Halifax Harriers were represented by eighteen young athletes at the Yorkshire Cross Country Championships at Lightwater Valley in Ripon on 7th January. In the under-13 girls' race Kitty Harrison Sargent won the bronze medal, and along with teammates Alesha and Lily Atkinson (who finished 14th and 22nd respectively), earned the girls a well-deserved silver team medal. The under-13 boys were awarded a team bronze, with Sam Keighley 10th, Joe Stone 11th and Beau Clark 24th. The under-13 boys B team of Tom Wright, Albert and Ralf Jones finished in 7th position.
In a tough field the under-15 boys' team finished 5th, Ben Slow 22nd, Chester Gately 23rd and Eli Cattermole 28th.
Halifax Harriers had a good turnout, making up more than 20% of the field, at the Giant's Tooth Fell Race on 1st January to start 2023. The short course of just under three miles, with over 400' ascent, charges from the car park at Ogden down to the reservoir and up to the Giant's Tooth. Then across the bogs, dropping back down to the reservoir before the last climb to the finish. Short, fast and brutal with plenty of mud to contend with this year!
Ned Hughes was the first home of the 15 Harriers in third place overall in 19:36 closely followed by junior Will Cattermole in fifth place (19:52) whose slight navigation error towards the end cost him second place. Brother Eli was eighth in 20:20 just ahead of Fred Carver in ninth place in 20:38.
There was another tussle between Lee Cattermole in 19th place in 21:49 followed by Will Carver in 20th (21:56) with Tom Paget and James O'Rourke in 21st (22:28) and 22nd (22:53) respectively, both having completed the New Year's Day Parkrun earlier.
Simon Gelsthorpe took first MV60 in 23:49 with Phil Grimes second MV60 (24:10) and Mark Crabtree third MV60 in 24:30. Junior Jayde McGregor was next home in 24:54 and finished a very impressive sixth lady overall. Hazel Berrett was first FV60 in 27:44 just pipping Andrea Ackroyd who got first FV50 (28:04). Kirsty Carver finished in 35:46, a day after achieving her 100th Parkrun.
16 Harriers took part in the scenic undulating Ribble Valley 10k on Tuesday. This was the latest race in the club's ‘Road Race Challenge'. This event, starting and finishing in Clitheroe, incorporates The Northern 10k Road Championships which attracts a number of Elite runners, guaranteeing a very strong field in the race.
The forecast was set to be wet and windy but the runners were afforded with near perfect conditions. The race was won by Calum Johnson of Gateshead Harriers in 29.10. There were 9 runners sub 30 minutes.
Bravo then to Tom Hodgson who ran a pb and a club 10k record (all ages) in 31.24, finishing 24th overall in a field of 1,158 runners. Amazing! Also it is important to recognise Will Carver who also ran a pb in 38.39, just pipping his son Fred who also ran sub 39 minutes. Congratulations!
Well done to Adrian Thomas the 2nd Harrier back (36:44), Sarah Louise Cumber for achieving first f50 in sub 40 mins (39:26) and Rob Hick for being first m65 in 43:28.
There were also age group successes for Geoff Cumber (2nd m70), Hazel Berrett (3rd f60) and Susan Hall (3rd f70). Indeed, a big cheer to all the Harriers for taking part who all worked equally as hard. The others were: Ryan Barker, Rachael Beaumont, Erika Nightingale, Paul Hopkinson, Stef Dickinson, Kirsty Carver and Martin Haigh. Full results can be found in the Recent Races section of the website.
This is a most beautiful race and I shall look forward to taking part next year.