Shildon R&AC

Northumberland, Durham, Cumbria and Cleveland were the four counties competing. Teams consisted of the top 16 runners from each county competing in four age groups.

The Shildon athletes really served their club and county well in races held in weather ranging from sunshine, through gale force winds, hailstones and rain and pride of place went to Kate Avery and Khalil Thompson, both of whom won the respective events. Kate especially deserves credit as it was only her second major race. In the junior boys Dan Burnage came 35th being Durhams ninth counter behind winner Khalil Thompson. In the Intermediate boys race and at the bottom of his age group, Warren Roberts came home in seventh place overall making him fourth Durham Counter. Mathew Hewitson with a vast improvement in his running at the County Schools was 11th counter for Durham. Alex Snook also improved greatly on her Durham Schools Championship race coming home in fifth place overall making her second Durham counter. In the Senior Girls race Natalie Owens, despite falling at one stage, gave a good performance to be Durhams fourth counter in 11th place overall.

Warren Roberts, Natalie Owens, Alex Snook and Khalil Thompson now go forward to represent Durham Schools at the English Schools Championships in Maidstone on the March 13.

All of these athletes have worked very hard to obtain these results, some training six days a week and these results should make them and the club very proud.

* Any young persons interested in joining the club are invited to attend club nights on Mondays and Wednesdays to join in with training.

Newton Aycliffe

At the inter counties schools cross country championships held at Lawrence Jackson School, Guisborough on Saturday Newton Aycliffe AC had four athletes representing Durham.

Chris Gaffney, running in his first county vest for Durham in the minor boys 2k event for year seven pupils, he produced an excellent performance to finish 21st and 5th Durham runner home.

In the senior boys event over 6k, county champion Lewis Moses, despite being in heavy training at the moment finished in fifth, first Durham runner home in a time of 23minutes 38seconds.

Adam Harker finished in 34th with a solid performance in a time of 25minutes 50seconds, closely followed by Adam Gibson in his first county vest in 35th position in a time of 25minutes 51 seconds 9th and 10th Durham counters.

At the North-East road relays championships on a new 1:7 mile course at Gateshead Team Valley trading estate on the same day, the senior mens team finished a creditable 13th in a total time of 1hour 55 seconds for the six legs.

Andy Gaskarth led off on the first leg returning in a time of 9minutes 59seconds handing over to Mick O'Sullivan who returned in a time of 9minutes 59seconds, Adam Ingram was on leg three and produced the fastest time by an Aycliffe runner coming home in a time of 9minutes 49seconds, on the next leg for Aycliffe was newcomer Tony Brewer who returned in a time of 10minutes 37seconds, Peter Milburn recovering from injury returned in a time of 10minutes 05 seconds on leg five and Mick Beadle brought the team home in 13th position in a time of 10minutes 35seconds in a incomplete vets team Dave Middleton ran 12minutes 29seconds, Jimmy Wilson 13minutes 16seconds.

Four club members made the trip to York for the brass monkey half marathon and ran together throughout the race, Rachael Sholley finished in a time of 1hour 46minutes 35seconds for 467th position, David Macenzie finished in a time of 1hour 46minutes 40seconds for 468th position and Linda Connely 1hour 46minutes 40seconds for 469th position with newcomer Ray Halton in a time of 1hour 58minutes 42seconds for 681st position out of 851 finishers.

Richmond and

Zetland Harriers

Catching-up with Richmond and Zetland Harriers results is as difficult as catching the athletes!

Saturday January 10, having placed sixth in the Yorkshire X-C Championships the previous weekend and been selected for the Inter-Counties at Wollaton Park, Nottingham, Andrea Woodvine competed for Nottingham University in the North Midlands X-C League at the same venue and, although the course for the Inter-Counties may change, she still has the advantage of home ground. On the day, Andrea was always in-the-hunt and finished fourth in a time of 21:45, just 31 seconds behind the winner.

Sarah Gregory had a good day out on Sunday, January 25 when she chose to test her London Marathon preparations with a run-out in the Brass Monkey Half Marathon at York and managed to knock over four minutes off her best. Sarah said: "Although this was a PB, I feel I could have gone faster...I ran my first mile in 7:15 and was holding back, thinking this was too fast to start, but I felt good all the way round and wished I'd kept going at that pace...the finishing time on my watch was 1:37:37 but the time they gave me in the results was 1:37:59 as it took me 22 seconds to cross the start line from the gun going off...a flick through the results shows me finishing 19th Senior Lady, in 285th place overall and over an hour ahead of the 851st and last finisher...whatever, I was totally pleased - with my preparation, my performance, my race and my time."

The trials for the North Yorkshire SportsHall Athletics team took place on Sunday, February 1 at Millthorpe School, York - three Harriers took part and all did-the-business. SportsHall Athletics is a very popular, regular and organized activity in other parts of the Country. Competition is for Under-13 and Under-15 Boys and Girls (usually School Years 7/8 and 9/10); older athletes were welcomed but were not eligible for team selection. The events included two lap, four lap and six lap runs, standing long jump and standing triple jump, high jump and vertical jump, shot putt and speed bounce. One lap was two lengths of the School Hall and reversaboards helped athletes turn at the end walls. There were also a variety of relays. Marcus Clarke competed in five of the six events contested in the Under-15 Boys section, only choosing to omit the vertical jump - 2nd 2 laps 22.8, 1st 4 laps 49.7, 2nd standing long jump 2m48, 2nd standing triple jump 6m48 & 1st speed bounce with 64. Sophie Broadway is something of a veteran at these events having competed twice last year; she competed in three out of the five events contested in the Under-15 Girls section and won them all - 1st 2 laps 23.1, 1st vertical jump 53 & 1st standing long jump 2m06. Leanne Shaw was the third Harrier and chose to compete in four events in the Under 13 Girls section - 3rd 2 laps 24.0, 4th standing long jump 2m00, 1st standing triple jump 5m70 & 6th vertical jump 38. All three athletes have been included in the team to compete in the next round - the North-East SportsHall Athletics Competition at Thornaby Pavilion, Teesside on Sunday, February 22.

This weekend there is only one event on the Winter Fixtures List; Sunday 15th, NYSD League X-C #5 at Teesdale Comprehensive School, Barnard Castle from 1pm. Being local, there should be a good turnout of runners in all seven races and this could give the Club a fighting chance of regaining the Aggregate Trophy.

* www.rzh.org.uk

Thirsk and

Sowerby Harriers

The latest Fell Race, Race 9 in the Northern Runner Winter Series, took place at Danby, on a very cold and windy morning, with conditions far from conducive for running. Even so, 73 runners completed the event, which was won by Kenyan David Gitau in 63.54 minutes. Merv Burn finished a very good 5th in 65.06, Peter Wilkin 7th in 66.22, Alan Wikeley 30th in 76.45, Ernie Huck 32nd in 76.58, Alasdair Thorpe 36th in 70.00, Steve Harrison 61st in 89.47 and Nicola Thorpe 64th in 91.20. The men's team finished in second place.

The Ferriby 10 mile Road Race attracted 350 finishers, and Ian Codling came in 262nd, Marian Codling 338th and Pamela Sherlock 343rd