It was a sunny blustery day in Sunderland for the Harriers at the Northern Road Relay Championships on Sunday. The club fielded 8 teams although some were incomplete due to last minute changes. The course was mostly an out and back with a challenging long uphill drag up to the changeover area back on the track at Silksworth.
The juniors did 3 legs of 2.5 miles and U14 girls were first to run with Aubrey Ambler (17:08) and Florence Painter (19:05) on leg 1. Orla Maden (17:57) and Autumn Good (19:09) completed the A Team who finished 21st position. James Neill was the only U14 boy and ran Leg 1 in 14:12 finishing in 19th position.
The U16 girls were led off by Ellie Smith (15:06) with a solid run in 7th place. Isobelle Crowther ((15:02) flew round to make up 2 places to 5th before Sienna Lavine (14:58) stormed around making up another place to 4th, just missing out on the medals.
The 18s ran the full 5k course and unfortunately we had 2 incomplete teams. However there were fabulous performances from Isaac Male (16:19) finishing 11th on leg 1 and handing over to Beau Clark (17:16) who kept the 11th place. In the U18 women , Isabella Tutt (17:36) finished 2nd on leg 1 with Kitty Harrison-Sargent (19:50) also finishing 2nd on leg 2.
The senior men’s A team came 38th so sadly didn’t make it to the National final this time. Ben Slow (15:56) ran the fastest leg for the Harriers in leg 2 and finished 28th. Eli Cattermole (16:10) was 26th with Alex Whitehead (17:50), Ayan Sinha (19:43), Will Cattermole (18:21) and Liam Parkin (16:55) bringing the team home in 38th place.
The B team was led off by Louis Pickles (19:08), James Franklin who surprised himself with 17:19 after being ill all week, Lee Cattermole (20:14), Paul Bateman (19:39), Daniel Hord (19:53) and Niall Smith (19:09) making a welcome comeback to bring the team home in 61st position.
Brilliant performances by all and well done Harriers!
Six Harriers made the journey to the Colne Valley near Huddersfield to compete in the Darkwood Demon Trail Race this morning. The challenging six mile course explored a varied route of towpaths, bridleways, moorland, boggy ground, woodland and short sections of road. Runners faced a total of nearly 1,000 ft of ascent with a demanding climb up Slaithwaite Moor.
Lee Cattermole led the Harriers home, taking first place in the M50 category in 49:39 and winning a box of chocolates! Stef Dickinson was next in 1:00:09, placing second in the F50 category. The other Harriers were; Rachel Standish (1:04:13), Fiona Murphy (1:12:46), Lucia Cattermole (1:15:03) and Martin Ellis (1:18:27).
A great race that is a strong contender for a place in the 2027/28 Fell & Trail League.
There was more success for the Harriers at the West Yorkshire Track & League Championships at Cleckheaton on Sunday 13th September. Athletes were rewarded with 17 medals on the day and picked up 5 of the awards for best performances over the 6 meetings held during the season.
The Harriers finished 2nd in Division 1 and League Awards were made on Sunday to:
Sean Duffy - Gold in the U12 boys
Autumn Good - Silver in the U12 girls
Ben Slow - Gold in the U18 men.
Sean also set a new U12 boys U12 West Yorkshire League record in the 75m of 10.22 seconds.
Sienna Lavine received the Douglas Bedford Award for the Best Track Performance for her achievement in the U14 girls 800m where she ran 2:11.53, the leading U14 girl in the UK this year.
The U14 team received the best Younger Age Group Team for their improvements this year over the previous season.
In the Championships on Sunday, there were Gold Medals for Isobelle Crowther (U14G 1500m), Isaac Male (U16B 1500m), Ben Slow (U18M 800m) and Eli Cattermole (U18M 3000m).
Silver Medals went to Autumn Good (U12G 75m), Sean Duffy (U12B 75m and 600m), Albert Jones (U16B 100mHurdles and High Jump), Will Pickering (U18M 3000m), Eli Cattermole (U18M Shot) and Sarah Cumber (SW 1500m).
Bronze Medals for Ruby McDonnell (U14G 1500m), Isaac Male (U16B 100mHurdles), Beau Clark (U18M 3000m), Ralf Jones (U18M Shot) and Eli Cattermole (U18M 800m) which meant that Eli picked up a Gold, Silver and Bronze on the day.
Well done to everyone!