Cross country

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by Rory Hart On Saturday the 9th of March it was the 2024 inter-counties XC championship in conjunction with the final of the British Cross Challenge, and the World Cross Selection. After being selected to represent the north east as a U17 based on performances in the NEHL and other races, I got the team bus down to Wollaton Park, Nottingham. We were all given yellow vests with blue, red and yellow rings, as modelled in the only photo of me (blurry, left)

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by Sam Etherington Fresh from Alnwick, myself & Amy headed to Richmond on the Sunday along with our parents & Bill (potential future mascot), to take on the last NYSD of the season and one of the more challenging of the courses. Amy was first off in the senior ladies/vet 65 race which was 3 small loops (just shy of 4 mile), she got herself to the front of the line and off she went up to the old racecourse grandstand where

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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

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by Geoff Hewitson “There is a course in Old Wallsend They call the Rising Sun And it's been the ruin of many a runner And God, I know, I’m one!” Well OK, so it’s not quite the opening lines to the early 60’s classic “House of the Rising Sun” by the Animals, but if lead singer Eric Burden (and/or the rest of the band) had experienced Saturday’s event, he may well have been tempted to change the lyrics! The link to the song (other than the

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by Brad Wight The Northern Cross Country Championships were held last Saturday at Sedgefield and what a cracking event it was. The organization was excellent, the weather behaved, and we had some cracking results! Rory Hart and Alex Merryweather were first up for Crook in the U17s race. The front runners were extremely fast, covering the 3.5 mile course in little over 18 minutes. Rory finished 20th overall in a time of 19:28 (roughly equal to a 5K time of 17:15) which

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by Geoff Hewitson This annual event was traditionally held on a January Sunday morning in Durham for many years, when it was known as the Cathedral Relays. Towards the end of 2018 the long-standing host club (Durham City Harriers) pulled out of organising the event at which point Birtley AC stepped in to take it over, and moved the venue to the Lord Lawson of Beamish Academy in Birtley. It was held here for the first time in January 2019. The

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by Brad Wight One of the things I've loved most about this club since joining three years ago is the team spirit and camaraderie at team relays and cross country meets. There’s something about bad weather that amplifies this and Saturday was no exception, we had some good individual and team results and as far as I know, everyone really enjoyed the day! After a quick detour to South Shields parkrun, we had the tent set up in time for the first

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Ladies & M65 Race - by Lisa Donaldson 11 Crook ladies & 5 M65’s lined up for this extra tough course and last fixture at this venue. Some may be pleased but I’m sure it will be replaced with an even tougher one! The start was a bit delayed so a quick dash back for our coats as we were freezing our what’s its off and no sooner were we back than they were setting everyone off! So off went the slow pack

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by Andy Turnell We submitted 3 teams for this relay as not many people came forward, so we had 1 senior ladies, 1 masters men and 1 senior men, after a few rearrangements we had our complete teams ready to tackle the not so easy course. As relays go, I would say this is the toughest you’re going to get with the XC conditions under foot and for someone who wasn’t actually racing this event and only spectating, the mud was unreal

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by Meadow Winham It all started when I woke up at 9:00AM. I got up and I got dressed into my Crook running vest and my shorts, when I was finished getting ready, I had my breakfast, I had a cup of tea and some toast. My mam put my hair in two plaits, when she was done, we set off to the cross county [my first ever one.] When we got there, we were struggling to find our tent because we did not