Today saw the first event of the 2019-2020 Cross Country season at Acklam, Middlesbrough. The weather over the weekend had been pretty dreary with plenty of rain which made conditions ‘typical’ of a cross country race.
First up were the ladies, covering approximately 5km. Linda Noble was the first Harrier home finishing in 14th, showing significant progress on her return from injury. She was ably supported by debutant Amy Pickworth who finished 25th, two places ahead of Pauline Brown who in turn finished ahead of Sarah Guy 30th and Megan Noble 31st.
Amelia Grayson came home in 49th ahead of Janice Foster in 58th and Diane Jones 63rd. Cross Country Team Captain Lesley Miller was two places behind in 65th with another of our team debutants, Georgette Reid 72nd and long serving member Rose Rutherford 122nd giving our ladies a 3rd place overall.
The men’s race was over 10km and strong performances from the top 6 finishers gave our men’s team a superb 1st place result on the day. Drew Inglis finished 5th in a very strong race including second claim Dean Newton who was 2nd and Paul Allan who finished 8th, thirty seconds behind Drew. Wes Tarn was first V40 finishing 13th overall, Colin Taylor 3rd V40 in 22nd with Simon Rogers 33rd after another strong run from him. Completing the top 6 was Tom Leighton in an impressive 38th place.
U20 runner Josh Mawer finished in 53rd with David Nalder 60th and first V65, Dave McKenna 74th and Phil Teece 77th one place ahead of Dave Tomlinson in 78th and John Dunne 82nd. Debutant Shaun Falconer finished 117th with Michael Cooper 128th ahead of Barry Foster in 133rd place and Tony Roberts in 147th. Great performances all round.