NEHL Alnwick Castle – 2nd March 2024
by Brad Wight
Another cracking club day out despite the downpour which managed to soak everything inside our once waterproof tent…
The U11 lads were off first with Joe Hall Junior completing the 1km race in 5:20, he looked so determined on the long downhill finish, teeth gritted just like his dad at a NEMAA sprint!
The U11 girls were next up, Eleanor Shaw and my youngest daughter Adelaide making their XC debut alongside Meadow Winham. All three slogged up the hill then absolutely flew down to the finish. Eleanor, presumably inspired by Lewis Moore, raced in her hoodie albeit with her hands out of the pockets, and was first back in 5:17, Meadow a few places back in 5:28 and Adelaide right behind her in 5:41. Great little team effort and hopefully they’ve all got the bug!
Rory Hart ran in the U17s race and recorded the second fastest time of the day, finishing 5th from the fast pack. Another impressive race. Rory’s got some big races coming up; He’s representing the North East at the Inter-counties XC in Nottingham next weekend then the English Schools XC Champs in Pontefract on the 16th (live stream available) followed by the next round of the Harrier League the day after at Lambton Castle! Good luck!
Just to make it interesting, a torrential downpour made an appearance just before the senior ladies and MV65 race. The already water-logged ground couldn’t really take it and puddles became quagmires. Perfect!
Our ladies were represented in big numbers, four complete teams made it round and our counting quartet who all battled through from the fast pack finished strong (full results below). This lifted the ladies from a point adrift in 2nd place to three points clear at the top of the 3rd Division table with two local races to go. A great result on the day! A big push and all hands to the pumps at the next two races please!
The V65 men continued their dominance at the top of the table, also helped by having big numbers out on the day!
The senior men followed the ladies race and Crook again turned out good numbers. Despite missing some regular counters we did ourselves proud and were rewarded by climbing three places up the Division Two table!
Well done all who took part and special thanks to our non-running supporters who made the trip up!
CROOK RESULTS
