Last Saturday saw the North East Cross Country Championships at a very icy Temple Park in South Shields. A familiar venue for cross-country stalwarts but this time ran in reverse.
This year Heaton Harriers had the pleasure of hosting duties along with Elswick Harriers so not only did we have runners running but also fantastic volunteers setting up the course and marshaling on the same day as the Christmas party. The day had a full race program from the usual junior races in the morning to the senior races in the afternoon. Below is a concise race report from the day.
Junior races
Starting with the biggest Heaton success of the day, Mary Parkin finished in 3rd place in the U15 girls race. Mary was only pipped to 3rd by two Teesside athletes so well done Mary, well ran in the difficult icy conditions.
In other Junior races, Alex Smith finished 6th in the boys U13 race with Joseph Brown in 16th place and Alexander Parkin in 30th place. Emily Daglish finished 40th in the girls U13 race with sister Olivia Daglish finishing in 50th position.
Men’s race
In the seniors races the men ran before the women this time which always causes a conversation and memories of it happening in the usual harrier league fixtures. Lee Daglish was the highest placed finisher in 69th, followed by John Sturman in 87th, Bryan Ankers in 112th, Jason Wall in 119th, Adam McKenna in 182nd and Scott Armstrong completing the team in 199th place. The senior men’s team finished in 14th place overall. Well done to the 9 senior men who ran.
Women’s race
In the senior women’s race they fared better finishing in 7th place overall. Ellie Reed lead the team home in 14th place overall with Ellen Tullo in 18th place. Rachel Barnes and Holly Matheson completed the team in 49th and 55th place respectively. 11 ladies ran in total for Heaton.
Well done to everyone who ran on Saturday. The temperatures did not lift above 0c all day and the course was frozen in many places. A special well done to all the volunteers from Heaton Harriers who spent many hours outside in freezing temperatures, giving up the majority of their Saturdays for the club and ensuring everyone can run these championships safely.