A bumper turnout saw 34 Harriers at the first cross country of the year at Ormesby Hall, on a course which, though fairly level, was nothing short of a quagmire in places! (Rob Burn says mud is essential for a true cross country.) Nevertheless, it didn't seem to hamper Esther Harrison who finished in 5th place in 30.18 with Bronwyn Mayo 8th in 31.17 and Trudy Morrice 12th in 32.21. It was really good to see Olivia Mulligan back in running shoes and she came 21st in 33.28, Lorraine Hiles 23rd in 33.48, Hilary Coventry 32nd in 35.43, Louise Mayfield 35th in 36.39, and Rosie Gatenby 39th in 37.04. Kirsty Naylor took 38.23, Clare Gwillam 40.37, Beth Haggath 43.18, Sara Armitage 43.25, Trish Radford 43.46, Faith Coy 45.38, Tracey Docherty 46.17, Sharon Keegan 51.12, Margaret Wikeley 52.41, Diana Williams 56.27 and Denise Gandy 57.29. Very many congratulations to the ladies on winning the team competition.
The older men ran with the ladies, Ken Evitt taking 47.15, Hugh Jenyns 50.26 and Alan Wikeley 55.44.
In the men's race over almost twice the distance, and having had several races over the already muddy course, Dan Garthwaite was first club finisher, 45th in 44.58. with Ken Wood 62nd in 48.17 and Alan Simpson 69th in 49.08, Paul Atkinson took 50.46, Gary Wilkinson 51.05, Walter Busuttil 51.22, David Tervit 52.29, Joe Joyce 53.04, Mike Cropper 54.07, Pedro Carrasco 55.17, Koe O'Keeffe 56.00, Duncan Fothergill 56.15, Marc Davies 57.33 and Will Jagger, returning to running after an injury, 63.40.
We were proud to have an U13 boy at the event in the form of Thomas Gwillam who took 16.31 in his shorter race.
On a completely different surface, flat and on roads, for the very popular Brass Monkey Half Marathon at York, Matt Jones was first club finisher, 345th out of more than 1600 runners in PB 1.25.39, with Paul Peacock not far behind, 365th in 1.26.15 and Adrian Elsworth 1.44.36. A wild, windy night didn't augur well for the race, but thankfully it had calmed down before the start to make running conditions good.
The previous weekend saw 10 members out for the Commondale Clart Fell Race, which certainly lived up to its name, race 6 in the Dave Parry Winter Series. Paul Peacock led Harriers home, 34th out of 146 in 45.31, with Tom Levi 41st in 46.29, closely followed by Esther Harrison, 42nd and 1st Open lady in 46.46. Trudy Morrice 63rd and 2nd F50 in 50.03, Bronwyn Mayo 76th in 51.49, Kim Wilkinson 77th in 51.52, Lorraine Hiles 88th and 1st F55 in 53.50, ever present Duncan Fothergill 90th in 54.32, Hilary Coventry 200th in 56.09 and Sarah Fairhurst 120th in 61.17. More congratulations are again in order for the ladies who, with 4 finishers in the top 10, came 1st and 3rd in the team competition. A superb result!
Esther Harrison, Kim Wilkinson, Tom Levi, Lorraine Hiles, Paul Peacock, Hilary Coventry, Trudy Morrice, Rosie Gatenby, Duncan Fothergill, Sarah Fairhurst and Bronwyn Mayo at Commondale Clart Fell Race
Gary Wilkinson at Ormesby Hall (Photo courtesy David Robinson NYMAC)
Esther Harrison at Ormesby Hall
(Photo courtesy David Robinson NYMAC)
Trudy Morrice at Ormesby Hall
(Photo courtesy David Robinson NYMAC)
Bronwyn Mayo at Ormesby Hall
(Photo courtesy David Robinson NYMAC)
(Photo courtesy David Robinson NYMAC)
Lorraine Hiles at Ormesby Hall (Photo courtesy David Robinson NYMAC)