Cross country season ready to resume with relay in December
The North Eastern Counties AA have got the go-ahead to host the first cross country event since March after the lockdown put an end to the dribble of competitive athletics that has been taking place.
T h ey a re o rga n i s i n g a championship relay for young athletes at Thornley Hall Farm, Peterlee, on December 12.
This will be vital competition for the youngsters who have trained through the Covid pandemic but have had nothing to show for their efforts.
TheNECAAhasgotthevarious permissions from the land owner and Durham County Safety Committee and the license from England Athletics to proceed.
Due to strict England Athletics guide lines only 30 teams will be allowed in each age group. There are a number of rules and conditions that team managers and athletes have to adhere to.
Team managers have to collect health declaration sheets from all athletes to be handed in on the day. No spectators are allowed at the start and finish and on the course. Leg holding pens in operation and athletes have to disperse from the finish area immediately, no shaking of hands no fist bumps etc.
Timetable: 10am Under-13 Girls, 11am U13 Boys, 12pm U15 Girls, 1pm U15 Boys, 2pm U17 Men, 2.45pm U17/20 Women. All legs are over 3k.
The NECAA are hoping to arrange the senior cross-country relay championships in the New Year at the same venue.
After a cross country season that was not fulfilled the Sunderland Harriers Cross Country Grand Prix has finally been decided.
Due to the lockdown it has taken some time to finalise the Sunderland Harriers cross country grand pix.
The competition, which involved over 70 club members, has was beset by cancellations and postponements through
flooded venues, however, the competition was still as keen as ever right up to the final league fixture. .
It started in October at the first Harrier League event and took in the remaining fixtures plus the Sherman Cup at South Shields and The North Eastern Championships at Alnwick.
Then it moved onto the big points scorers at the Northern Championships at Bedale and theNationalChampionshipsat Nottingham.
It was the in-form Steve Rankin that came out on top despite missing out on the final event through injury.
The Over-35 had amassed enough points to seal his win without putting on his spikes.
He had been a club team counter in every event he had contested.
In second place was Graeme Pullan with 40 points and he was followed by Dale Wilkinson, who finished third on countback with the same number of points as Pullan.
Fourth place went to Tony Allinson with 39 points and Lee Coleman won his first ever prize with fifth place with the same number of points as Allinson.
Rankin was also involved in the Harrier League Individual Grand Prix and he finished amongtheprizesinfourth, two places ahead of his clubmate Craig Gunn.
Chris Jackson was runnerup in the Veterans Grand Prix behind Elvet Strider Darren Purves.
Houghton Harriers had SamuelGibsonandChrisCoulson in third and fifth places respectively in the Under-17 Men’s Grand Prix.