Whisht lads, haad yor gobs, an aa’ll tell ye aall aboot… Lambton cross country!
Yes! Finally, a proper cross country! We had to wait until the end of October but it was the beautiful Lambton estate that delivered a good old mud-filled, hill fest that delighted as much as it appalled. Just the way it should be.
With Halloween just around the corner, this third meet of the season certainly put the frighteners up a few runners. There were plenty of agonising faces going up and near misses coming down the steep, squelchy hills.
Our gutsy under 11s kicked us off at 12pm. Noel James continued his commitment to the cause, digging in for a great sprint finish and a time of 9.31. Archie Brown followed shortly after and Finlay Diston finished strong and happy, which was great to see. Over to the girls and first up was Isla Aiston, who is so impressive over cross country as well as the track, what a talent. She finished an impressive 17th in 8.53. Carys Scott made a fantastic cross country debut and was only a few seconds behind in 9.12 (just wait til she gets her spikes on!) Isobel McCann also went sub 10 minutes. A great effort by all of our Hawks!
Next was the under 13s and Joseph Duthie-Brown stormed through from the fast pack to come in seventh (second fast pack runner) in a fantastic sprint finish with our friend James Sturman from North Shields Poly (both 14.04), Tom McCann was our next counter, followed by Kasper Pearson, who battled through an injury to complete the course so a massive well done to him.
In the under 17s Hugh Fenwick (now promoted to the fast pack) was 23rd overall and in an awesome time of 20.54. Lily Robson finished an impressive 20th in 23.58.
It was a small but perfectly formed team again for the women, with just seven making it out this time. And even with our ace in the pack Danielle Hodgkinson coming in fifth from the fast pack (and first fast pack finisher), it was not enough to put us higher than ninth overall. Everyone who turned up gave it their all. The rain and mud spurred Emily onto a second counter position. Having already motored up to the fast pack, Jen powered her way through to third counter. And self-confessed cross country loather but ever the team player Zahra, completed the first team. Laureen, Nikki and Christine ran so well. If only we had had one more person to complete their team.☹️ We need the women out in force for the remaining fixtures or it’s bye bye division one, which would be such a shame after all the effort our runners have put in. Big shout out to wor Barry for making his v65 debut in this race and finishing first male (34.27), which will be of no surprise to anyone.
There was a sea of green and golds over in the senior men’s race. Our 22-strong team battled up that killer hill three times (they all deserve meddles) and came eighth overall. It just shows how competitive it is up their in the top division.
Kris Axon was our first counter in 39.14, managing to keep Tom Sursham off his tale, but not by much (39.32). The rest of our first team were Ian Marsh, Martin Crozier, Simon Lyon and Andy Wigmore. It was great to Alastair Willis running for us again. He was followed by Daniel Wilson, Mark Covell, Tim Nicholson, Kev Wilson and Iain Hall. Great running also from Adam Hamilton, Keith O’Donnell, Ian Gowing, Andrew Crozier, Richard Pearson, Mick Skeldon, Dave Diston, David Sundin, Paul Stretesky and Alan Heslington.
Full results here.
Next one is a blinder – Aykley Heads on Saturday November 26th. Be there or be…probably somewhere a lot warmer and flatter, but where’s the fun in that?! 😃