Issy impresses to take fourth win in four races
Eight club members compete at Summerhill Park in Hartlepool
Eight club members competed in the fourth round of the North Yorkshire and South Durham Cross Country League, which was held at Summerhill Park, Hartlepool.
The runners enjoyed some splendid mild and sunny weather, but even in the early races, they had to contend with an extremely muddy surface all the way round a classic roller coaster course.
In the Under-13 Girls race, Issy Nicholls made it four wins out of four, and with the best results for five races of the six races to count, remains very much on course to retain the Under-13 title that she won last season.
Anya Potter-Firth and Talia Lambert both achieved their best result in the league this season, after Anya finished 10th and Talia closed in for the team in 17th.
The team finished second behind the runaway leaders Middlesbrough (Mandale) Athletic Club, which was also their best result this season.
Logan Lambert was going well in the corresponding Under-13 Boys race, when he subsequently managed to lose a shoe in the mud, and then the other shoe.
He commendably kept going and was officially placed 18th.
Harry Butterworth in the Under-15 Boys race and Christian Mummert in the Under-17 Men’s races, both achieved their best results of the season on this very muddy course.
Harry was fourth and Christian fifth and both remain in contention for a top three overall placing in the league.
Hester Butterworth also achieved her best performance this season when fin- ishing up in sixth of 74 in the Senior Women and Over 17 Men and Women’s race.
She was also first Over-45 and looks likely to finish in the top three of her age group.
In the final race of the day, with the underfoot conditions at their worst, Ian Nicholls and Paul Chapman battled hard to stay upright, and finished 103rd and 139th respectively.
A record 11 club members competed in the Eskdake Eureka Fell Race, which consisted of an extremely tough course of nine miles with 1,500 of climb which started at Eskdale Inn Castleton and took in Westerdale Moor and Hob Hole.
The route included deep mud and melting snow, which turned paths into fast flowing streams.
Danny Walls was once again the first finisher for the club in 15th overall.
He was followed by Owen Willis and Mark May.
Next to finish was Heidi Coates then Nick Coombes, Steve Baldwin and Louise Milne who ran together, then Nikki Carr, David Parke, who ran with fell debutant Carina Pelluci, who also won a prize for the second Over-50 finisher.
Sarah Casey was next with Lisa Baker, who also ran in her first ever fell race.
Nikki Carr earned much praise for her action during the race, when along with others she helped rescue a walker who had fallen into a swollen beck and was lying up to his neck in the water.
After this she ran back to a previous check point to alert a mountain rescue team, thus adding to her race mileage.
The walker subsequently made a good recovery from his ordeal.