The secondary school cross country season began last Tuesday when hundreds of young athletes descended upon Preston Park for the 1st Round of the English Schools Cross Country Cup. Teams from the County Durham area entered this preliminary round, with the hope of progressing to the Regional Finals on the 10th November, and ultimately the Grand Final at Woodbridge School in Suffolk on the 24th November.
Each team could nominate six athletes to run, of which the first four finishing counted towards their team’s scores. As you would imagine there were several of our Junior Harriers representing their schools – Carmel, Hummersknott or Hurworth, and this is how things went…..
Junior Boys (Yr 7 & 8) There was an impressive tally of six Junior Harriers representing their school, some for the first time at cross country. Back again for their second year running were Dylan Wilson (Hummersknott) and James Wilcock (Carmel). Dylan had a fantastic run finishing in 4th place, crossing the line in 12:01, just a couple of seconds outside the top 3; and James produced a gutsy performance to finish just 30 seconds behind Dylan in 10th place. Our other four Harriers were all taken from Year 7, making their secondary school cross country debut, and what a debutit was.
Alex Boyer (Carmel) showed what a quality athlete he is by finishing in an excellent 6th place. He crossed the line in 12:05, just 17 seconds behind the winner. Next up, in 7th place, after a tremendous performance was Elwood Kelley (Hurworth). He showed real potential on the track this season, and it looks like that’s going to continue for the cross country season as well; an excellent time of 12:24. Just a few seconds behind Elwood was Harrier team mate, Louis Brett (Hummersknott) finishing in 8th place; another impressive performance from Louis, crossing the line in 12:27. Yet another fabulous secondary school debut came from Josh Scott (Carmel), after finishing in 14th place out of the 48 taking part; he crossed the line in 12:57. A fantastic performance from all our Junior Boys; a real show of strength. Well done to all!
Junior Girls (Yr 7 & 8) There were two of our Harriers competing in the Junior Girls category; Lily Large and Olivia Bell (both Carmel). A great effort from Lily brought her home in 20th place in an excellent time of 12:35. Not far behind with a strong performance from Olivia, she crossed the line in 27th out of the 58 runners, in a time of 13:01. Well done girls, a tremendous effort from both!
Inter Boys (Yr 9 & 10) We’ve come to expect twins, Adam and John Russell (Hummersknott) to be somewhere in the mix at the finish, and they were there again today. Adam was the first of them to cross the line this time, finishing in an impressive 2nd place in a fantastic time of 14:53. Not far behind with another strong performance was John, who finished in 5th place in 14:53. Harrier team mate, Harry Wilson was up next with another top performance. He crossed the line in 12th place in an excellent time of 16:03. And our fourth Harrier to cross the line was Joe Mulroy; a great effort from Joe finishing in 31st place out of the 52 competitors, in a time of 18:07. Well done lads, a great performance from all!
Inter Girls (Yr 9 & 10) Four of our Under 15 Harriers pit their wits against some tough competition for the Inter Girls. The first of those to cross the line was Harriet Rogers (Hummersknott) in 7th place; always a strong contender and Harriet impressed again here today (sorry, no times available for the Inter Girls). Another solid performance came from all rounder, Sarah Wilcock, who produced an excellent run and crossed the line in 13th place. Running for the first time as an Inter Girl was Amelia Hunter (Carmel). A tremendous effort brought her home in 18th place out of a field of 62 athletes.
Next up was Darcey Garbutt (Carmel); although cross country is not her strongest event, it was a brave effort from Darcey who crossed the line in 53rd place. Well done to all the girls, a fabulous effort from all
A few more pics….. Apologies for the bias towards the Carmel athletes, but these were the only photos we received (many thanks to Mike Stow and Olivia Bell for their contribution).
At least 2 teams in each first round competition progress to one of 9 Regional Finals. So huge congratulations go out to: Carmel Junior Boys for finishing in 2nd place Hummersknott Inter Boys for finishing in 2nd place …..and well done to all our Junior Harriers, once again you have done yourselves and your schools proud!