NEHL Alnwick, 5th March 2022
Though there was a bit of a chilly breeze, we couldn’t have asked for better weather to finish the North Eastern Harrier League season at Alnwick. Blue skies with just a few fluffy white clouds added to the perfect backdrop provided by Alnwick Castle at this most picturesque of cross-country venues. Most of the course was in good condition, with just a few muddy patches, though the path through the woods was rutted and “boggy” for much of its length.
First off was our newest cross-country runner, Charlotte Kerr. Charlotte has been part of the team as an enthusiastic supporter for a few years now (don’t really think she has had a choice!), so it was great to see her make her debut as a competitor. She seemed to enjoy running on grass and up a hill for the first time, so will hopefully be back for more next season.
Our other junior, Grace Scott was next in the under 13s. Grace is the only Claremonter to have run in all 6 Harrier League races this season – a great achievement! By coincidence, both girls finished 51st.
We had a large ladies contingent with 16 in the women’s race – 17 if you count Kenny who was running as an over-65 man. This was easily the largest turnout of the season. It was yet another strong performance by the lasses, who finished 3rd in their division on the day. This cemented a 4th place finish in the 2nd Division league table, which is a tremendous achievement after promotion last year.
The four counters for the “A” team virtually finished together, with just 9 seconds covering the 4 counters from Nina Jensen in 70th position to Vicky Moore in 79th. This was an even closer grouping in league terms, as they were in 14th, 15th, 16th and 18th places out of the 2nd Division runners!
Dave Roberts was the latest to discover that running on grass and mud is harder than road-running as he made his debut for the men’s team, but unfortunately this still didn’t help us have a full team. We only had 5 starters, as, unfortunately, Rob Newton got stuck in traffic and arrived too late to run. Still the rest of us got around and have probably now convinced ourselves that we enjoyed it!
Many thanks to Howard for organising the end of season meal at Antico’s, where a pleasant evening was had by all.
| Under 11 Girls | ||
|---|---|---|
| Position | Runner | Time |
| 51 | Charlotte Kerr | 5:59 |
| Under 13 Girls | ||
|---|---|---|
| Position | Runner | Time |
| 51 | Grace Scott | 22:01 |
| Women | ||
|---|---|---|
| Position | Runner | Time |
| 70 | Nina Jensen | 36:52 |
| 71 | Maria Duenas | 36:53 (Medium pack, actual time 34:33) |
| 73 | Sarah Kerr | 36:53 (Fast pack, actual time 31:53) |
| 79 | Vicky Moore | 37:01 (Medium pack, actual time 34:41) |
| 101 | Liz Denyer | 37:23 |
| 158 | Nicki O’Brien | 38:24 (Medium pack, actual time 36:04) |
| 166 | Catherine Young | 38:29 (Fast pack, actual time 33:29) |
| 214 | Allie Wilson Craw | 39:39 |
| 216 | Julie Cross | 39:42 |
| 235 | Hazel Juggins | 40:27 |
| 275 | Tara Hipwood | 42:20 |
| 316 | Mary Rack | 44:51 |
| 327 | Ay Okpokam | 45:51 |
| 329 | Marie Slack | 45:58 |
| 355 | Cath Robson | 48:24 |
| 367 | Lena Lou | 50:12 |
| 383 | Ken McCormick | 54:12 |
| Men | ||
|---|---|---|
| Position | Runner | Time |
| 198 | Sonam Wangdi | 48:50 |
| 275 | Laurie Johnson | 50:58 |
| 293 | Tom Tinsley | 51:31 |
| 348 | Dave Roberts | 54:12 |
| 356 | Alex Harding | 54:55 |
There are a lot of photos, thanks to Maria, Lena, Laurie and a few others:
