Sam makes hay at Druridge Bay!
Sun and warm temperatures, dry land, no big hills, eh? Surely this couldn’t be x-country?!
We were a small but determined team for the second in the North East Harrier League x-country series. This one closely followed Wrekenton last week. But despite being low on numbers we saw some great racing from our small green and gold band.
The junior athletes stole the show with some fantastic running early on with Luke Pichler gaining a fabulous fourth place in u11 boys, backed up by Hugh and Reuben. Louis was first home in u13 boys, backed up by Dan and Cam. Oisin came home 21st in the u15 boys, a great run from Oisin… top 20 next time. Erin had a great race (once she managed to get a number( finishing 16th overall and sixth fastest on the day). The women followed with some very credible performances led home by Donna and backed up by Emily, Julie Williams and our superwoman Julie Collinson (who completed her second Ironman only the weekend before!)
The men worked hard but with low numbers we remain rooted to the bottom of the league. Captain Simon led the men home and the remaining counters were David Diston, Jack Armstrong, Brian Hetherington, Keith O’Donnell and Paul James. We won’t say much about Jack flying past Brian on the home straight! Big thanks to James, Alf, John and Daryl who completed the men’s team.
The athlete of the meeting had to go to Sam Charlton who won the u17 men’s race by over two minutes! Sam attacked from the gun and had a one minute lead at the half way point and just kept going. Whilst he ran from the slow pack he still had the fastest time of the day, beating the fast pack runners by over 30 seconds. Congratulations Sam.
Full results are here.
Big thanks to everyone who came along to support the green and golds, your shouts make a huge difference to the athletes.
Our next fixture is 18th November at Aykley Heads…we need ALL our men and women to get along and get stuck in from the gun. It’s such a great day, please do come and do your bit. You might think x-country isn’t for you but you won’t know until you try it and I guarantee you’ll surprise yourself. It’s a lot of fun and it means a lot to the club to see us well represented in the North East running community as well as bringing home vital points for the team. Go on….you know you want to!
Paddy (and a teensy bit from Emily).