It was an excellent
start to the new year. The course was run on an anti-clockwise route
again. Conditions were two inches to two feet of snow plus drifting
in places. A quality field of 166 runners was headed by Craig
McBurney of Morpeth being pursued by Paul Lowe of Mandale and
Charles Stead of Northumberland Fell Runners. Eventually Craig was
able to ease away from Paul to win by over a minute, who also
eventually managed to create a gap of thirty seconds on Charles. In
the women’s event it was a tale of two sisters with Sarah and
Johanna Jackson head to head throughout the race. The latter just
managed to out sprint her sister in the last 50metres. In the
veterans mens races Mandale Colleagues Brian Roberts (over 40 – is
he called ‘Dangerous Brian’ because of his descending techniques
in snow?) and Keith Wilson (over 50 – if you are old enough to
have read the comic you will know why he’s called
Wilson!) were winners. In the over 60’s section it was
D.Smith of Elvet winning narrowly from Brian Hood of Mandale.
The Women’s Vet
‘Category 1’ winner was C.Shouksmith of Knavesmire. Female Vet
2. Winner was Cath Worth of Mandale and Category 3 winner was
Maureen Gibbs of Thirsk & Sowerby.
After dealing with
those who just keep coming back for more we come to The Junior Race.
I have a lot of thoughts about this event and am coming to the
conclusion that it must be run as a very short event well away from
the main race. All competitors this year followed the main field and
ended up on the main race full route. Whereas walking 5.5 miles isn’t
out of the way for your average eleven year old racing over this
distance isn’t a good idea! Marshals on the route report
difficulties in seeing the obviously different numbers when they are
in amongst a large body of people. The result for this event is
therefore just as they came in, all competitors having run the wrong
course.
1.
K.Shaw Mandale Under
16 38.33 30pts.
2.
B.Mason NMH! Under 16
43.30 28pts.
3.
N.Mechie Thirsk & S. Under 16 N/A.
4.
S.Butterworth Mandale Under 14 30-pts.
5.
Bryony Scoffin NMH Under 14 Female winner 30pts
5=
R.Pierce Under 14 2nd
N/A.
Almost 700 pounds
was raised for pupils with Special Needs in Springfield School
Darlington. If you are interested in raising monies for such
youngsters, there are a number of projects across the Cleveland area
that I could put you in touch with! Well done to all fund raisers
including a special word of thanks to The Royal Oak! Stan Stevenson
and his wife and Richie Clarke for his hard work.
Hope to see many of
you in the coming year. Remember don’t just stop at home if you
are injured we need marshals in each event.
Best Wishes
David
Parry N.E.C.A.A. Hill Running Convenor Tel 01287 652656.
Corrections:
* 2/1/02 J.Raffery (8th) changed to Junior
status & therefore subsequent Senior points upgraded +
Womens team points corrected
*20/1/02 S.Mechie (31st) points corrected and
subsequent V points corrected. Male team points now recalculated
ignoring female runners. |