Darlington Harriers
Harriers trio win bronze
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| Ronnie Read had another fine run in the North-Eastern Championships at Hartlepool |
Incessant rain could not dampen the spirits of Harriers' senior women's team in winning the bronze medals in the North-Eastern Counties Cross-Country Championships at Hartlepool last weekend.
The Darlo girls battled hard for their share of their honours at a muddy Summerhill where staying upright was a major challenge. The club won the trophy last season but only one member of that triumphant trio, Susie Rutherford, took the line for the 8k race on Saturday.
Susie and Bernadette Taylor, both former winners of the Darlington 10k, fought out a close tussle over the arduous course, with only 14 seconds separating them at the finish. Susie, who is now based in Newcastle, finished in 15th position, two places ahead of Bernadette. Completing the counters was triathlete Jo-Ann Short, who finished in 33rd position, just a place ahead of Sue Phillips.
It was an especially good performance from Bernadette, who has suffered two years of injuries and has raced only sparingly during that time. But she proved again that she has lost little of her natural speed.
Chester-le-Street won gold, with Morpeth taking silver, and third place is a great achievement in such exalted company. They just pipped Gateshead, who had the second and third individual finishers.
There was another exceptional performance in the senior men's race, where young Harrier Lewis Moses finished in 10th place. This was in a high-class field containing several internationals and represents one of the club's best-ever individual placings in this event.
Lewis, a talented miler who competed in high-quality BMC meetings last summer, was first home in front of Drew Inglis in 39th place, Ronnie Read in 88th, Steve Hutchinson in 98th, Graham Bell in 108th, Kevin Grainger in 150th, Geoff Ward in 189th and Ian Barnes in 202nd position. The team finished in eighth place.
Great credit also goes to Josh Phillips and Paul Clifford in the U-15 boys' race. The track and English Schools rivals finished in fourth and 11th places respectively.
Rosie Clarke, always consistent, finished ninth in the U-15 girls' race ahead of 19th-placed Beth Ward. Fiona Dewar was 16th in the U-13 girls' race and Jamie Rutherford finished in a similar position in the junior men's event, which turned out to be one of the fastest and most competitive of the day.
Finally, in the U-17 men's race Chris Gaffney was 15th and Tom West 16th.
Harriers' seniors have also been busy on the roads. A small clutch of athletes braved torrential rain at Thirsk a fortnight ago for the popular 10-mile race. This event has been switched from its traditional date when it usually coincided with the hottest day of the year. Ironically, this was one of the wettest.
Joe McCready put on his racing shoes again after a long break to finish in 39th position with 61 mins 19 secs. Ronnie Read was 81st in 65:10 and Graham Bell 97th in 66:11.
Linda Noble was next home in 205th place with 71:48, Mark Milner was 322nd in 78:42 and Shirley Gibson 374th in 80:59.
The previous weekend saw Harriers flying the flag in the Abbey Dash 10k in Leeds. A large field of 5,000 runners contained several leading names.
Graham Bell was first home for Harriers in 297th place with 39 mins 12 secs. Next across the line was Linda Noble in 639th position with 42:30, followed buy Mark Milner (1,291st) in 46:29 and Emma Morley (1,769th) in 48:47.
Harriers' junior athlete Jemma Archbold is making a big impression in the indoors season. She competed at Monkton last weekend in the minors' indoor grand prix.
Competing for Darlington Harriers for the first time, she was lying fourth overall after the first meeting last month but now sits joint top after Sunday. She qualified for the final of the U-11 girls' 60m by winning her heat in 9.0 secs.
In the final she won in a personal best of 8.7secs (previously 8.9), to gain maximum points. This performance ranks her somewhere around the top 15 in theUK for 60m in the U-13s, although she is still U-11. Moreover, she was faster than any of the U-11 boys on Sunday!
Then in the 600m she again won, improving her PB by a massive 19 seconds to 2 min 12.4 secs.
10:53am Wednesday 12th December 2007
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