XC Update Oct 15

[Wed 14th Oct]

The first three XC of the current season have taken place, those who have ran will have a good head start over the other BRC athletes on the path to the BRC XC League silverware presented at the Summer 2016 presentation evening. Current league standings and a brief race report on each is given below. Next fixture is the NEHL on Saturday 21/11/2015 at Aykley Heads, Durham.

Farringdon Relays, Sunderland – Saturday 09th September 2015

The Farringdon Relays mark the beginning of the XC season and are usually a well-attended event. Not so this year for the men’s team who could only scrape together a single team of 4 runners. Joseph Woods continued his recent good form to come home as the 1st Blyth runner in just under the 10 minute mark. Joseph Dungworth was next to finish followed by Martin Scott and Ralph Dickinson.

An impressive number of ladies have registered for the NEHL this year and this was reflected in the turnout at Farringdon as the ladies attendance of 8 was double that of the men. Leanne Herron was the 1st lady back and gathered maximum points. Rachel Falloon was 2nd back for Blyth followed by Gwen Foster who had a good run to finish as 3rd Blyth marginally ahead of Sue Browning. Lisa Scorer, Ewa Johnson, Andrea Wilson and Anne Craddock also contributed to the team effort.

NEHL Tanfield, Durham – Saturday 26th September 2015

Although the Haltwhistle Half Grand Prix fixture was the following day there was still a good turnout at Tanfield from the men’s team who fielded 9 runners. For the second consecutive race it was Joseph Woods who was first back for Blyth despite starting from the Medium pack. Last season’s Champion Graeme Stewart was next back, who finished well also starting from the Medium pack on his first race back after a long layoff with injury. Calum Storey and Robbie Barkley battled it out for 3rd place and both recorded the same time, although it was Calum who was given the higher finishing position. Andrew Grieves and Dave Bradley made up the other team ‘counters’ in Division 2. Ralph Dickinson, David McGarry and Simon Sellars also ran well for the team.

Blyth ladies fielded a magnificent total of 12 runners at the Tanfield event and with 4 ‘counters’ being required for the ladies a good placing in Division 3 looked promising. Leanne Herron was 1st lady home starting from the Slow Pack, Leanne was 19th overall and will now be promoted to the Medium pack. Heather Christopher was next back for the Blyth ladies with a good run from the Medium pack. 3rd and 4th counting places went to Rachel Falloon and Sue Browning to give Blyth a 3rd place Division 3 finish. The high number of ladies competing means Leanne took 12+3 points for the win, and should any of the 4 counters have had an off day then Gwen Foster, Helen Morris, Lisa Scorer, Anita Brabazon, Ewa Johnson, Andrea Wilson, Anne Craddock & Lynn Munro were ready to step in and all collected points in the BRC competition.

Sherman Cup, South Shields – Saturday 10th October 2015

At this year’s Sherman Cup the Blyth men were able to field 5 runners which consisted of an incomplete team of two seniors and a complete team of 3 veterans. In this mass start race Jon French was 1st back followed by Robbie Barkley and Graeme Stewart. Shaun Dodd made the return home to finish in 4th and was followed home by Dave Bradley.

The ladies also fielded 5 runners with an incomplete team of 1 senior and a full team of 3+1 veterans. Leanne Herron and Heather Christopher had a close race and finished within 1 second of each other with Leanne just shading the win. Helen Morris, Louise Coultate and Anne Craddock also finished well to pick up race points plus the obligatory 3 bonus points for completing the course. After 3 counting events only Leanne and Anne have completed in all XC races.

Current Standings can be found on the Harrier League page of the web site.