Saturday 8th January 2022
North East Harrier XC League @ Thornley Hall Farm
Who’s up for a game of stuck in the mud!!!
After a switch in the fixtures at Temple Park for the Sherman Cup/Davison Shield and Thornley Hall Farm saw the fifth Harrier league event taking place a month earlier. With one more league fixture to come at Alnwick on the 5th March which need a very good turnout for our ladies to become champions and our men to gain promotion.
First race of 2022 for many and that could potentially be the toughest of the year. That was something special, a super tough XC course on the harrier league circuit.
Running clockwise today, 12mm spikes were needed on this complete mud bath of course made even more tricky with cattle hoof prints with some being completely frozen which was very draining for our stars. There were a few faster sections where you could actually run which was a relief to all until you came around to a hurdle on top of the hill which slowed runners right down before a very steep decline which you just had to let go and hope for the best. For the club to have 27 runners complete the race which many had issues with shoes being stuck in the mud is a hugely satisfying for team morale. Just goes to show what XC means to our growing developing group.
I praise the efforts from the volunteers and our superstars from Elswick harriers of which both women’s and men’s teams remain top of the pack in their respective divisions after this event.
Hope to see everyone’s spikes sparkly clean at the next event
Women’s
Field size 303
Actual times:
22nd Susanne Stephenson 32.39 and promoted to the fast pack
31st Judith Nutt 30.24 from the fast pack
33rd Andrea Banner 33.06 from the medium pack
45th Arabella Pearce 33.27 from the medium pack
59th Debbie Spoor 36.16
61st Robyn Naylor 34.02 from the medium pack
67th Felicity Smith 31.32 from the fast pack
169th Melissa Bateson 39.55
176th Hannah Colling 40.10 making her xc debut
194th Kim Matthews 40.55
Numbers below means the position the runner came within their club’s division. Then points are totted up from those positions to give you the points for the day (the lower the better)
Elswick first 4 finishers 13-Stephenson, 16-Nutt, 18-Banner, 25-Pearce came 3rd in Division 1 with 72 points. Whilst our next 4 finishers of 32-Spoor, 34-Naylor, 37-Smith, 81-Bateson scored 184 points and finished joint 9th. Then an incomplete team of Incomplete 83-Colling, 91-Matthews
Results: http://www.harrierleague.com/results/2021-22/Thornley/SenF.htm
Mens
Field size 382
15th Adam Bell 40.13 and promoted to the medium pack
41st Richard Houghton 44.36
61st Sean Mennim 45.08
83rd Jonathan Rewcastle 43.10 from the medium pack
88th Daniel Spoor 45.54 making his xc debut
121st Mark Turnbull 44.19 from the medium pack
124th Paul Robinson 46.52 its been quite some time since he pulled on the vest, pleased to see him back.
125th Paul Taylor 46.54
148th Kieron Dixon 45.17 from the medium pack
219th Lee Coulson 50.24
223rd Simon Mcenaney 50.33
288th Rob Lambert 54.48
301st David Jones 55.35
318th Chris Pearce 57.09
350th Stephen Naylor 61.27
373rd Tom Hanson 66.01
380th Rob Wilson 71.12
Numbers below means the position the runner came within their club’s division. Then points are totted up from those positions to give you the points for the day (the lower the better)
Elswick mens first 6 finishers 3-Bell, 9-Houghton, 17-Mennim, 29-Rewcastle, 30-Spoor, 41-Turnbull came in 2nd place in Division 2 with 129 points. Whilst our next 6 finishers of 42-Robinson, 43-Taylor 53-Dixon, 77-Coulson, 78-Mcenaney, 105-Lambert racked up 398 points finishing joint 8th. Then an incomplete team of 109-Jones, 119-Pearce, 127-Naylor, 134-Hanson, 138-Wilson
Results: http://www.harrierleague.com/results/2021-22/Thornley/SenM.htm
Sunday 9th January 2022
Winter Wipeout hosted by Cold Brew Events
A deep winter half marathon taking you to one of the highest points of Northumberland and back again. Whatever the weather. An out and back race to the summit of one of the Cheviots highest points. This is always ran in early January so you’ll need to tackle whatever the weather throws at you. At the highest point on Sunday David wrote it was -10, very icy in which he took 3 tumbles on the descent as well as dealing with a river and stream crossing. Would be great to see David take on some XC in the future as they would seem simple compared to this challenge.
Field size 208
182nd David Hodgson 3.59.05https://racesplitter.com/races/1AB9E2356
