Following the postponement of the Lambton fixture, we had a great turnout of Heaton Harriers keen to return to the XC Harrier League at Aykley Heads.

Due to the land being redeveloped, this was the final time a Harrier League fixture would be held on what is one of the toughest XC courses in the league. The course was not quite as muddy as the previous week’s XC relays at Thornley but there certainly was a lot of mud (and hills) to contend with.

Juniors
First up were the junior races with 11 Heaton juniors taking part in the fixture.

U11 boys – Euan McKinnon (33^rd)

U11 girls – Robyn Jardine (18^th)

U13 boys – Alex Parkin (20^th running from fast pack – 12^th on time)

U13 girls – Olivia Daglish (52^nd)

U15 boys – Finley Smith (13^th) Alex Smith (14^th) Jake Smith (15^th) , Johan Haniffa (35^th running from the fast pack for the 1^st time). Alex was 9^th and Johan 26^th on time. The team were 4^th team on the day and will remain joint top of the Harrier League on 8 points (once updated) level with Tyne Bridge and Tynedale in a very competitive division.

U15 girls – Mary Parkin (9^th – 6^th on time), Hannah Baqir (28^th) and Freya McKinnon (31^st). The girls were 4^th team on the day and will be joint 4^th in the league when it is updated.

Women

Next up was the ladies’ race with a slightly delayed start. In total, we had 15 ladies and 1 v65 man taking part in the 2-lap, 4 mile course.

Newly promoted to medium pack and on her second Harrier League race, Heaton’s Jo Woodcock was the first of our ladies to finish in a time of 29.45 and 7^th overall. Jo is now promoted to fast pack.

On her Heaton debut, Rebecca Magee was also promoted to medium pack placing in 12th position overall and in the top 10% of the field. The other two counters for the ladies’ team were Ellie Reed (35th) running from the fast pack and Nina Cameron (44th) running from the medium pack. The ladies team placed 4^th in Division 1. They are now 7^th overall in the Division 1 league after 2 fixtures.

Men

The course was nicely churned up for the final race of the day which was the 3-lap (6-mile) men’s race. The first home for the club was Chris Larkin in a time of 35:45. Chris was 9^th overall and will be promoted from medium to fast pack. Also promoted from slow pack to medium pack was Jack Shawcross who was 35^th overall. The other counters for the men’s team were Ian Norman (65^th overall), Lee Daglish (122^nd overall), John Sturman (129^th overall) and Jason Wall (145^th overall).

The men’s team came 2^nd in Division 2, and are now 1^st in the Division 2 league after 3 fixtures.