NECAA XC Relay Championships, 18th November 2023
Thornley Hall Farm, the venue for the North East Counties Cross-Country Relays, has a reptation as a muddy venue – and after all the recent rain, it didn’t disappoint! Although it was a different course than that used for the Harrier League (thankfully they had taken out the two hardest hills!), the boggy terrain made for a challenging circuit of just over two miles.
The NECAA XC relays is a fairly new event and this was the first time that Claremont had entered a team. Considering the greater numbers of women to men in our Harrier League teams, it is perhaps a surprise that it was the lads who marked Claremont’s competition debut. There were separate races for Veterans (kindly called Masters here) and Seniors, and, as Michael Teasdale and Alex Harding are comparative youngsters, our single team had to run in the Seniors’ race. The team was made-up by two slightly crocked veterans, myself (Tom Tinsley) and Howard MacLennan, so it is fair to say that it wasn’t the strongest team that the club has ever fielded! Still, we were determined to do our best and make the most of the day.
I was first off and took the line in a small field of 26 teams. I know that I have lost some of my speed and fitness, due to nursing a sore knee for the last month, and I was expecting to be up against some fast lads, but as I looked along the line at my competitors, I suddenly felt very old! Despite the very early ditch and plenty of mud, they were off in a flash and I was immediately at the back of the field. The mud doesn’t seem to slow the best runners down, but I found it difficult to get any sort of momentum. Still I did manage to pass a couple of runners, and avoid an early faller. I was now determined to keep ahead of them and not come last! Most of the course was mud and puddles, so it was important to make the most of the sections were the going could be described as “soft” rather than “heavy” and I triedto do this. Fortunately I held my position and even overtook a couple of runners, though I think they were stragglers from the Masters race. Looking at my watch with about 800m to go, I set myself the target of keeping my average pace below 5 mins/km (8 minute miles), but unfortunately the final stretch was incredibly difficult to run on, so I didn’t quite manage it, and finished with an average of 5:02. I was pleased to handover to Michael and very glad that I didn’t have to run another 2 laps!
Michael found it tough as he had problems with breathing and Howard is far from his peak level of fitness, so we had dropped to the back of the pack. Rather than wait for the last 3rd leg runners to come in, the race officials set Alex and an Ashington Hirst runner off early. Alex, mudlark that he is, loved the course and overtook a few, but we had to wait for the combined times to be added up before we knew our position. They almost certainly have Alex’s time wrong as it is a full minute more than by his own watch – and that would elevate us above the Gosforth B team to 24th place.
| Runner | Time |
| Tom Tinsley | 16:24 |
| Michael Teasdale | 21:12 |
| Howard MacLennan | 20:14 |
| Alex Harding | 18:43 (we think faster!) |
| Team (position 25th) | 1:16:33 |
