Harrier League

Wrekenton, Saturday, February 8, 2014

Grand Prix Race. Mud King/Mud Queen Race.

Mudman and Mudwoman

“Come in,” she said, “I’ll give you shelter from the storm!”

Another great turnout by Striders at Saturday’s Wrekenton HL saw 44 purple clad mud lovers giving it their all on the tough wind ravaged course!

The senior women’s field of over 200 runners included Denise Benvin and Lucy Cowton making determined HL debuts for Striders with Lucy carrying her trusty i-phone around the course! The women’s two lap course included four hills and Camilla powered up all of them to lead Striders home for the first time at the HL. She was pushed all the way by Jules with the ‘lead’ changing hands a couple of times before Camilla narrowly prevailed. Claire came in close behind to finish as a counter for the first time, to the delight of Coach and daughter (no, that’s not a pub!) particularly as Fiona S, Fiona K-J, Mudwoman and Katy were hot on her heels!

Camilla leads off the hill.

There were lots of other brave and improved performances including Katy’s surge from the medium pack, Barbara’s first HL since her bad fall on a cobbled road and Anita’s wonderful improvement on her previous HL. Well done all of you and thank you for representing the club in this great competition! The Striderettes finished 7th on the day thereby keeping our heads above the relegation zone.

Adam legs it through the mud. Note omnipresent spectator.

The huge men’s team (25 in all) included two debutants – new Strider Mark Payne and the not so new Strider Gareth Pritchard! Both did themselves, and the team, proud with gutsy performances on unfamiliar territory. However, it was the ‘baby’ of the band Adam Walker who led the team home – just managing to hold off Will Horsley who made a truly impressive surge from the medium pack! Jerry ran well and Rob continued his impressive form of late to count for the team as did Gareth, on his debut, and Mudman in spite of Graeme’s close attention!

Others continue to make steady progress on the mud and over the hills (six hills this time) including Dave Halligan and Michael Tait. They, and many more, will soon be pushing the counters. But there were many more who were happy to turn out and represent their club and compete against our rivals. This was rewarded by a very close 5th place finish for the club on the day – our best of the season so far! Well done to you all and thanks to all those who came along and watched, cheered us on and took photos – what a great day out!!

The end of the ‘great day out’ was marred somewhat when Striders fell victim to the storms! Our trusty ‘shelter from the storm’ (the club tent) was caught by a vicious gust while Mudwoman and I were packing up the club flag. It rocked violently and then ‘took off’ vertically, tearing away from its guy ropes, and flew for 15-20 yards before we dove on it and brought it to earth! The poor old thing was ripped in a number of places and has parted company from some guy ropes and other anchor points. It was a faithful friend, may it rest in peace!!

Results

Men
Pos Name Club Cat Time
1 Carl Avery Morpeth Harriers 33:51
68 Adam Walker 39:39
72 Will Horsley 39:43 *M
87 Jerry Lloyd 40:02
99 Rob Everson 40:14
187 Gareth Pritchard 41:41
224 Geoff Davis 42:20
232 Graeme Walton 42:34
271 Simon Gardner 43:36
275 Dave Halligan 43:45
281 Michael Tait 43:56
283 Marc Jones 44:04
289 Jon Steed 44:22
290 Shaun Roberts 44:23
291 Tom Reeves 44:24 *M
305 Mark Payne 44:46
311 Jon Ayres 45:06
322 Aaron Gourley 45:30
326 Conrad White 45:36
327 Michael Hughes 45:40
329 Michael Downes 45:46
350 Matthew Crow 46:50
360 Marco van der Bremer 47:12
383 Alister Robson 48:16
435 Innes Hodgson 50:49
437 Mark Dunseith 50:52

*M Medium pack – 2m30s handicap, *F Fast pack – 5m handicap.

457 finishers.

Women
Pos Name Club Cat Time
1 Emma Holt Morpeth Harriers 28:32 *F
42 Camilla Lauren-Maatta 30:38
43 Juliet Percival 30:40
49 Claire Readey 30:51
53 Fiona Shenton 30:56
63 Fiona Jones 31:13
65 Susan Davis 31:17
66 Katy Walton 31:18 *M
97 Sarah Davies 32:17
101 Lucy Cowton 32:22
111 Roz Layton 32:36
139 Jan Young 33:56
164 Jacquie Robson 36:07
165 Barbara Dick 36:09
179 Victoria Downes 37:36
181 Kirsty Anderson 37:41
184 Nicola Whyte 37:51
208 Debbie Mcfarland 43:03
211 Denise Benvin 44:02
213 Anita Dunseith 44:29

*M Medium pack – 2m handicap, *F Medium pack – 4m handicap.

216 finishers.

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