Harriers show their mettle to collect medals at 38th open
Sunderland Harriers’ 38th Open Cross-Country Races, held at Farringdon on Saturday, saw the host club among the medals and prizes.
A packed programme of eight events for all age groups, over the same 1.8-mile course behind Gilley Law, saw the Wearsiderswintwoeventsand get placed in four others.
The main race of the day, the senior men’s event, saw Sunderland come up against a strong Durham University team.
The university squad were insecondplaceforthefirsttwo legsthroughtheperformances of James Stockings (9.10) and Sam Shuttleworth (9.53), then David Rich took over on the penultimate leg and he moved through to first place with his stint of 9.13.
Anchor-man Cameron
Field, a 03.45 1,500m runner, then increased the winning distance with the fastest time of the day (8.57) to go on and beatSunderlandby51seconds with their total time of 37.13.
Sunderland, fielding a weakened team, were in third place over the first two legs through a good run from veteran Michael Barker (9.21) and a debut appearance from 18-year-old Alex Seed, recording (10.04).
Nathan Reed ran 9.29 on leg three before handing over to Steve Rankin, who claimed the club’s fastest time of 9.20.
Tyne Bridge finished third (38.37), Hartlepool Burn Road were fourth (41.29), Low Fell fifth (41.34) and Jesmond Joggers sixth (41.44).
Houghtonfinishedseventh (42.04) with Will Bellamy runningafastlapof(9.07).Theother team members were Ciaran Lines(10.27),KieronBall(11.14) and Steve Johnson (11.16).
Sunderland dominated the veterans’ race, taking first, third, fourth and ninth positions
TheSunderlandAteamwas headed by Paul Blakey (9.44), theclub’sfastestrunner.Chris Jackson then came back with a (9.51), clocking before Chris Auld (10.06) and Sam Thurlbeck (10.08) maintained top spot with a final time of 39.49
Tyne Bridge were second (42.31)beforetheSunderlandB teamfinishedthird.Theywere Tim Field (10.45), Mark Head (10.57) David Lash (10.41) and Ed Sweeney (11.02).
The Sunderland team that finished fourth was Martin Blenkinsop (11.00), Darren Stoker(11.00),AndrewHughes (11.08)andPaulRedman(11.29).
Birtley won the senior women’s relay with Tess Graham (11.30), Lisa Short (11.41), Lorna Graham (11.46) and Chloe Price (11.09), for a final time of 46.06.
Gosforth took second (47.50), followed by Houghton in third (48.20). The team was Anna Pigford (11.03), Amy Leonard (12.08), Carla King (14.27) and Eva Hardie (10.42).
South Shields won the veterans’ race and Sunderland finished second with Vikki Cotton (12.53), Doreen Dickinson (15.30), Colleen Compson (13.15) and Vicky Haswell (12.25).
The only local winner in the young athletes’ events was 17-year-old Sunderland Harrier Adam Hughes in the under-17 race (9.24). His time was the third fastest Sunderlandtimeoverall,withonlySteve Rankin (9.20) and Michael Barker (9.21) quicker.
Two Sunderland Harriers will be chasing personal best times in the Great North Run on Sunday at the sharp end of the field.
Liam Taylor has only run two half-marathons and his fastest was the 2011 Great North Run, when he recorded 70.42 to finish 34th. Stephen Jackson’s best time, 68.65, was intheGreenwichBigHalf-Marathon in 2020.