Northern Counties Cross Country Relay Championships 2014

Teams from all over the North of England converged on Graves Park in Sheffield on Saturday for the Northern Counties Cross Country Championships and Rotherham Harriers were represented in all sections but one, with a total of 15 full teams lining up in the club's black vests.

The Harrier's Women's squad was in magnificent form with the A team storming home to take 1st place and the B team close up in 3rd. A Harrier's C team took an excellent 14th place to demonstrate the club's strength in depth in this section. In the A team Annabelle Grady led off with a time of 12.23 for 3rd place at the end of leg 1. Determined not to be outdone Natasha Hatswell ran 12.21 to take the B team into 2nd place. On the second leg for the A team Sam Johnson's 12.19 was enough to take the team into 2nd place as the B team dropped back into 5th with Emma Parkinson's time of 13.38. On leg 3 for the A team Robyn Lanceley's 12.30 was enough to secure victory ahead of perennial Yorkshire rivals Holmfirth. Star performer for the Harriers, however, was Laura Spence as she ran the club's fastest time of the day (12.19), storming round the course to take the B team into 3rd place overall. A young C team was led off by Jess Freeman (14.01) who came home in 19th place, Mary Jenkinson (13.40) brought the team up to 15th and Emma Dutton (14.31) got them to the finish in 14th. Significantly the Harriers ladies ran 5 of the 10 fastest times of the day with Laura Spence 5th fastest, Sam Johnson 6th, Natasha Hatswell 7th, Annabelle Grady 8th and Robyn Lanceley 10th.

The senior men were led off by Rhian Hastey with 11.45 (28th). Second leg runner Phil Hoole ran the club's fastest time (11.08) to take them up to 17th. On the third leg Richard Harris (11.10) picked up another 5 places and handed over to Aidan Johnson in 12th. Aidan's time of 11.19 saw the team improve their position to take a place in the top 10 as they came home in an excellent 9th place overall.

In the U11G race the club had 2 teams. The A team (Nyah Barlow 5.47, Megan Harpham 6.12, Eva Butler 6.34) was 8th to finish and the B team (Erin Avill 6.41, Marni Harris 7.15, Abigail Kerr 8.19) came home 18th. Nyah's time was 5th fastest of all runners on the day.

Two teams of U11 Boys also competed for the Harriers. The A team was 5th (Jay Jessop 5.40, Alex Coates 5.48, Declan Mullane 5.25) with Declan 7th fastest of all runners on the day. The B team was 12th ( Josh Gilbert 5.35, Alex Wood 6.05, Jacob Brown 6.32).

The U13Girls were 14th (Grace Harris 6.08, Leah Hayward 6.48, Ciara Mullane 6.51) with Grace 10th fastest on the day. Abbey Stroughair was reserve and ran on the first leg, recording a time of 7.50.

In the U13 Boy's race the team were placed 15th (Elliott Morton 6.37, Liam Mortimer 6.08, Darnell Joseph 6.05) Caleb Bruty-Brown ran as an individual on the first leg in 6.45.

The U15 Girls A team placed 6th (Mya Taylor 8.15, Ellis Jackson 8.48, Olivia Parkes 8.48) and the B team was 23rd (Annabel Johnson 9.01, Cyane Robinson 9.05, Mia Harris 9.47)

The U15Boys A team was 12th. Declan Walker -Smith ran an excellent 7.16 on leg 1 to record the 6th fastest time of the day, Jack Stokes 8.05 and James Johnson 8.26 completed the team. The B team was incomplete with Samuel Picton 8.52 and Aaron Wickson 9.22 competing for the club.

The U 17 Men's team were closest to providing another medal to complement the Ladies teams as they fought their way into 3rd place ahead of Warrington on leg three only to have Derby AC's last runner surge past in one of the fastest runs on the day to snatch the medal from their grasp. Joe Massingham 7.26, Kane Smith 7.33 and Ryan Beale 7.42 were the unlucky team. The B team was 19th (Ollie Potter 7.42, Daniel Bradford 8.27, Joseph McNulty 8.52) making up the team.