A massive well done and thank you to all Heaton Harriers who turned out for the first 2023 cross country fixture in the North East Harrier League at Wrekenton on Saturday.
Junior races – Heaton had a fantastic turnout of 13 juniors across all races.
Under 11 Boys – Leo Parkin – 20th on debut.
Under 11 Girls – Robyn Jardine – 14th
Under 13 Boys – Alex Parkin 51st (running from Fast Pack)
Under 13 Girls – Olivia Daglish – 52nd
Under 15 Boys – Alex Smith 4th (promoted to Fast Pack), Johan Haniffa 19th (on debut) and Jake Smith 21st were our counters and were Second Placed Team overall. They were closely followed by Finley Smith 24th and Alex Hill 30th (on debut). Alex Smith, Jake and Finley all first time at U15 level.
Under 15 Girls – Mary Parkin 21st running from Fast Pack (10th on time), Leila Burden 32nd and Hannah Baqir 46th made up our team and were Seventh Placed Team. Leila and Hannah both first time at U15.
Under 20 Girls – Rosie Swatman – 12th A special mention to Rosie moving up to the U20’s. Rosie has now run in every Junior age category for Heaton from U11 upwards.
Women’s and V65 men’s race
We had 24 ladies and 3 V65 men taking part in this race which is 2 laps of the course (approx 3.85 miles total). On her Harrier League debut, first home for the club and an impressive 2nd place overall was Jo Woodcock who ran a time of 26.35. Jo is now promoted to medium pack for the next fixture. Our counters for our ladies’ team alongside Jo were Holly Matheson (57th), Eleanor Walker (58th) and Shelley Barker (61st).
This is a great start to this year’s Harrier League with our ladies’ team sitting in 5th position (out of 10) in Division 1.
A shout-out to Shelley Barker, Lisa Heerveld and Charlotte Quayle for making their Harrier League debuts for the club.
Men’s race
The rain had cleared, the course was nice and muddy and the sun had started to come out final race of the day which is three laps of the course (5.65 miles).
Despite relegation into Division 2 last season, we had a good turnout of 23 men to start the season and aim to get promoted back into Division 1. First home for the club was James Mckenzie in 17th place overall running from medium pack and a time of 34.38. Tigger has been promoted into the fast pack for the next fixture after finishing inside the top 10% of the field.
The men’s team event is made up of 6 counters which also included Ian Norman (93rd), Jonathan Smith (103rd), Jason Wall (119th), Lee Daglish (123rd) and Oliver Jardine (172nd).
A solid start to the season sees the Heaton men’s team in 3rd place in Division 2.
Well done to Owen Jeffries, Craig Buchanan, James Waiters and Jason Robson for their first time representing the club at an NEHL fixture.
A big thank you to everyone who took part and represented the club.
Please remember to keep your number and bring it to the next fixture at Druridge Bay on 15th October.
You can find out the other fixture details here.
Photo credit to Stuart Whitman