Hundreds of athletes headed for the coast last weekend as Redcar hosted the second NYSD Cross Country meeting of the season. There was an excellent turnout at the Fox Rush Farm Community Woodland and as usual our Junior Harriers were in the thick of it. Here’s how things went….
Under 11’s
A 1.7km route through fields and woodland for our youngsters, and they all relished the challenge! We had 5 from our junior section in the boys race and all of them scored points today by finishing in the top 10. Ollie Curran was the first of them home taking 3rd place in 6:18, closely followed by Daniel Callaghan who finished 4th in 6:29. Next up was Olly Strover who took 5th place in 6:41, and just one second behind in 6:42 was Lucas Rogers finishing 6th. Finally, it wasn’t long before Rhys Price crossed the line in 8th place in a time of 7:07. A fantastic effort boys, well done!
We had six young hopefuls lining up for the girls race. Sasha Patterson just missed out on the points at the Acklam meet, but this time she bagged a healthy 8 points for finishing 3rd in an excellent time of 6:42. Next were Eleanor Gibson and Charlotte Sensical who finished within seconds of each other; Eleanor took 11th place in 7:26 with Charlotte hot on her heels in 12th, crossing the line in 7:30. It was a great effort from our other three girls as well who all finished consecutively, in 21st, 22nd and 23rd place. Beth Graham was the first of our trio in a time of 8:06, with Bea Wilks right behind in 8:08; then just a few seconds later it was Hettie Graves who crossed the line in 8:11. Terrific running girls, well done!
Above: Ollie Curran, Hettie Graves, Bea Wilks and Beth Graham
Under 13’s
With none of the boys in action this week, it was down to the girls to do their stuff for the Under 13’s. Lottie Graves and Chloe Graham were both in the points after an excellent performance from both along the 2.8km route. Lottie crossed the line in 4th place in a time of 11:54 and Chloe, who’s a year younger, wasn’t far behind in 10th place finishing in 13:47. Top running girls, well done!
Above: Lottie Graves and Chloe Graham
Under 15’s
We have some real talent in our junior endurance runners, none more so than our current Under 15 age group. Harry Lyons and Alex Boyer proved themselves once again taking 1st and 2nd place today; a strong run from both with Harry crossing the line first in 10:56 with Alex following closely in 11:14. Next was Matthew Vest earning himself an impotant point for 10th place, finishing in 13:48. And Thomas Grayson improved on his placing at Acklam, this time finishing 13th in a time of 15:38. The boys also took 1st place in the team event! Tremendous effort lads, well done!
Not to be outdone, the Under 15 girls were on top form as well! Zara Jones impressed everyone taking 1st place with a 78 second lead; she crossed the line with an excellent time of 11:50. Another tremendous run from Sophie Bannister put her in 2nd equalling her placing at Acklam; she completed the 3.2km course in 13:08. And it wasn’t long before the next white & blue vest crossed line, worn by Savannah Tarn. A fantastic effort from Savannah brought her home in 4th place in a time of 13:55. Not surprisingly our girls took 1st place in the team event as well with an incredibly low 7 points. Outstanding girls, well done!
Above: Zara Jones and Savannah Tarn
Under 17’s
We just had the two Harriers competing in the 6km men’s race, and both of them were in the points. Dylan Wilson bagged 6 points after finishing in 5th place, crossing the line in 24:04, and Ben Buckley earned himself a couple of points finishing 9th in 33:08. Nice one lads!
In the women’s race we had four of our Under 17’s taking part. Marissa Boon started her season off well in the last race at Acklam, but today was even better; a magnificent performance, beating all U17/U20/Senior/Vet women to take 1st place overall in 24:51. Mia Wetherill was the next white & blue to complete the 6km; she was the 5th Under 17 to finish, crossing the line in 27:29. Next up with another strong performance was Emily Vest; she took 7th place finishing in 30:29. And not far behind was our final Under 17, Suerin Park, running her first ever NYSD cross country. An excellent debut from Suerin, finishing as the 8th Under 17 in a time of 31:26. Tremendous effort girls, well done!
Overall an excellent performance from our Junior Harriers with some outstanding individual and team results. If you want to check out the full results go to http://www.nysd.org.uk/ where you can also find details on the next NYSD meeting at Croft Circuit which is hosted by Darlington Harriers, so make sure you’re there! 🙂
As always, many thanks to the Harrier parents for the use of their photos.