118th Northeastern Cross-Country Championships – Saturday 14 December, Temple Park
At last, a cross-country race that actually proceeded according to the schedule. The weather was bright and still, with no rain whatsoever – an absolute blessing after the relentless rain of last year’s event.
We had representatives in every race from under 11, under 13, under 15, under 17/20 and the senior men and women. You can find the details of the junior performances in Ken Heslop’s report. However, I will mention our under 17/20 athletes here given that many of them train and race with the seniors.
Callum Eldridge was our sole competitor in the men’s under 17/20 (7.2km) race. On arrival at the venue, Callum realised he’d forgotten to bring his shorts, but following a plea to other male athletes, a white and green pair of Gosforth Harriers shorts were acquired for the race. Unphased by this wardrobe mishap, Callum ran a time of 25.52 and finished in 12th position.
We had a very strong under 17/20 women’s team consisting of 5 athletes – Ava Durham, Sydney Bungay, Bella Russell, Erin Blight and Imogen Bungay. Imogen ran neck and neck for a large part of the 4.6km race with the formidable force that is Charlotte Dillan (Houghton) and managed to finish strongly in silver position ahead of Birtley rival Katie Francis. A second medal came for Imogen in the team race with the trio of Imogen, Erin and Bella taking the bronze medals, supported by their under 17 teammates Ava and Sydney.
Our men did a sterling job of getting round the (not quite) 12km course which consisted of a a very steep down hill before a water jump, and broad stretches of boggy mud. Joe Horner led the men home followed by captain Ben Hall, Mike Russell, William Marsden, John Rippon, Roland Brown and David King. I’m not sure it was entirely sensible for David to have run given an obvious knee injury he was carrying, but he showed true team spirit in his desire to get round and hopefully he didn’t aggravate the injury further. Guess the runners from the headless photos below.
The men’s championship was dominated by Morpeth Harriers, however, it was the other notable runner called Callum (Johnson) who took first place yet again for Gateshead. He indicated that he hopes to be fighting for gold at the Elswick Boxing Day Parluufs.
This is the only cross-country event we can think of which has the men’s race preceding the women’s event. I will endeavour to find out the justification for this, to placate any females from abstaining in protest next year.
In the women’s race we had a team of five led home by Justina Heslop who finished in an impressive 7thposition. With the aid of Jude Nutt, Felicity, Mary and me, we were the sixth team (out of 18 complete teams). Like the men’s race, Morpeth were dominant and took the team prize easily given that the first three women were all from Morpeth. However, the Elswick girls and women were the winners of the J C Kennedy trophy as the overall women’s team. This was achieved on account of us having complete teams in the under 13s, under 15s, under 17/20 and senior women’s categories and finishing in first, eighth, third and sixth place respectively. We await receipt of the trophy from last year’s winners NSP.
Well done to all our runners for turning out to represent our club in this local championship race. It would be fantastic to see more of our athletes participate next year in the 119th running of the event.
Follow the link for the full results:
Run Nation Gateshead Hot Chocolate 5km and 10km
Four Elswick runners took on this festive run event starting at the Derwenthaugh country park in Gateshead. Two runners took part in the 5km race. Fior Sayer is making great progress after a long bout of injury and she finished the distance in 24.57 (first female 40-44, third female). Malcolm Liddle was the second M60 in a time of 27.41.
In the 10km race, Luke Hilliard came first in a time of 34.20 and Susanne Stephenson was third woman (first F55-59) in a time of 45.08. Great running by all four of our representatives.
Malaga Marathon
By contrast to our two local races, LirF Rob Lambert was in warmer climes for more run tourism, and this time taking on the marathon in Malaga. He was delighted to knock off 13 minutes from his result in 2023, finishing in 3.55. Great performance and race fit for the rest of the cross-country season. Well done Rob.
The winner in 2.08 was Vincent Kigen from Kenya in 2.08.05. For full results, follow the link:
What’s next?
Elswick seniors’ party on Saturday 21 December at YOLO, Ponteland from 7pm. Tickets are available on our website. Earlier in the day it’s the Saltwell 10km – a fantastic race to get you into the festive spirit. Entries are open until 10am on Thursday 19th.
The next NEHL will take place on 19 January at Wrekenton, so make sure you know where your race number is.