Cross country

Yorkshire County Athletics Association Cross Country Championships

Saturday 20th February 2010

Senior's

Thornes Park in Wakefield played host to the Yorkshire Cross country Championships on Saturday 20th February. Originally scheduled to be run in January, heavy snow forced the change of date. As over 2oo men lined up for the Senior race, conditions were almost ideal, dry, bright and clear with just the soft, thick mud to deal with. With about 6 mile to run, comprising 4 tough and very hilly laps, it was going to be an arduous race.

Once again, Ben Crowther had another excellent run, high up in the field right from the start, crossing the line in 31st. Ben has consistently raced well all season and been the Harriers first scorer on each occasion. Fresh from a 4th place finish at a race whilst on holiday, Andy Thorpe was still in good form as he slowly moved up the field, trying hard to close down on Ben, but to no avail as Ben was too strong or him but still finished strongly in 54th place.

There was a long gap back to one of the Harriers top Veteran road men, Geoff Cumber, recent winner of the V60 Cross Country West Yorkshire League Series. Geoff had a solid run round in 131st place to finish as the Clubs 3rd scorer with Club Chairman, Mark Gaughan not too far behind in 157th. Dene Townend was 180th with the battle between Bill Sage and Heath Reilly seeing Bill emerge triumphant in 193rd place, just 4 places in front of Heath.

Sarah Cumber had a strong but steady run to finish well inside the top third of the Ladies field. Never really struggling with the mud, Sarah trailed one of Bingley Harriers top Ladies, Alison Raw for the whole race, just losing ground on the final race for the line. 29th Sarah Cumber 23.08min

Junior Men

It was left to Steve Bayton and Nico Bajerski to fly the Harrier Colours in the Junior Mens Race, which was run alongside the Senior Mens race, the Juniors completing 3 laps though not 4.

Steve put in some hard work up the testing hills and managed to finish in the top 20 with Nico, in only his 3 rd Cross Country for the Club having a good, if not gruelling race, coming in 22nd.

Juniors

Postponed in January, due to the snow, the Yorkshire Cross Country Championships were finally held at Thornes Park, Wakefield, over the weekend. Dry, bright and mild weather greeted the runners although the ground was soft and extremely muddy in places, causing several athletes to take a tumble. The course is quite testing with several inclines on each lap, interspersed with sections of good running. Being a Championship race, the distances run are slightly longer than in normal league races, but with the 1st 6 finishers in each race (8 in U13 & U15 age), selected for the Yorkshire team, it's worth the extra effort. 2 discretionary places are available in each age group, which is what Halifax Harriers Sam Kerfoot-Roberts is pinning his hopes on. The unfortunate change of date meant that Sam would be on a ski trip with his school and so miss gaining outright selection. Picked for the team last year and with some impressive races this year including an overall 3rd in the West Yorkshire League, Sam is hoping this will be in his favour.

The U13 girls were 1st to run with a slightly apprehensive Molly Traviss on the start line, still feeling a little under the weather but she had no need to worry as she showed her prowess on the hills, charging up them to come home in 11th and gain a place as reserve for the team. Regan Smith, after a flying start settled for 60th place.

There was an unfortunate mishap in the U15 girls race for Rebecca Sullivan who was one of many to suffer a bad fall in the mud, which saw her lose several places as she took a little time to recover and start running again. Despite the obvious pain, Rebecca did complete the course, with what turned out to be a sprained wrist. With Holly Callaghan still climbing that ladder back to fitness, her 12th place must have been pleasing as she too made the reserve team. With Molly Jagger in 48th place, the girls finished as 9th team.

Hannah Pilkington was another of the clubs athletes to turn out to run despite not feeling 100 per cent and she too suffered a nasty fall at the top of the hill finishing 1 place in front of Lorna Gill, in 19th and 20th.

Edan Whitelaw led the U13 boys home with a fine run in 14th place and Michael Silvester ran well for 55th.

Yet another Harrier struggling with a virus was Jerome Castelow who despite a valiant attempt to get up with the top end of the field was obviously below par and did well to come in 23rd with Michael Gladstone not too far behind in 31st. with Ciaran Wilson-Baig in 43rd the lads finished as 9th team.

Mikie Gaughan was the sole competitior in the U17 men and a strong last lap saw him pick up several places to finish 22nd overall.

The full men's results , and women's results for the Yorkshire & Humberside cross country at Thornes Park Wakefield are available on the Nothern Athletics 2010 results page