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English Cross Country Relay Championships

Sat 4th Nov 2023. Berry Hill park, Mansfield

The event was at the usual venue but with a new course lap and changeover layout. The weather on the day was thoroughly miserable - with cold and heavy rain for most of the day.

However the event went well, and the performances of the club athletes and teams was exceptional. We had a total of 15 teams entered, and with 3 of those teams inside the first 10 club finishers, five of the teams inside the top 20 clubs, and 7 inside the top 30 clubs.

The best performance came from the U15 girls team who won silver team medals, 10 seconds behind Aldershot Farnham & District and 2 seconds ahead of Chelmsford AC.

The encouraging thing is that it isn't just one team that is running well and performing well -it is now across the board; The U17 womens A team were 5th, the U17 B team were 25th (2nd B team) and the C team were 65th.

The U15 girls B team were 25th, The U15 boys A team were 7th (2nd Northern club) and the B team 85th. The U17 men were out in force with the A team in 19th, the B team in 53rd and the C team in 62nd.

The Junior mens A team were 13th (3rd Northern club) and the B team 50th.

The U13 girls team were 48th, the senior women 32nd, and the senior men 50th. The opening leg athlete for the men's team, Joe Massingham ran a storming leg to bring the team back in 8th place with a time of 15:28 for the 5km two lap course.

Rotherham Primary Schools Cross Country Championships: Herringthorpe Stadium and Playing fields.

Friday 3rd November 2023

The fixture was originally scheduled for the 13th October, but could not be held due to the weather that week which meant that the wet ground conditions would have been combined with a forecast of heavy rain for the event day; and for that reason we agreed to defer the event.

Thankfully the weather forecast for the 3rd November was much better, although the underfoot conditions were very wet due to the very heavy rain that storm Ciaran brought in the days before.

Unfortunately not all the schools could make the deferred date, and some schools withdrew due to the wet ground conditions; but the event was well supported and appeared to be enjoyed by all the runners and the parents and families who were spectating.

The programme had races for Y3 and 4 girls, then boys, followed by a two lap race for Y5/6 grils then boys.

A total of 247 runners completed the four races, with each school team of the first 4 runners scoring for the school team (each school can enter up to 6 runners).

The individual medal winners were:-

Y3/4 Girls: 1st Callie Tompkin (Sitwell Junior) 7:13; 2nd Dellah Barnes (St Mary's Herringthorpe) 7:40; 3rd Lois McEnery (St Mary's Herringthorpe) 7:41 .

Y3/4 Boys: 1st Harrison Battersby (St Gerards Catholic Primary School) 6:39; 2nd Scott Andrews (Brookfield) 6:45; 3rd Seth Bilham (Aston Fence J & I School) 6:53.

Y5/6 Girls: 1st Rubyanne Bailey (Anston Park Juniors) 11:10; 2nd Heidi Birks (Anston Park Juniors) 11:24; 3rd Eve Lovell (St Gerards Catholic Primary School) 11:37.

Y5/6 Boys: 1st Harry Hudson (Our Lady and St Joseph’s) 9:30; 2nd Joseph Hudson (Our Lady and St Joseph’s) 9:50; 3rd Isaac Stanton (Wath Central) 9:57.

The top 3 teams in each race were:-

Y3/4 Girls 1 Bramley Sunnyside Junior School 62 points

2 Wickersley Northfield 72 points

3 St Mary's Herringthorpe 80 points

Y3/4 Boys 1 Wath C of E 44 points

2 Wickersley Northfield 68 points

3 St Gerards Catholic Primary School 78 points

Y5/6 Girls 1 Bramley Sunnyside Junior School 54 points

2 Wath C of E 66 points

3 Aston Fence J & I School 82 points

Y5/6 Boys 1 Bramley Sunnyside Junior School 52 points

2 St Gerards Catholic Primary School 78 points

3 Brampton Ellis C of E School 95 points.

It is hoed that the event can become an annual October fixture in the schools sports calendar, as not only does it provide a good inter schools individual and team competition, it also acts as a pathway into Rotherham Harriers young athletes section for the primary schools athletes.

North of England Track & Field League: East Premier Division

Herringthorpe stadium hosted the final match of the 2023 season, with the host club facing an almost impossible task to avoid relegation.

To give credit to all the athletes who turned out to compete for the club, their performances earned the club their best match position of the season - but the 4th place wasn't enough to keep us up.

It was again the field event coverage that proved the club's weak spot - despite the sterling services of sisters Amy Hodgson and Lucy Reynolds who again competed in multiple events for the club - as they have done at all 4 matches this season.

Lucy was our only field event winner - in the triple jump. Luke Parker had a battle in the 800m "A" race against former Harrier Lee Thompson - a GB international 400m runner - who had a comfortable lead after one lap but Luke overhauled him in the finish straight to clinch a well deserved win.

Congratulations to City of York AC for the division win; Kingston-upon-Hull and Rotherham will hopefully be back at some stage into the premier division.

The match and final points scores were:-

Match 4 Points Final points

City of Sheffield & Dearne AC 332 6 16

Lincoln Wellington AC 304 5 18

City of York AC 284 4 21

Rotherham Harriers & AC 238.5 3 8.5

Wakefield District H & AC 217 2 10.5

Kingston upon Hull AC 193.5 1 10

North of England U13 U15 & U17 Track & Field Championships Middlesborough.

This event is important as it gives athletes competition at a high level, with the opportunity to experience the heats / semi finals / final rounds that are a feature of top events, and develop their ability to cope with that test.

Fifteen of the clubs athletes competed at the two day championship event, and won a total of 3 gold, 5 silver and 2 bronze medals.

The medal winners were:-

Gold: Maya Schofield U15G 800m, 2:17.05; Henry Parker, U17M 400m, 50.48; Jonson Hughes U17M 3000m, 8:46.25.

Silver: Grace Igoe U15G 800m, 2:18.48; U15G 1500m 4:44.28; Mikey Bacon U15B 1500m, 4:21.02; Katie Battle U17W 800m 2:15.01; Lilia Harris U17W 1500m 4:44.47.

Bronze: Katie Battle U17W 1500m 4:44.65; Henry Parker U17M 200m 21.92 (PB).

The need for heats and semi finals is dependent on the number of entries for each event. Many are straight finals, but where the number of competitors exceeds the available lanes / space then heats, and sometimes semi finals are needed.

Maya Schofield was second in heat 2 of the U15G 800m with a time of 2:25.41, and Grace Igoe 1st in heat 1 in 2:21.20.

Henry Parker qualified for the finals as he was 2nd in heat 1 of the 400m in 52:06; 1st in heat 1 of the 200m in 22.35 and 1st in Semifinal 1 in 22.41.

Katie Battle was 3rd in heat 2 of the U17W 800m in 2:19.74

Mikey Bacon qualified as he was 5th in heat 2 of the U15B 1500m in 4:32.04.

All other distance races were straight finals.

Other club athletes competing were:-

Isobel Powell 7th in heat 2 of the U13G 100m

Haley Bacon was 8th in the combined heat performances (3 heats with 23 competitors) Haley's time of 2:26.01 was achieved in 5th place in heat one, giving her the 8th final position.

Robson Hughes was 8th in the straight 800m final for U15Boys with a time of 2:15.17

Harper Tompkin was 7th in the straight final of the U17W 1500m in 5:27.09.

Isla Kerr was 7th in the Shot Putt final for U17W with 10.58m.

Rocco Hughes was 8th in the U17M 3000 final with 9:54.45

Alfie Nicholls was 4th in heat 1 of the U17M 100m in 11.79; and made the semi finals of the 200m by finishing 3rd in heat 2 with 23.14 and was 7th in semi final 2 with 23.34.

Millie Powell was 6th in heat 1 of the U17W 800m with 2:35.25, and was 6th in heat 2 of the 300m with 44.10.

Thanks to all for representing the club and performing so well.

Butchers’ Dogleg KMT#7

The seventh KMR event was held courtesy of Maltby RC at Braithwell last Thursday, a 4-5 mile trail and road event. The race was held in pleasantly sunny conditions, surprisingly in view of the dreadful weather.

There was a much bigger surprise at the head of the race however, where three previous winners in the series were soundly hammered by Rob Watkinson (21.57, Rotherham HAC) who finished more than a minute in front of Matt Daly (23.09, Worksop Harriers), Jordan Street (23.31, Clowne RR), and Luke Davis (23.37, Maltby RC).

This was only the second recent race for the former RHAC star, who has endured over 10 years out from the sport with injury. But back in former days he was county 1500 metres champion in consecutive years, and clearly, as they say, class is permanent.

In the ladies section, Cat Eddison (25.41, Rotherham HAC) was again dominant, finishing 11th overall in the race and trailed by Vicky Shaw (26.58, Barnsley AC) and Hannah Miller (27.12, Worksop Harriers).

With 17 black vests, RHAC was well-represented throughout the field: our second lady home was Sasha Gallagher (31.52) and there was an especially strong run from Neil Shaw (27.40, 24th).

With 5 races remaining in the series, outcomes are still not much clearer, except that in their categories Cath Eddison (Sen lady), Steve Marshall (MV50), Tom Charles (MV75) and Pete Humphries (MV80) are in pole positions.

The next race is ‘Stan’s Toffee Race’ on Thursday 17th August at Elsecar..

1 Watkinson Rob M45 21.57

11 Eddison Catherine FSEN 25.41

24 Shaw Neil M45 27.40

27 Whitehead Trevor M45 28.01

33 Massingham John M55 28.38

34 Charles Keith M45 28.39

36 Lilley Steven M55 28.47

51 Gallagher Sasha F45 31.52

74 Charles Thomas M65 35.44

77 Humphries Peter M75 36.01

89 Marsden Rebecca FSEN 38.14

95 Schofield Richrd M55 39.18

96 Ling Kelly F45 39.41

100 Steele Maggie F55 41.51

102 Hollingworth Helen F55 44.50

103 Palmer Joanne F35 45.32

106 Rhodes Malcolm M75 47.31

107 Charles Stephen M45 51.30

The final fourth match of the Youth Development league east 1 division took place on Saturday 22nd July at the Eco Power stadium, Doncaster with Rotherham fielding a strong team yet again in wet conditions.

The U13/U15 team secured 3rd place again to add to their cumulative position after 3 fixtures, which meant overall the team were placed Second and have secured promotion to the premier East division next year! What an achievement!

Final leaguePositions:

1 Chesterfield & District AC

2 Rotherham Harriers & AC

3 Gateshead Harriers & AC

4 City of Sheffield & Dearne AC

5 Doncaster AC

What a great team effort across the whole series, we have seen a number of new athletes competing for the first time for the club, athletes trying a range of events across both track and field and some outstanding performances.

It’s been great to see athletes trying new events to contribute to the overall success of the team and we will continue as a club to encourage all athletes in our lower age groups to continue to do this, we are lucky as a club that we now have a strong coaching team and structure to support athletes across a range of disciplines.

As a club we are keen to provide a T-shirt each year for the team and source a sponsor to provide this, we are really grateful to Mathewson and Rosemond this year for providing that opportunity.

A huge well done and thankyou to all the athletes, team managers, coaches and parents for all the support and efforts this year.

The KMR series of races has now seen five local events organised by the three organising clubs: Kimberworth Striders, Maltby Running Club and Rotherham Harriers & AC, and record fields have been turning out after the years of lockdown and inactivity.

It has not been easy to return to normal: natural disaster and environmental threats have forced alterations to what had become routine courses, and the weight of additional entries has made life tricky. But the jump in interest is very welcome.

The most recent, the Roche Abbey Dash at Maltby with it’s tricky going underfoot in the abbey woods was won by Matthew Daly (Worksop Harriers) from Jordan Street, Darren King and Graham Worsfold (all Clowne Road Runners). This was almost a reprise of the first race of series, and highlighting a big tide of support from our colleagues in north Notts.

The ladies event was won by Catherine Eddison (Rotherham Harriers) from Hannah Miller (Worksop) and Samantha Cotton (Rotherham RC).

An idea of the range of supporting clubs can be seen by the complete set of 5 finishes so far which can be claimed by Sally Bulmer (FV45, Worksop), Nathaniel Redcliffe (M senior, Danum Harriers), Euan Carroll (MU17, Doncaster AC), Jordan Street (MV40, Worksop), Stephen Fisher (MV45, Handsworth Roadhogs), Steve Marshall (MV50, Rotherham Harriers &AC), Andrew Roscamp (MV55, Handsworth Roadhogs), Ian Coates (MV60, Rother Valley Swallows), Tom Charles (MV70) and Pete Humphries (MV80, both Rotherham Harriers & AC)

The number of races completed is not however a determining factor in the series- after eight completed events the whole question goes to head-to-head results between the various contenders in a race category. It’s a good start, but there is still time for a late attempt on the awards for every 5-year group which are handed out at the last race (Boxing Day) at Braithwell.

The next race in the series (event 6) is at Greasbrough on Wednesday 19th July where Rotherham Harriers stage a short but taxing road race through the park from Coach Road to Wentworth Woodhouse and return- just a bit longer than a 5k but challenging.

Entries are taken on the night at £5/£7 and details of the race can be seen on rotherhamharriers.org and the series rules, results and calendar at kmrseries.co.uk

English National Cross Country Champs: Parliament Hill, Hampstead Heath 26th Feb 2022

Following the good results achieved in the County and Northern Cross country Championships, the club athletes were hoping for another successful day, and so it proved - with two individual medallists and a silver team medal.

Issy Waugh convincingly won the U15 girls race, some 42 years after the last club individual medal winner at this level - a certain Peter Elliott - who won the U17 (youths, as it them was) race at Leicester in 1980.

Not only did Issy win that race but Lilia Harris also secured a well deserved individual bronze medal, and these two were backed up by Caitlin McCloy in 26th and Katie Battle - having a great run to finish 31st. The team points (61) were ths same for the harriers scoring quartet and the team from Wreake & Soar Valley, of whom Athletics Weekly had said would be "unchallenged for the team award" in their event preview piece.

The gold team medals did go the Wreake and Soar Valley quartet, but only just! Their fourth scorer finished 28th, just 3 places ahead of the Harrier's fourth scorer, giving them the team win on countback. With City of York AC athlete Lottie Langan in 2nd place that meant the individual medalists at the National event were the same three as the Yorkshire and Northern events, with Issy triumphing this time

The U15 girls performance wasn't the only highlight of the day; the U17 women's team, led home by Evie Thomson in 9th place were 5th team (and 2nd North team, behind winner's Vale Royal AC); and the U13 girls team (led home by Northern winner Grace Igoe in 10th place) were 6th team, (and 2nd North team.) The U17 mens team were 17th team (5th North) and the Senior men's team were 33rd (7th North).

Conditions, on the day, for the athletes were challenging, as the course was a mixture of gluey mud in parts, and good firm conditions in other parts.

There were many fallers in the slippery mud and as the U17 team photo shows, one of these was Evie Thomson, who did extremely well to finish 9th after going headlong into the mud early in her race.

Other good individual places were:- Keiva Rennocks 22nd in the Junior womens race; Joe Massingham 39th in the Senior mens race; Sam Gilson 47th in the Junior men's race and Mya Taylor 80th in the senior women's race.

Thanks are due to all the athletes who competed and their supporters, who made to journey to London and were a part of this historic day for the club.

Results

U17 Women 5K

1st Jess Bailey Leven Valley AC 19:20

9 Evie Thomson 20:10 (3rd North) Team 5th 260 points (2nd North) 1st Vale Royal 84 points

55 Amelia Topliss 22:02

78 Bobbie Waugh 22:35

118 Anna Maddocks 23:19

126 Marci Walsh 23:33

U15 Boys 4K

1st Robert Price Vale Royal AC 14:15

130 George Ellis 16:55

139 Jake Parker 16:59

U13 Girls 3k

1st Katie Webb Marshall Milton Keynes 12:38

10 Grace Igoe 13:01 (2nd North) Team 6th (2nd North) Liverpool 4th

27 Graihagh Turner 13:17

67 Layla Roden 13:53

148 Rosalie Bailey 14:54

162 Esme Milbourne 15:01

225 Esther Lovell 15:37

257 Emmie Surgey 15:51

U17 Men 6K

1st Sam Mills Exeter AC 21.14

116 Luke Parker 24:48 Team 17th (5th North)

137 Joshua Gilbert 25:14

160 Jake Orr 25:35

289 Alexander Brand 29:26

U13 Boys 3K

1st Jake Meyburgh Windsor, Slough, Eton & Hounslow 11:06

205 Harry Orr 14:19

314 Seb Johnson 15:31

U15 Girls $k

1 Issy Waugh 16:11 Team 2nd 61 pts (same points as winners - Wreake & Soar Valley AC, but their last scorer was 28th)

2 Lottie Langan 16:32 (City of York)

3 Lilia Harris 16:34

26 Cailtin McCloy 17:49

31 Katie Battle 18:03

101 Mischa Walsh 19:17

269 Gracie Fidler 21:57

DNF Annabelle Sibley

Junior Women 6K

1st Alexandra Millard Invicta East Kent AC 24:23

22 Keiva Rennocks 26:59 (6th North)

Senior Women 8K

1st Jessica Gibbon Reading AC 29:00

80 Mya Taylor 34:06

659 Naomi Clegg 45:59

Junior Men 10K

1st Will Barnicoat 32:51

47 Sam Gilson 36:13 (11th North)

Senior Men 12K

1st Mahamed Mahamed Southampton AC 40:52

39 Joseph Massingham 44:32 Team 33rd (7th North)

106 Luke Cotter 46:30

381 Ben Burton 50:57

386 Aidan Johnson 51:03

482 Gareth Sampson 52:29

1195 Elliott Jackson 1:02:08

Yorkshire Vets Crosscountry Championships 2022

Norfolk Park Sheffield 12/3/22

With no team events in 2021 and precious little individual, it was a very welcome occasion at Norfolk Park on Saturday for the Yorkshire Vets Cross-country Championships: two fiercely contested races on a very hilly course.

Rotherham HAC’s runners were prominent with successes in both races. The format was somewhat baffling: all categories were represented with either ladies or men over 35-39, 40-44, 45-49, 50-54, 55-59, 60-64, 65-69, 70-74 and 75+ challenging for individual honours. Because of the race lengths stipulated, eighteen races would be impossible, but only two distances were applicable so there were two race starts only. Ladies 45+ with men 70+ ran 5k and the rest 10k. Team counting was in 10-year brackets however.

Age categories on the runners’ back were obligatory so I guess they knew more or less which race they were in but for the spectator it was a different story. The races were great, well-organised by Steel City: who won what was hard to guess until the awards afterwards when the destination of trophies etc for the complex number of teams and individual medals become clear.

RHAC runners in the 10k race were strong towards the front with 4 in the top 10: team captain Aidan Johnson was fourth home which took the Yorkshire silver medal as 2nd O35. He was headed by one race place by Gareth Sampson, who was gold medal winner at O40. And Matt Parker (6th in race) and Chris Griffiths (8th) were Also among the medals.

The end positions were:

Aidan Johnson: 2nd in 35-9

Gareth Sampson: 1st in 40-44

Matt Parker: 3rd in 40-44

Chris Griffiths: 2nd in 45-49

RHAC team 40-49 (3 score) First place (Sampson, Parker, Griffiths)

RHAC team 40-49 (5 score) First place (Sampson, Parker, Griffiths, Mark Plant, Keith Charles)

John Comrie and James Gallacher completed our teams.

In the absence of any RH lady runners, the other interest was in race 1 where Bob Tintinger took gold at 70-74 and led RH to third team place:

Bob Tintinger: 1st in 70-74

RHAC team (3 count) Third place (Tintinger, Tom Charles, Peter Humphries)

Yorkshire Vets racing will be back in the late summer with road relays (to be dated)

Pictured:

RHAC ‘junior’ vets from race 2.

Front of the race after 200m