Podium finish for Juliet at British Masters
EAST Park, Sedgefield, County Durham hosted the 2024 Northern Cross Country Championships on Saturday 27th January and Rochdale Harriers had two men representing the club against the best the North had to offer on grassy parkland.
Conditions were clear and dry with a slight chill in the air for the three lap, undulating approximate 7.5 mile / 12.1km course which saw 439 senior men take to the start line.
Danny Bennett ran in 164th place with a time of 48:01, with Richard Stirzaker following in 224th place after 50:50.
Also on Saturday, ten Harriers made the trip over to West Yorkshire to face The Hebden, a winter challenge which offers the option of a 15 or an extended 22 mile circular route around Mytholmroyd, Heptonstall and Hebden Bridge.
The event isn’t strictly a race, with its origins coming from a Long Distance Walkers Association challenge, so there aren’t any official timings or placings with more a focus on tackling the distance.
Lee Meadowcroft and Pete Butterworth took on the full 22 mile route which packs in just shy of 4700ft of elevation, while Emma Ball, John Bramwell, Johnny Lawlor, John Mayall, Julie Smith, Kurtis Vincent, Mark Walker and Kay Welsby completed the 15 mile route with 3265ft of elevation.
On Sunday 28th January, Juliet Smith travelled to the English Institute of Sport, Sheffield, to compete in the British Masters 3000m Indoor Track Championship.
Racing 15 laps around a banked 200m track for the first time, Juliet finished a fantastic second Vet45 and eighth overall in 12:10:58
Also on Sunday, fresh from joining the club, Louise Eadsforth joined 318 others to run the Meltham ‘Tough’ 10k, a road race packed with plenty of ups and downs around the Kirklees town. Louise ran 55:53 to earn 197th place
Last week the final fixture in the Red Rose XC Series held at Marl Pits was reported on.
This also doubled up as a counter in the South East Lancs league but no results were available at the time of writing.
It was a day where the Rochdale Harriers Ladies achieved excellent results, in both the overall category and several of the age categories.
Lily Hirst (U11 Girls) came seventh after 9:50, Evie Boon placed 24th with 12:02 and Charlotte Smith 29th in 14:13. Alexander
Reay (U13 Boys) achieved 10th place with 13:25 while Alim Arkin finished 16th after 14:37. Aliya Arkin (U13 Girls) was 14th in 13:55. Noah Small (Boys) was sixth
19:19. Lottie Peacock (Girls) achieved an impressive second place, in 21:29 .
Six Harriers ladies ran in the Senior Ladies race. First home for the club was Juliet Smith in fifth after a time of 26:41. Jennie Ransome was 13th in 29:03, Zara Hirst 16th in 29m:38, Molly Howell 17th in 30:26, Danielle Dignan, 22nd after 31:26 and Susie Hirst 25th after
31:57.
Overall the ladies finished third in the team category
Five Harriers ran in the Senior Men’s race. Danny Bennett was 10th after 36:24, Chris Gee 51st with 45:17, Steve Leak 53rd in 45:43, Neil Hirst 54th after 46m:10 and Matthew Cox 63rd in 50:52