Harriers Christmas Handicap
It was a wet, misty and cold morning for the 16 runners in this years Christmas Handicap, but competitors weren’t cold for very long as they tackled the somewhat hilly 5.8 mile traditional course. Ryan Barker took the honours this year in a full handicap time of 55:27 (40:27), with Rob Hick in second place 57:52 (42:52) and Sarah Cumber coming home third in 58:03 (41:33). Typically, Ryan had also been racing on the cross country the previous day and had thrown in a couple of spin classes as well, you know, just to keep the legs moving!!
Nigel Rigg finally took the record for the most times running the event from John Greenwood with 37, however John still holds the record for the most consecutive runs with 35, and that’s never likely to be beaten!
Thanks go to the helpers that made it possible – the ever present Craig Barrett timekeeping, and ably assisted by Geoff Cumber and Dene Townend.
The race was followed by the traditional fun social gathering at the three pigeons.
The full results are now available on the website. Why not also checkout how you fare against others that have run the course since 1985!
Christmas Handicap christmashandicap2025results.xlsx xmashandicaps8525rev_2025.xlsx
The final round of the West Yorkshire XC League was held on Saturday at a sunny and muddy Middleton Park in Leeds. Overall numbers were slightly down on the previous event however the Harriers were out in force again. Under 13 Boy James Neil again managed to podium with another strong 2nd place finish, along with Ben Crowther (M35) and James Franklin (M45) also placing 2nd in their respective age groups. Nia Harrison-Sargent placed 3rd in the U20W race. There were 3rd Team places for the U11B, U15G and U17M.
In the final overall League scores, the Harriers were rewarded with individual Silver medals for James Neil (U13B), Sam Keighley (U17M), Nia Harrison-Sargent (U20W) and Kitty Harrison-Sargent picked up a Bronze in the U17W. Autumn Good just missed out on the medals finishing 4th in the U11G . In the seniors, it was Gold for Ben Crowther in the M35 and Bronze for James Franklin in the M45 category.
The Gold Team medal went to our under 17 men who dominated the league this year, finishing ahead of City of York and Leeds City AC. A Bronze team medal went to the U15G.
With the XC league fixtures finished for 2025/26 season, its now onto the XC Championships starting with Yorkshire Championships on 10th January 2026, followed by the Northerns on 24th January and the Nationals on 21st February 2026. Entry details can be found on the Cross Country page and the Calendar page of the Website.