A massive well done and thank you to all Heaton Harriers who turned out for the first cross country fixture in the North East Harrier League at Wrekenton. Some great results from our juniors, ladies, and men’s teams.
Unlike previous years the weather on Saturday was slightly cooler and the ground was not quite so dry with a downpour earlier in the day. But in keeping with cross country traditions and to the disappointment of many, this was a fixture on the calendar with minimal mud involved.
Heaton Juniors
First up were the junior races and Heaton had a fantastic turnout from our junior members of the club with 12 of our members taking part. For many, this was their first cross country fixture, and our junior coach Jason Wall did an excellent job of explaining the challenging parts of the course to the juniors in the warm-up and how to tackle them. Also thank you to Jason for summarising the junior results!
In the Under 11 boys, Euan McKinnon finished in 31st place from a field of 68. A very respectable placing from Euan who still has two years in this division so much more to come.
In the Under 13 boys race Finley Smith (12th), Jake Smith (15th) and Alex Parkin (22nd and his debut in the league) were the first three boys home and made up the Heaton team which finished 3rd in this league. A massive well done to the under 13 boys as this is two top three finishes in a row for the boy’s team, something that hasn’t happened before. Alex Smith (24th) and Joseph Brown (37th) ran from the fast pack and were 2nd and 4th respectively from the fast pack runners – they lie 6th and 12th in the Grand Prix standings due to some fast times from the front end of the slow pack.
In the under 13 girls race Emily Daglish, Leila Burden (39th), Olivia Daglish (50th) and Freya McKinnon (52nd) worked as two teams pushing each other along. Emily, Leila and Olivia, all on their Harrier League debut, made up the Heaton team that finished 9th (from 19 teams) but the performance of the day goes to Freya who had her best Harrier League run to date.
In the under 15 girls race, Mary Parkin moved up from U13s to the U15s age category and finished an impressive 3rd place from slow pack in her first race meaning she has been promoted to fast pack. Mary is 6th in the Grand Prix showing that she will be competitive and amongst the top runners in her new category.
In the under 17 race Rosie Swatman placed 31st in a very competitive U20/U17 combined field and is on the comeback trail following her GCSE year.
Images from Stuart Whitman Photography, Laura Oldfield and Lee Daglish
Heaton Senior Women
Next up was the senior women’s race and the over 65 male race which is two laps of the course. A great turnout from Heaton Harriers with 21 of our athletes taking part.
First home for the club in the senior women’s race was Holly Matheson in 10th position an excellent result out of a field of 441 competitors. Our counters for our ladies’ team alongside Holly were Laura Oldfield (35th), Dani Smythe (37th) and Ellie Reed (45th). Holly and Laura are now promoted to medium pack.
There were some great individual performances on the day but also collectively this is a really strong team performance to kick start this year’s Harrier League with our ladies’ team sitting in 3rd position (out of 10) in Division 1.
A shout out to Eleanor Walker, Sara Nightingale, Rachel Waite and Lauren Morgan for taking part in their first cross country event for the club and making their Harrier League debuts. We hope you all enjoyed it.
Images from Stuart Whitman Photography
Heaton Senior Men
The final race of the day was the men’s which is three laps of the course. Despite many other clubs having lower turnouts with committing runners to take part in the Northern Athletics Road Relay Championships, we had 19 runners representing Heaton Harriers from the field of 541 athletes.
Leading home the men’s team was Harrier League debutant, Lee Daglish in 41st place overall. Lee was very closely followed by David Daniel Young in 42nd position who had a very strong performance to finish so high up in the field as he was running from the fast pack. The men’s team is made up of six counters with John Sturman (108th), Scott McEntee (133rd), Brian Ankers (139th) and Oliver Jardine (153rd) making up the other places.
The Heaton Harriers men’s team is currently sitting in 9th position in the league overall and Lee has been promoted to the medium pack.
Well done also to Ben Rea, Andrew Curry and Mark Sutherland for making their first Harrier League appearances in their Heaton vests.
Images from Stuart Whitman Photography and George Routledge
You can find the full results for this fixture here.
Well done again to everyone who took part in the first cross country fixture of the season, it is really appreciated by the club. The next fixture is in two weeks’ time at Druridge Bay on Sunday 9th October.
For those that have not registered to take part but would still like to, please speak to our club captains who will be able to register you.
Photos from Stuart Whitman Photography, George Routledge, Laura Oldfield and Lee Daglish