Lightwater Valley was the venue for the Yorkshire Cross Country Championship and the first Harriers club run of the year. The course was a little muddier than last year after the recent rain but the rain held off on the day.
The Ladies before the race.
In the Ladies Race we had our best turnout in a few years with 6 Ladies competing. Nik Vogan was first lady home in 72nd closely followed by Caroline Warrington in 75th. Rounding off the ladies team, who were 20th overall, was Cassie Holmes in 91st and Bryony Parkinson in 108th. Our other ladies competing were Liz Matthews in 123rd and Clare Moffatt 137th.
The men before the race.
In the Men’s Junior race which was run at the same time as the Seniors but 1 lap shorter was Rob Judson who finished 17th.
In the Men’s Senior race YKH had 21 men running which was the best turnout of any club in Yorkshire. First home for the men in a rare race appearance was Kim Critchley in an excellent 19th followed by Simon Collins 62nd, Chris Roberts 80th, Giles Hawking 83rd, Barry Atkinson 113th and Neil Stabbs 127th. They completed the Men’s A team which finished an excellent 10th out of 26 teams.
The B team who were 21st overall comprised of Darren Hendley 143rd, Pete Downes 154th, Stephen Robson 160th edging out Tom Ratcliffe 161st in a sprint finish, Geoff Marchment 162nd and Stewart Creasey 173rd on his return from a long injury layoff.
The C team were Ewan Cochrane 180th, Stef Durkin 188th, Rich Tarrega 206th, Nick Griffin 207th, Stephen Gow 233rd and John Middleton 242nd.
Also competing were Ian Bithell 246th, Alistair McQueen 248th, Dave Scoreby 249th and Dave Hutchison 256th.
Overall the day was a great success and a great way to start this year’s Club Championship. We had 14 runners who hadn’t competed in a Championship event before and most of those were completely new to Cross Country. The day was then rounded off with around 16 of us going for a curry and a few drinks in town.
We will be doing it all again at the Northern XC Championships on Saturday 25th January.
