NEHL Wrekenton, 23rd September 2023

The Harrier League is back! It seems longer than 6 months since we last donned our trails/spikes for some larking in the mud, but here we were kicking off the season once more at Wrekenton.

The forecast had suggested dry, cool, overcast conditions… so naturally we were treated to a good half hour of heavy rain in the lead up to the senior races, and beating hot sun for the majority of the actual running.

Once the junior races were done, the women were off. Chloe, Lucy, Holly and Alexia were all making their Harrier League debuts, and seemed to enjoy the experience (once they were back safely eating cake at the tent, at least). Fantastic runs from Nicki O’Brien and Julie Cross saw them finish in the top 10%, meaning they should (assuming no major rejigging of the results) be promoted to the medium pack for the next fixture. Congratulations both! Julija Simpson also ran strongly, missing the cut by a whisker. To top it off, the speedy running of the first four Claremont ladies has left them top of Division 2!

Next up were the men, with our extra lap guaranteeing extra fun… For a variety of reasons, it was a struggle getting the minimum of six men required to actually score points in a Harrier League race last season, with it being nearly a year since we’d managed it. So we kicked off this opening fixture as we (hopefully) mean to go on, with an amazing eleven men running, one short of a second scoring team.

Aaron was the only debutant in this race, and he ran well, coming home in a visually impressive finish that saw three Claremonters almost finish in consecutive positions, a Low Fell athlete’s sprint finish just catching Jamie on the line. Dave Roberts suffered from two separate occurrences of untied laces, which may or may not have factored in his losing this edition of ‘Battle of the Daves’.

I had my now familiar cross-country experience of a good first lap, difficult second lap, less difficult final lap. A painful stitch once again took hold at the top of the final downhill, but being so near the end it was a case of gritting my teeth and running through it for the last couple of minutes. At various points where different parts of the course pass each other, I glimpsed Mark Anderson a number of times, incredibly far ahead of any of his teammates. He was rewarded for his brilliant run by being completely omitted from the initial results, but this was quickly ironed out, and Mark should also earn promotion to the medium pack for his next race. Well done Mark!

After last years slightly dusty affair, the rain ensured we had a bit of mud to contend with, though a couple of boggy and slippery patches are still but a glimpse of what we can expect later in the season…

Several of our tribe provided the usual delicious array of cakes and cookies, with Dave Roberts even throwing in a savoury option with his delightful sausage rolls. These alone should ensure everyone comes back in 3 weeks for Druridge Bay!

Ladies & O65 Men
Position	Runner	Time
26	Nicki O’Brien	29:59
43	Julie Cross	30:48
48	Julija Simpson	30:57
53	Sarah Kerr	31:01 (Fast pack, actual time 26:01)
92	Chloe Glover	31:42
123	Lucy Keating	32:22
151	Holly Porter	32:45
212	Liz Denyer	33:53
217	Nina Jensen	33:57
230	Tara Hipwood	34:13
397	Rose Hawkswood	41:45
398	Cath Robson	41:45
413	Ken McCormick (O65 Men)	43:24
442	Alexia O’Rourke	45:51
452	Lena Webster-Costella	47:52

Men
Position	Runner	Time
22	Mark Anderson	37:49
126	Laurie Johnson	40:35
263	Roberto Marzo	43:00
329	Chris Jones	44:38
388	David Lydall	46:29
407	Dave Roberts	46:54
448	Dean O’Brien	48:23
449	Aaron Mansell	48:31
451	Jamie Harding	48:35
464	Alex Harding	49:15
539	José Gallego Parilla	54:26

Thanks to Tara, Lena, Lucy, Julie, José and Stuart Whitman for the photos