Harrier League Tanfield 2015

Tanfield, Saturday, September 26, 2015

Mudman

The Debutants Ball!

Penny, literally powering through.The grand opening of this season’s Harrier League saw Striders field no less than 17 fresh faced debutants out of the 52 Striders who competed – that must be a record! The weather gods smiled on our newbies providing a mild, calm & dry day for them to get to grips with cross country for the first time. The fields around Tanfield were choka with club tents & flags making it look like a medieval battle was about to take place (if you ignored all the cars!) and when the cavalry charge of the 300+ senior women’s field set off at 1.15pm that’s exactly what it resembled!

Rebecca dragging her dodgy knee through the water feature. Louise and Katy were first to show in the ‘fight’ hotly pursued by Sarah, Steph, Debs and a host of others. With Penny powering through from the fast pack to finish as fourth counter (behind Louise, Katy (both promoted to the medium pack!) & Sarah) the women’s team finished 6th on the day to get the club off to a solid start.

But that was only part of the story; there were some fantastically brave and gutsy performances from all the ten debutants and the other Striderettes behind them. Joan Reeves impressed on her long (very long) awaited debut together with Caitlin Mooney (more confident after running the tough Aykley Heads course on Wednesday), Joanne Parkinson (watched by a proud daughter), Rebecca Devine (nursing a dodgy ankle), Marita Grimwood (tough and determined behind her demure exterior), Jenny Search (striding impressively), Jan Ellis (joining the rest of her family in the mud), Helen Thomas (wearing the purple with pride), Clare Metcalfe (battling with so many experienced runners) & Catherine Elliott (with an impressive finishing position for ‘first time out’).

Please be aware all debutants that Mudwoman and I are very proud of you and grateful to you for joining us in what can be a tough and, at times, unforgiving arena and for wearing your Strider vests (the colours of the Suffragette movement) with pride! Well done to you all.

Alan and Stephen Well, after that emotional rollercoaster it was the men’s turn to run on what was a fairly dry course, apart from the wide water ‘jump’, a few ‘undulations’ rather than mega steep hills (they will come later in the season!) and a thick grassy surface. Dr Paul was first to show, in spite of his flu symptoms, only to be overhauled by a ‘canny’ Simon and an outstanding Stephen (finishing in 25th place, first Strider home and qualifying for the fast pack – as the kids say: “awesome”!). Other counters included Matt Archer (achieving what we know he can do), Jack Lee (perhaps the most impressive Strider debut of the day & after being given a gruelling workout by young Erin (Jo Richardson’s daughter) at Aykley Heads on Wednesday) & the ‘ever green’ James Garland. A seventh place finish for the team on the day which is solid enough but I know we can improve as the season progresses.

Ari climbing away from the Water Jump. These ‘brave boys’ were supported by numerous other outstanding performances including Rob (making his fast pack debut and looking as good as ever), Chairman Tom & Shaun the Sheep (both making welcome returns after long layoffs due to ‘knee problems’) & Alan Smith (returning after being told what we all dread hearing: “you’ll never run again”) – well done the lot o’ ya! And then there were the other six debutants: Adam Bent (going from water polo to a water jump and loving every bit of it), Andrew Rayner (looking like there’s plenty more performances to come); Alex Collins (toughing it out all the way round); David Case (enjoying that water jump); Tim Matthews (another triathlete seeing mud as the way to go) and Richard Stollery (finishing ahead of many experienced rivals). Great performances all round and a wonderful reflection on our expanding club that so many newbies want to give x/c a try and see for themselves what all the fuss is about – you are very welcome!

until next time. A final word for all the Striders unable to run but happy to come along, watch the races, cheer their club mates, take photos and eat cake! Thanks for coming and I hope you all enjoyed your day. A further final, final word – Mudman and Mudwoman are unable to attend the next fixture (The Sherman Cup, South Shields, 10th October) but we’ll leave the tent, flag, race numbers etc in save hands – we’re sure you’ll be fine although we’ll be thinking (and worrying) about you.

Results

men
position bib name cat pack race time actual time
1 1555 Michael Edwards (Sunderland Harriers) Msen S 38:15 38:15
25 549 Stephen Jackson Msen M 40:31 38:01
68 546 Simon Gardner MV45 S 42:25 42:25
99 535 Paul Evans MV35 S 43:18 43:18
147 528 Matthew Archer Msen S 44:19 44:19
159 513 Jack Lee Msen S 44:25 44:25
188 514 James Garland MV40 S 45:00 45:00
273 542 Rob Everson Msen F 46:36 41:36
277 552 Tom Reeves MV45 S 46:42 46:42
301 497 Dave Halligan MV50 S 47:18 47:18
314 483 Aaron Gourley MV35 S 47:38 47:38
320 488 Andrew Rayner Msen S 47:53 47:53
362 530 Michael Hughes MV45 S 48:55 48:55
404 541 Richard Stollery MV35 S 50:00 50:00
412 545 Shaun Roberts MV55 S 50:27 50:27
471 495 Craig Walker MV55 S 52:33 52:33
510 551 Tim Matthews MV50 S 54:26 54:26
518 484 Adam Bent MV60 S 55:10 55:10
527 486 Alex Collins MV35 S 55:55 55:55
542 491 Ari Hodgson MU20 S 57:34 57:34
547 506 Dougie Nisbet MV50 S 58:20 58:20
548 521 Lindsay Rodgers MV45 S 58:25 58:25
555 500 David Case Msen S 58:44 58:44
560 485 Alan Smith MV65 S 59:16 59:16
575 548 Stephen Ellis MV60 S 61:12 61:12
580 508 Gareth Cardus MV35 S 63:46 63:46

590 finishers.

Women
position bib name cat pack race time actual time
1 1094 Joasia Zakrzewski (Dumfries RC) guest S 26:31 26:31
30 418 Louise Warner FV35 S 32:12 32:12
31 408 Katy Walton Fsen S 32:16 32:16
42 433 Sarah Davies FV45 S 32:51 32:51
63 426 Penny Browell FV40 F 33:23 29:23
101 436 Stephanie Piper Fsen S 34:10 34:10
113 374 Debra Goddard FV40 S 34:28 34:28
129 367 Catherine Elliott FV35 S 35:04 35:04
140 438 Susan Davis FV55 M 35:22 33:22
171 390 Jan Young FV60 S 36:07 36:07
175 422 Marita Grimwood FV40 S 36:12 36:12
190 399 Joan Hanson FV45 S 36:46 36:46
192 435 Stef Barlow FV40 S 36:49 36:49
193 393 Jean Bradley FV55 S 36:51 36:51
206 396 Jenny Search FV35 S 37:12 37:12
261 388 Helen Williams FV40 S 38:48 38:48
273 406 Kate MacPherson FV40 S 39:09 39:09
297 386 Helen Thomas FV40 S 40:44 40:44
301 375 Denise Benvin FV45 S 40:54 40:54
308 818 Claire-Louise Wells FV35 S 41:24 41:24
317 369 Catherine Walker FV55 S 41:40 41:40
320 377 Diane Watson FV50 S 41:52 41:52
330 372 Clare Metcalfe Fsen S 42:35 42:35
342 402 Joanne Richardson FV40 S 43:55 43:55
346 373 Debbie Mcfarland Fsen S 44:18 44:18
350 389 Jan Ellis FV50 S 45:01 45:01
358 400 Joanne Parkinson FV40 S 45:42 45:42
362 430 Rebecca Devine Fsen S 46:00 46:00
364 365 Caitlin Mooney Fsen S 46:14 46:14
365 410 Kelly Collier Fsen S 46:18 46:18

388 finishers.

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