NECAA Cross-Country Championships, 13th December 2025
Cate Walker reports from Teesside:
“This was my second time doing the annual pre-Christmas NECAA cross-country championships, and my first time venturing all the way to Stewart Park to do it, having braved the muddy undulations of Temple Park the previous year. This year’s outing was on a bright day with a slight chill in the air, and we set off (and, I think, came back!) in good spirits.
On balance, the longer journey to Middlesbrough was offset by this being a prettier and less trepidatious course (in my view), although what it lacked in undulation it made up for in switchbacks. “It’s like Groundhog Day” muttered the runner next to me on one of the seemingly endless twists and turns, speaking for all of us I think! The frequency of switchbacks was exacerbated by women having to do three laps and men four (the first lap of both adult courses was slightly shorter, although it didn’t really feel very different).
This race is an unusual one in that the adult men run before the women, so we Claremont women (outnumbering the men 8 to 2) had plenty of time to warm up as well as watch the men from various vantage points (Mark and Laurie have probably never been so photographed!) before setting off ourselves. Julie and I tried to combine getting to different photo locations with a warm up, which definitely seemed to prepare Julie, who had a brilliant race.
When it finally came to the time for us women to set off, it seemed a surprisingly small crowd overall (race results show almost double the number of men overall ran compared to women, so Claremont definitely bucking the trend here). Most runners seemed to congregate in clubs, so we did the same, taking a modest place towards the back of the pack. This meant there was a point where it seemed we Claremonters were all running together, swapping positions until we settled into more of a rhythm.
Julie gradually made headway on the rest of us, showing once again that a new age category is not going to slow her down. Ana, Yana and I traded places for most of the first lap before the two of them left me behind. Midway through lap two I became aware of Anna not far behind me, and around the transition from laps two to three she overtook me, also looking strong, despite recovering from a cold.
Not long after that I heard Laurie cheer on Rose as I passed and I realised she was also on my heels. There was no holding her off, and she comfortably passed both Anna and I in what looked a great feat of negatively split laps. I hoped at one point that the three of us might finish in direct succession, but looking at the results there was one other runner between Rose and Anna, and Anna and me. Ana and Yana had finished almost exactly together though, and a few minutes later we saw Tara and Lena do the same, crossing the line within single digit seconds of one another.
We women caught up with our two fellow Claremonters on the finish line, Mark’s brand new spikes having been properly christened with mud. Then it was a fairly quick tent disassembly and onwards back up the A19. No prizes won, but with happy hearts, a good day out overall.”
| Men | ||
|---|---|---|
| Position | Runner | Time |
| 205 | Laurie Johnson | 51:20 |
| 249 | Mark Flynn | 57:06 |
| Women | ||
|---|---|---|
| Position | Runner | Time |
| 81 | Julie Cross | 40:29 |
| 92 | Ana Prodan | 41:37 |
| 93 | Yana Bevan | 41:38 |
| 101 | Rose Hawkswood | 42:29 |
| 103 | Anna Round | 43:00 |
| 105 | Cate Walker | 43:22 |
| 108 | Tara Hipwood | 44:34 |
| 109 | Lena Lou | 44:40 |
