Sherman Cup/Davison Shield, Temple Park, 5th January 2019
Although part of the North East Harrier League season, this is a one-off event with the prizes going to the club that has the best overall performance in all races from Under 13 upwards – the Sherman Cup for men and the Davison Shield for the women. As Lucy McKitterick was our sole representative in the junior races, we can’t really compete for the overall prizes, but we can still try our best in the individual events!
Following a very cold morning, we probably couldn’t have asked for better conditions at this time of year – a bit chilly, with no wind and very good ground underfoot with just the odd patch of mud.
Lucy, who is becoming a very enthusiastic cross-country runner was first off but unfortunately cannot contribute to the overall club score as you need 3 to make up a team. I think it is really unfortunate that her race is always 10 minutes before the Ladies start as this deprives her of the support of her Mum, Clare, and most of the rest of the club as attention inevitably turns to the bigger event.
The Claremont ladies put in an excellent performance on the day. The team competition is split into seniors and veterans with 3 counters for each. The senior team of Catherine, Tara and Rose finished 11th overall, whilst the veterans did even better to finish a very creditable 8th – Sarah K, Mandy and Nicki being the 3 counters.
This meant that the Claremont ladies finished 13th overall in the Davison Shield – despite having teams in only 2 of the 5 possible races. Well done, ladies!
The men’s competition was similarly split into senior and veteran teams for the accumulation of points. Unfortunately we didn’t have enough seniors to make a team with only Dean and Michael running in this category. Tom, David and Howard formed the old codgers team and we finished in a fairly lowly 30th place. Only having a team in 1 event out of 5 meant that we were 34th in the overall Sherman Cup standings – but at least we weren’t last!
The quality and quantity of post-run snacks continues to be excellent and provided a nice end to a good afternonn out. Special mention must go to the new addition of Catherine Young’s toffee apple cake – delicious, Catherine, please can you make this again!
| Position | Runner | Time |
| U13 Girls | ||
| 65 | Lucy Mckitterick | 19:08 |
| Ladies | ||
| 26 | Catherine Young | 25:32 |
| 41 | Sarah Kerr | 26:15 |
| 85 | Mandy Herworth | 28:09 |
| 97 | Nicki O’Brien | 28:35 |
| 106 | Sarah Bowen | 28:47 |
| 167 | Julie Cross | 30:59 |
| 174 | Clare McKitterick | 31:18 |
| 189 | Tara McCully | 31:53 |
| 282 | Rose Hawkswood | 35:14 |
| 297 | Gillian Milne | 36:17 |
| Men | ||
| 169 | Tom Tinsley | 37:41 |
| 259 | David Lydall | 40:46 |
| 320 | Dean O’Brien | 43:01 |
| 365 | Howard Maclennan | 45:06 |
| 397 | Michael Teasdale | 47:32 |
| 426 | Ken McCormick | 56:23 |
Click on the photo to see the album on our Flickr page (this photo of the start is probably the only time any of the other women running actually saw Laura Weightman! She showed the class of the Olympic athlete she is and won by miles):
