NE Cross-Country Championships, 14th December 2024

Various absences, injuries and late withdrawals saw a small but determined group of Claremont Road Runners arrive at Temple Park, for the NECAA Cross-Country Championships.

Running marginally further than the league fixture, and in the opposite direction, the runners at least had only relatively mild levels of bog to contend with compared to the previous year’s mud-onslaught, as the brilliant morning sunshine slowly fizzled away.

With the men up first, Mark Anderson continued his rampaging form to be the first of our runners across the line by some distance. Julie Cross and Sonja Fenske ran it much closer in the women’s race, separated by 9 seconds.

An example of extreme dedication was witnessed earlier on, when barely 30 seconds into the under-15 boys race, a single spiked shoe flew out of the pack, lying discarded as everyone surged around the first bend. On a bitterly cold day, the owner completed the 4km course with only one shoe, and was seen sometime later, soggily traipsing up the field looking for his missing footwear.

Women
Position	Runner	Time
85	Julie Cross	34:52
87	Sonja Fenske	35:01
122	Yana Bevan	38:18
125	Cate Walker	39:24
137	Jenny Roberts	42:43

Men
Position	Runner	Time
82	Mark Anderson	41:48
130	Roberto Marzo	44:33
186	Chris Jones	48:26
204	Anton Mirafsari	50:56

_{Thanks to Yana for additional photos}