th (8:01) for SW Durham. Well done boys, hope you all got a hoodie!
Junior Girls (Year 8/9)
Having already previously qualified with their school for the English Cross Country Team Cup Final, sisters Matilda and Charlotte Owens have both had a fantastic XC season so far. The girls were both a major part of their school success and were expected to be Top 5 finishers in the Durham event. They were up against strong opposition in Kathryn Pye and Holly Robison, both of whom had already finished ahead of our girls in the first NEHL race of the season.
It was an excellent race in the end with only 13 seconds between the top 3 and it required a strong finish to sort out the final podium placings. Luckily, it was Matilda who finished the strongest to beat off an excellent challenge from Kathryn Pye of West Wearside, winning by the tightest of margins with just 3 seconds between them. Result of the season for Matilda surely and a new County Champ! Sister Charlotte finished in 3rd, a further 10 seconds back but a clear 30 seconds ahead of 4th place. A terrific result and both were rightly delighted with their race.
South West Durham finished 3rd team with Darlington 5th out of 9.
Junior Boys (Year 8/9)
Another competitive race on paper, with many of our younger year athletes taking on the older year athletes for the first time this season as this competition is based on school years, rather than U13/U15 categories like the club season.
It was a good start by our boys, holding 3 of the first 4 positions on the first lap with a number of our younger year boys also holding promising positions early on. There were 2 main races at the front with Rowan Steel trying to chase down last years winner, and good friend, Noah Williamson (West Wearside) for the win. Around a minute behind the battle was on for 3rd between Harrier’s Matthew Foster and Finn-Pentland Rice.
Noah was too strong yet again, eventually pushing Rowan into 2nd place (14:08) after creating a 15 second gap. Matthew (15:07) held on for 3rd despite a strong push up the final hill by Finn (15:12). Next home was the first of our younger boys, Donovan Tarn (15:36) in a superb 9th place. Not only qualifying him for the Inter-Counties, but also putting him in with a shout of a place in the team for the Nationals, depending on how he does next time out!
Aiden Patterson (15:40) also had arguably his best run of the season in 10th, just 4 seconds behind Donny. Again, definitely in the mix for the Durham team or reserve place if he can run well again in the next round. James I’Anson (15:43) was the final Harrier to finish top 16 in 13th.
There was just 16 seconds between 7th and 16th place, so I’d fully expect a different finishing order at Inter-Counties on a different course. With Lucas Rogers disappointed with his race, also younger year in 23rd I believe, it looks like we’ll have a number of our boys in this team again next year. The future’s bright!
South West Durham were team winners, narrowly edging Darlington into 2nd out of 9.
Intermediate Girls (Year 10/11)
We had our usual inseparable trio of Girls running this one! Zara Jones, Freya Talman and Savannah Tarn, as well as all rounder Lottie Graves, keeping her hand in with a spot of XC!
Zara looked strong from the gun and lead from the start. Grace Carter of Durham Central tried to stay with her, but eventually succumbed to a 19 second deficit as Zara (15:18) became our second Durham County Champ of the day! She will be hoping for a good finishing position at Inter-Counties to give her confidence for the National Finals.
Freya (16:43) was next Harrier home in 6th with a healthy 44 second gap to 7th and a further 13 seconds to 8th. That puts her in good stead for a place in the Durham team for the National Champs all being well at Inter-Counties. Savannah (18:05) finished 10th and will need to make up a few positions in the next round to make the final 8 selected. It’s a different course and we know she’s well capable on the day. Good luck all at the next round!
Intermediate Boys (Year 10/11)
Another cracking race featuring 2 of our older lads who’ve really improved immeasurably this season, Freddie Hall and Owen Ovens. We also had Daniel I’Anson running XC for the first time as an intermediate and looking to erase the memory of last years Junior Boys Inter-Counties race on this course, where a stitch ended his hopes of going to the National Championships.
Freddie and Owen, both from Year 11, took the race out together with the impressive Jamie Lonergan of Gateshead who is a Year 10. After the first lap, there was only 4 seconds between the 3 of them and it was anyone’s guess in what order they’d emerge from the back of the course on lap 2! Freddie was running for the first time in a good few weeks after injury niggles but it didn’t seem to be hampering him as he was the first to be spotted from afar on the downhill section before the final hill. Jamie appeared around 10 seconds later followed by Owen who had dropped off slightly after his early effort.
Freddie (21:46), who was now suffering a little on heavy legs after his lack of training, brought it home 12 seconds ahead of Jamie to be crowned our 3rd Durham Champ of the day! Owen (22:14) had a comfortable lead over 4th place but still gave it his all into the finish, sprinting through just 16 seconds behind Lonergan for an excellent final podium spot.
Daniel meanwhile was having a good race in the thick of the pack mixing it with the older lads, before finishing 13th (23:15) and just 12 seconds off 8th place. An excellent result for a younger year athlete in a very competitive race, and both I’Anson brothers finishing 13th in their race (makes the drive home easier for mum and dad!) He can certainly push on at Inter-Counties for a few more places and a great experience for next year where he’ll be wanting that Top 8 position!
Senior Boys/Girls
With just 12 Senior Girls and 14 Senior Boys, it was going to be a long lonely race for the athletes.
We had Alex Boyer (25:44) finishing 4th in his race and Macy Kelly (19:37) finishing 5th in her race.
Next Up…
Congratulations to everyone that originally qualified from their Local District School Champs to run in the Durham Champs, North Yorkshire Champs or Cleveland Champs, you should all be very proud! Unfortunately the published Durham results so far only cover the top 16 otherwise I’d be giving every runner a mention for giving it their all on a pretty sapping course as well as representing their school brilliantly in the process.
We look forward to seeing those that qualified from the aforementioned Regional Championships at Inter-Counties in 2 weeks at Stewart Park, Middlesbrough (Sat Feb 3rd) and hopefully in the meantime this coming weekend at Sedgefield for the Northern XC Championships. We’re taking good numbers of Juniors and a few Seniors too, so we’d love as much support as possible. It’s not often we’ll get a semi-national event this close to home!