THIS WEEKEND saw the club take the long trek up the Northumberland coast to Druridge Bay for the third North East Harrier League cross country fixture. After the punishing conditions of last week’s race at Aykley Heads in Durham, we were hoping for better conditions but our hopes were dashed and yet again, it was another brutal course in pretty bleak conditions.

A total of 30 members turned out to represent the club (4 juniors, 7 ladies and 19 men) and everyone put in a sterling effort.

In the Under 11 Boys, first home was Ethan Welsh in 24th position in a time of 5:33 followed by David Edwards in 51st place in 6:24. In the Under 11 Girls race, Megan Hauxwell finished in 19th place in a time of 5:52. In the Under 13 Girls race, Lauren Etchells was unfortunate to take a heavy tumble and unable to complete the race.

In the Senior/Vet Ladies race, out of 331 finishers, our first counter home was Jane Henderson who completed the 2-lap course in 80th position in a time of 29:42, followed by Malou Lonsdale in 127th position in a time of 30:27, Joanne Raine in 141st position in a time of 26:45 from the fast pack and then Elizabeth Wood in 192nd position also running from the fast pack to make up the clubs fourth counter in 27:55. Other results were 200 Eleanor Spencer-Regan 32:04, 244 Caroline Teasdale 31:42 running from the medium pack and 246 Joanna Wilson 33:42. After three fixtures, the Senior/Vet Ladies team moved up to 8th position in Division 2.

In the Senior/Vet Men’s race, out of 537 finishers our first six counters home completing the 3-lap course was Jason Bridgewater in 56th place in a time of 42:09, closely followed by Steve Carter in 63rd position in 42:17, Carl Chapman in 97th place in a time of 37:43 running from the fast pack, Kevin Saville in 111th place in 43:05, Mark Nicol in 113th place also in 43:05 and then Craig Downs making up the clubs sixth counter in position 172 in a time of 44:02. Other results were 237 Paul Brennan 45:19, 280 Geoff Hewitson 46:08, 331 Robert Teasdale 42:36 running from the fast pack, 391 Michael Robinson 49:32, 434 Paul Smith 51:39, 462 Simon Fell 52:49, 467 Neil Douthwaite 53:24, 477 Alan Welsh 54:15, 490 Matthew Hargreaves 55:27, 491 Percy Parkin 55:29, 497 Ross Turner 56:30, 513 Ken Cawkwell 58:54 and 534 Allen Purdham 69:02. After three fixtures, the Senior/Vet Men’s team currently lie in joint 7th position with Wallsend Harriers in Division 1.

In the Saturday morning parkruns, David Best was first finisher at Blackhill in 19:14 and at Sedgefield, Brian Ford finished in 74th position in 27:52 followed by his wife Jill in 95th place in 29:46. At Durham parkrun, Graham Laverick finished in 23:02 while Paul Smith finished in 23:33.

At Darlington parkrun, Michael Dufton finished in 20:54 followed by Darren Fairclough in 23:07. At Hackworth, Chris Clynes finished in 23:40, followed by Steve Manifold in 24:35, Lynsey Manifold in 26:29 and Matthew Brookes in 36:02.

This week, a total of 13 juniors represented the club at the 2K parkrun event at Hardwick Park in Sedgefield on Sunday morning. Following his excellent cross country run on Saturday, Ethan Welsh finished in 7th place in a time of 9:01 followed by: 8 Evon Domville 9:05, 9 Ethan Franks 9:09, 20 Connor Pearson 10:08, 22 Ashton Bridgewater 10:17, 23 Harvey Franks 10:23, 29 David Edwards 10:39, 32 Ellis Bridgewater 10:46, 33 Kian Domville 10:50, 42 Eleanor Cardy 11:10, 47 Lucy Wilson 11:24, 51 Carter Cunningham 11:40 and 74 Ben Cardy 14:04.

On Sunday, Jill Ford ran the Northumberland Big 10 race at Kirkley Hall completing the race in 123rd position in a time of 1:24.21.

Crook AC meet every Tuesday and Thursday evening at Peases West, Crook at 6.15pm. Junior sessions are held on Thursday’s at 6.00pm. For more information, please visit www.crookac.co.uk or follow us on Twittter at @crookac

Submitted by Craig Downs