Nine of our top junior cross country runners travelled to Sheffield today for the Northern Cross Country Relay Championships. Two Under 13 teams and an Under 17 team battled it out against hundreds of other North of England athletes around Sheffield’s biggest parkland area. The teams were made up of three athletes, with each member running a single lap around the Graves Park course; 1800m for the U13’s and 2300m for the U17’s as you can see on the route maps below.
Under 13 Girls – Zara Jones, Freya Talman, Savannah Tarn
It was a fast and furious start as 49 pairs of feet pounded down the straight, heading towards the first bend. Zara was running the first leg and what an excellent job she did, managing to stay in contention against some tough competition. She completed the 1800m course alongside Stockport, Liverpool and Harrogate who all finished in 6:05 as they handed over to their second leg. Zara is down as 9th in the results, although 6th through to 9th all recorded the same time.
Freya took over for the second leg and things were going well, until she lost one of her spikes in the mud! She could have pulled out, but not wanting to let the team down she carried on regardless so well done to Freya for that! She did well just to drop 3 places under the circumstances, handing over to Savannah in a time of 6:51.
Savannah set off at a roaring pace, chasing down East Cheshire who were just 6 seconds ahead. She ran a tremendous leg, overtaking the East Cheshire athlete to gain a place and bring the girls home in 11th place in excellent time of 6:42, meaning a cumulative time of 19:38 for the team.
An amazing result considering all three girls are still in their first year of Under 13. Roll on next year! Well done girls!
Under 13 Boys – Harry Lyons, Alex Boyer, Elwood Kelley
Individually, the three boys are all exceptional athletes in their own right, so together, they were a formidable team. Harry took on the first 1800m leg, up against some tough competition from the other 48 teams taking part. He pushed hard, finishing in a solid 6:01 in 19th place.
Over to Alex for the second leg. We keep talking about what a great start to the cross country season he’s had, but what happened next was simply outstanding; that built in engine of his wasted no time in getting into top gear, and he overtook runner after runner to bring the team from 19th up to an amazing 4th place! His time of 5:37 was by far the fastest over leg 2, and 6th fastest on the day!
He handed over to Elwood for the third and final leg. He wasn’t going to give up that position without a fight, in fact, he ran a tremendous leg, gaining another place on the way to bring the boys home in fabulous 3rd place. He was only 3 seconds behind 2nd place, and 18 seconds behind the winners, Sale Harriers. Elwood’s time of 5:55 was the 4th fastest over the final leg. Well done boys, an outstanding performance!
Under 17 Boys – Daniel Boyer, John Russell, Adam Russell
Three more talented athletes here, and on paper looked like another strong team. Our second member of ‘Team Boyer’ got things under way, with Dan up against 33 other top athletes over a 2.3k leg. As always, he produced a very strong performance, completing the lap in 7:40, and as he handed over to John, DHAC were in 17th place.
John dug deep, and did what he does when competing in a triathlon, gain places! In fact, he overtook an impressive 7 athletes on the way, finishing in 7:37, the 3rd fastest time over leg 2, bringing the boys up to 10th place.
He handed over to his brother, Adam, who ran an outstanding final leg. As always, he pushed hard, running the 2nd fastest of the final stage runners and 5th fastest overall, with a time of 7:19. He gained another 4 places on the way to bring the boys home in 6th place, just 5 seconds out of the medals. Well done lads, another tremendous performance from our DHAC team.
Congratulations to our DHAC teams running here today. It takes a lot of hard work to run this well, and the determination shown by them all was unbelievable. Well done to everyone, you have done yourselves and your club proud!
Full results from all age categories at this event can be viewed HERE