English National Cross Country Championships – Donington Park. report by Giles Hawking.
The biggest event of the weekend for club athletes was the Cross Country National Championships. For most seasoned amateur athletes this race sits at the pinnacle of the races available to them. This is the the race where you get to compete with the best of the best from across England , to find out where you and YOUR club truly rank in the country .
It occurs only once a year , there are no second chances , no alternatives, it is the one and only THE NATIONALS, every club athlete should aspire to take part.
Nothing beats the start of a National Cross Country Race, over 700 women or 1700 men are lined up across a wide field , all eager to get a good start, not get spiked , fall over or caught behind the bottleneck at the first tight bend. After a nervous few moments the starters gun is fired and the massed energy of the assembled runners is released. A crazy cavalry charge of sprinting mayhem ensues, the ground thrums to the beat of thousands of feet, athletes flock around the first gentle curves of the course , not truly knowing where they are going, just flowing with the stampeding herd, until lungs reach bursting point and the pace slackens.
Knavesmire Harriers has once again assembled a crack squad to compete at this highest echelon of amateur club athletics , as the only club from North Yorkshire to field enough runners to be eligible in the Team Competitions at Senior level we had the pride of the County resting on our shoulders.
Qin Zhou racing to the finish ,
Knavesmire’s Ladies have had a great Cross Country season so far and their success continued here. Over the 8km two lap course , the fine efforts of Nik Vogan 134th/739, Andrea Lancaster 181st, Cassie Holmes 246th and Qin Zhou 534th, gave the team a fantastic result.
They were 36th of the 84 clubs who could muster enough runners for the team competition ( first 4 to finish). Best of North Yorkshire and fifth of Yorkshire as a whole by my calculations.
Kim Critchley off to a flying start.
The Men’s race followed shortly after the Ladies , despite there having been several junior races prior to the Ladies race the course was still looking to be in good condition , maybe for once there would not be a mud bath.
Over the rolling fields of Donington Park the men would have to complete three large laps , for a total distance of nearly 8 miles. Although the ground remained thankfully dry it did eventually succumb to the punishment it was receiving , by the latter laps some parts of the course could definitely be described as heavy going, thanks to the clay like nature of the ground we were all remarkably clean by the finish though.
Knavesmire’s Men’s team ( first 6 to finish) finished 36th out of 123, again a stellar result, making us the fourth best club from all Yorkshire on the day (by my reckoning).
Kim Critchley 72 nd
Chris Roberts 258 th
Richard Lowson 561 st
Giles Hawking 610 th
Barry Atkinson 738 th
Darren Hendley 763rd
Pete Downes 1067th
Richard Tarrega 1238th.
Next years race is at Wollaton Park in Nottingham on Saturday 25th February, put it in your diary now!
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Scottish National Cross Country Championships.
Knavesmire’s Scout Adkin was 27th of 265 Ladies running in the Scottish Nationals , held at Callendar Park , Falkirk.
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CLUB RUN – Dalton Dash .
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Midgley Moor Fell Race.
Knavesmire’s Harry Holmes won the 5 mile fell race near Halifax.
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High Cup Nick Fell Race
Neil Stabbs ran this 9 mile fell race out in the remote Northern Pennines.
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York Parkrun
35 members of Knavesmire took their weekly 5km around the Knavesmire.
Parkrun PB’s for :
Zoe Davis
Mary Farmery
Daniel Phillis
First Timers:
Helen Leach
Julian Harrison
Kelly Temple