NORTH STAFFS CROSS COUNTRY
Leek 9/12/12
Report from George Hodkinson
All of these races have been fun, tiring, hilly, muddy, wet, rainy, competitive, sunny and crowded. There were several muddy puddles dotted around the course. You could not dodge them so when you put foot in-it would suck your shoe off like a vacuum cleaner. Fortunately, nobody’s shoes got sucked off but… it was very muddy as it came higher than your ankles. Killer hill lived up to its name…
Congratulations to all of those who took part especially Nathan, the under 15’s boys and girls teams and our coach Chris!
Merry Christmas to all!…
NORTH STAFFS CROSS COUNTRY LEAGUE
Here is a report on behalf of the Juniors from the Stafford Common cross country, I was supposed to have a junior assistant correspondent but she was too busy eating Jackie Grants cakes and drinking hot chocolate!
21 juniors (if I include Nathan and Lauren who represent the U17 age group) turned out for the 3rd cross country race of the North Staffs League at Stafford Common on Saturday. Mud glorious mud for them all right at the start but they came off relatively unscathed compared to the seniors.
In the under 11 girls race Ella Sandy made her cross country debut having a fantastic run to finish 10th out of 50 with a strong finish in a fight for places in the finishing straight.
In the under 11 boys race a bit of a Harrier battle between George Hodkinson and Alfie Spencer pushed them both into great placings of 19th and 20th respectively. They were followed by Jake Oliver 31st and Ali Morgan 46th both looking strong throughout. The team are in 6th place only 2 points behind Trentham.
In the under 13 girls we had Atlanta Dowd-Mackenzie working hard to finish 15th with Jasmine Hesslegrave and Millie Stanyer battling with the older Trentham girls to come 26th and 27th. The girls are in 4th place but only 1 point ahead of Trentham.
In the under 13 boys we had Will Sammons really battle it out in the last stages to gain at least 3 places and a great 6th place. He was supported by a brave run and another Harrier cross country debut by Kiran Mogey in 32nd.
In the under 15 girls we had a good turn out with Ellie Baxter starting hard and working in the final stages to keep 13th with an excellent 16th from Amy Oliver who worked strongly through the field. Emma Underwood kept working on this tough course as did Laura Taylor to finish 20th and 25th respectively. The team are in a solid 3rd position.
In the under 15 boys another good turn out with Tom Sabin making a very welcome return to the team enjoying the course, making it look easy and finishing an excellent 5th. Fantastic positions and all out performances from Joe Smith 9th, Jack Hodkinson 12th , Tom Allen 21st and Owen Futers 23rd have pushed their team from 4th last week to 1st (by 2 points) this week. Come on boys, every place counts now!!
In the under 17 women, Lauren Gee always works hard in a tough event with so few runners to help pull her around, to finish 12th.
In the under 17 Men we have Nathan Sabin continuing his awesome form to storm home in 1st after leading more or less from the start and increasing his lead over the laps.
It really is great to see all the juniors work so hard in these tough events. They really battle for places in the latter stages and none of them ever give up even if some are not having such a good day. So come on boys and girls, one last race and we know its a toughie, but its the same for all the other teams. There are team places up from grabs and a huge sense of achievement in completing this series of cross country races.
Well done all, and let the hard work and fight for places continue!
I really apologise if I have missed any runners out, but I have checked and double checked the official results.
Liz Stanyer (unofficial correspondent as the original correspondent let me down)
Our Junior runners at the National Cross Country Relays
JCB 5 MILER FUN RUN
This race was one lap of the main race, so it was 2 and a half miles. Stafford Harriers wiped the floor with the competition. There were 72 runners and Harriers had all of our nine in the first 21.
Brilliant. Well done all.
1 |
0:14:22 |
Jack |
Hodkinson |
M |
U15 |
0:14:22 |
2 |
0:14:41 |
William |
Sammoms |
M |
U15 |
0:14:41 |
4 |
0:15:26 |
George |
Hodkinson |
M |
U15 |
0:15:26 |
6 |
0:16:29 |
William |
Buckley |
M |
U15 |
0:16:29 |
9 |
0:17:27 |
Ellie |
Baxter |
F |
U15 |
0:17:26 |
10 |
0:17:27 |
Owen |
Futers |
M |
U15 |
0:17:26 |
13 |
0:18:15 |
Jake |
Oliver |
M |
U15 |
0:18:15 |
15 |
0:18:19 |
Amy |
Oliver |
F |
U15 |
0:18:19 |
21 |
0:18:43 |
Emma |
Underwood |
F |
U15 |
0:18:41 |
STAFFORDSHIRE CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS
5/1/13
This years Championships were hosted by Wolverhampton and Bilston at Aldersley Stadium. Highlights of the day for the Harriers were Nathan Sabin winning a Bronze Medal and a county vest in the Under 17 men. Will Sammon is also in with a chance of a County vest with his 10th place.
All results are here. RESULTS
STONE ST MICHAEL’S RELAYS
Still awaiting a report for the relays but here are a couple of photos of our junior runners. We believe one team came 2nd and the other 7th. I’m sure one of them will send us a report.
Stafford Schools
Ellie Baxter has been chosen to run for Stafford Schools in the county athletic
finals. Following her 1st place in the 1500 metres and 2nd in the 800 metres in
the Stafford Schools competition, she has been chosen for both events. The event
is this Wednesday at Tamworth.
What has been a very good couple of weeks for Ellie she has also received four
netball awards. She was presented two from Stafford Netball Club and two from
the County, winning the County Divisional Player of the season.
South Staffs Athletics Network Cross Country Relay
31/3/12
Here are some photos from the juniors cross country relays last weekend. This event was organised by the network and was very low key but all the juniors had a great run ( some running 2 legs! ) with each leg being a mile around Rowley Park. The start and finish were on the track and the route took them around the perimeter of Rowley Park and included ‘the hill’. There were junior and senior Harriers providing the marshalling and lots of parent support. Hopefully this event could continue with more support from other clubs.
Liz Stanyer
INTER COUNTIES CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS
10/03/12Nathan and Tom Sabin represented Staffordshire at Cofton Park, Birmingham, at the Inter-Counties Cross Country Challenge on Saturday 10 March.
This was Nathans 3rd time and Tom’s 1st time for the County.The weather was good, just a slight cross wind when Tom took to the pens, being last out of the pen meant he’d got distance to make up straight away on the front runners. Staying strong around the course and finishing with a great down hill sprint finish he came 176 out of 306 runners, time of 11.49 (3k) and finished 6th for Staffordshire.
Nathan new what to expect, competing in the u17 men age group for the first time, he knew this wasn’t going to be easy with such a strong field. Last out of the pen he’d got alot of work to do. First lap round he was relaxed and looked comfy, second lap he picked up his pace and passed those that had gone off too fast and were fading, he remained strong throughout the second lap and came 3rd for Staffordshire, finished 152 out of 255 runners, time of 21.19 (6k).
STAFFORDSHIRE SCHOOLS CROSS COUNTRY
4/2/12
At the Staffordshire schools cross country championships held at Stoke on the 4th of February 2012 six of our junior girls took part and once again they all put in good performances. We had three runners in the under 13s girls and three in the under 15s girls.
In the under 13s starlet Elisha Walker kept up her excellent form to win the race in a time of 8-58, Hannah Talbot was 4th in 9-44 and Robyn Volk 14th in 10-59 there was 59 runners in the race.
In the under 15s Ellie Baxter ran well to finish 18th in 11-36 Kayleigh Derry was 28th in 12-20 and Emma Underwood 33rd in 12-32. It really is nice to see our juniors taking part in schools races and getting good results.
Frank Grant
MIDLAND CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS
28/1/12
At the recent Midlands cross-country championships at Nottingham on the 28th of January we had 9 juniors take part and they ran their socks off. In the girls under 13s race we had four runners and leading them home was Elisha Walker to finish 6th in 11-40 the highest position for a junior of ours ever she was supported by Hannah Talbot 54th in 12-47 Amy Oliver having a superb run 103rd in 14-35 and Emma Underwood 106th in 14-45 the girls was 12th team out of 20 we had two runners in the under 15 girls with Kayleigh Derry 90th in 19-24 and Laura Taylor 97th in 20-05. In the boys we had one runner in each race in the under 13s Tom Sabin ran well finishing 17th in 11-15 in the under 15s Joe Smith was 71st in! 5-47 and Nathan Sabin was 37th in 21-42 in the under 17s boys.
Frank Grant
STAFFORDSHIRE CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS
7/1/12
In the county championships at Sandwell valley park we had eight juniors turn out and again they put in some good performances in the girls under 13s Elisha Walker put in another good run to finish second in 13-41 to win a silver medal just missing out on gold. She was supported by Ellie Baxter 21st in 16-37 Amy Oliver 27th in 18-13 and Atlanta Dowd -Mackenzie despite picking up a injury 31st in 19-13 the girls was 5th team and Elisha will be running for the County in March at Cofton park.
In the boys under 13s Tom Sabin put in a sprint finish to finish 8th in 13-12 and Will Sammons was 12th in 14-14 both of these lads had letters to say they are reserves for the county, in the boys under 15s Joe Smith put in a good performance in his first year in this group to finish 24th in 16-52 and in the under 17s boys Nathan Sabin ran a controlled race to finish 8th in 24-47 Nathan was in 12th place going into the last lap, Nathan is also a reserve for the county. Not a bad day for our juniors.
Here is the Under 13 girls team, who ran in the Staffs Championships at Sandwell Valley
From the left Amy Oliver, Elisha Walker, Atlanta Dowd-Mackenzie and Ellie Baxter