Paul’s weekend report…
t was the penultimate cross-country event of the season on Sunday and the club-league parkrun at Flatts Lane on Saturday. Following on from Andy J’s report – we had 43 runners, Helen J volunteering and a sprinkling of supporters for another successful club-league run. Of those 43, 14 were first-timers at the venue. Was it as hard as you imagined? Conditions were great and we were aided by a friendly team of local volunteers. It’s a pretty tough course with a lot of uphill running but I think everyone got round in one piece. It was Sandra Stabler’s 50th parkrun. Glenn Cooper, Kris Allen, Phil Baines, Kevin Dove, James Heslop and Zaheer Patankar recorded new pb’s. In terms of finishing places we had a rare (if ever?) double for the club of: Jon Archer (70%+ age-grading), Oli Hall and Tom Holland as the first 3 overall finishers – and Emma Fleming, Izzy Morgan and Rachel Kate as the first 3 ladies to finish. Elsewhere, Kirsty Alderthay got a new pb at Wynyard and Karen Clark a 70%+ a-g at Albert. Holly Taylor was 1st lady home at Blackhill and Michael Meggs (70%+) was 2nd finisher at Hartlepool. Striders too at Edinburgh, Whitley Bay, Sedgefield, Stewart, Darlington, Newbiggin-by-the -Sea, Dalby Forest, The Pastures and Great Yarmouth.
It was overcast and quite breezy at Whitby on Sunday for XC event number 5. The course is a good one with a decent mix of terrain to cover. We had a full ladies team of Charlotte Morgan, Abby Barker, Helen Mcilvenny, Izzy Hope, Emma Fleming and Emily Palmer. They were on course for another win when sadly Emily had to retire mid-race when a long-standing injury got worse. Our remaining team members did great and picked up 2nd place overall. Emily was understandably upset – but we wouldn’t have even been pushing for a podium finish without her participation throughout the season. Emily didn’t mope about and instead offered support to our men’s team which shows a lot about her character. You’re still a XC legend Emily! It’s important we are able to put out a ladies team in the final event to at least secure 2nd or 3rd overall – although the clash with the Middlesbrough half-marathon won’t help. Emily and Emma will get an individual age-category medal this season – with both still in with a chance of a Gold if they make the last event. Peter will definitely get an age-cat medal and both Abby and Helen Mcilvenny could win medals too. Jon Archer, Tom Murphy, Tom Holland, Glenn Cooper, Daniel Mcilvenny, Chris Lovell, Grant Mcgrath, Peter Camp and Paul Johnson ensured we had a full men’s team. Tom ran particularly well to get a top 10 finish and the men came 5th. Thank you to Peter for all the logistical help again.
PJ