A Relay fine haul of medals in Sheffield!
THE Northern Athletics CrossCountry Relays Championships produced a superb medal haul for the small number of North East clubs who made the trip to Sheffield’s Graves Park.
While Birtley’s senior women’s team just missed out on winning their event by two seconds Middlesbrough’s under17 trio did top the podium while their under-15 boys finished runners-up.
Houghton Harriers had a double celebration with both their under-15 boys and under15 girls finishing third while Birtley also ended up in bronze medal position in the under-13 girls’ race.
In the under-17 relay, Patrick Haycock led off for the Teessiders and was back in 12th at the first changover.
Daniel Currie set off in pursuit on stage two and pulled back five places before passing on to Josh Cowperthwaite for the final 2.3k surge.
The gap between leaders Liverpool and Middlesbrough was 39 seconds but that was not enough to keep Cowperthwaite at bay - he sliced through the six athletes ahead of him to come home 10 seconds ahead of the Lincoln Wellington and Vale Royal teams.
It was no surprise Cowperthwaite posted the quickest time over the wind-swept course.
Gateshead and Durham City also contested the under-17 relay and finished 11th and 12th respectively.
Charlie McMillan was marginally quicker than his other Gateshead team-mates while Cameron Thomas was Durham City’s fastest.
Houghton and Middlesbrough had a ding-dong battle in the under-15 boys’ 3x3.2k relay, the Teessiders just edging into second place behind winners Hallamshire.
Houghton were in second at the end of the first stage thanks to the second-fastest overall time of the day by Henry Johnson, Middlesbrough just one place behind.
With one stage to go Houghton had slipped back to 10th while Middlesbrough were still in third place.
On the final leg Will Bellamy (fourth fastest overall) worked his way through to third position but Middlesbrough had moved up into second and at the line held on to beat their local rivals by just six seconds.
Gateshead, with Ethan McGlen their quickest, ended 12th while Darlington were 22nd and Gosforth 36th.
Houghton were back on the podium for the under-15 girls’ presentation after finishing third behind Liverpool and City of Sheffield.
Lydia James gave Houghton a solid platform by passing over to Amy Leonard in eighth.
Leonard moved through into second before handing over to Anna Pigford.
Leonard, despite losing a place, stuck to the task to bring Houghton home for another set of bronze medals.
Birtley, who had Tess Graham their quickest, finished 13th.
Darlington were 16th, Gosforth, who had two teams competing, 23rd and 29th while Blackhill Bounders, making their debut in the event, finished 34th.
Gateshead had only one athlete, Innes Curran, who finished fourth on the first stage fifth fastest overall.
The final success for the region came in the under-13 girls’ 3x1.8k relay - which produced an exciting finish as far as Birtley were concerned.
Katie Francis was first off and handed over in sixth to Mia Openshaw who, despite running nearly as quick, slipped back to ninth before passing on to Abigail Thwaites to contest the final stage.
Step by step the Birtley athlete reeled in the teams ahead and, with the finish line in sight, had moved into third.
Though a number of teams behind were closing in rapidly Thwaites managed to hold on to the bronze-medal spot.
Durham City were 17th, Erin Keeler Clark their quickest.
In the other events, Gateshead clinched 12th in the under-17 women’s championship and 19th in the under-13 boys’ race with Gosforth 31st behind Gateshead.