News & General Page

Feb 22nd.

The final Cross country inter club competition of this season - the English National Championships - took place at Parliament Hill, London on Saturday the 22nd February. The course was very muddy due to the amount of rain that fell in the weeks and days prior to the event, and the going was very tough.

The club had entered 35 athletes with 30 actually finishing on the day. Jonson Hughes had to retire from the U20 race with an ankle injury.

Numbers were down against previous years for the event, and we are not sure if the date clash with the half term holiday affected this, or if the London location - with the travel and accommodaton costs was a factor.

However we are very grateful for those who ran, and the families and parents who supported them, for representing our club and town so well, at this prestigious event.

The national event requires 4 runners in each race for a team score (6 for senior men) and this meant that we only had 3 scoring teams.

The best club team performance was that of the U15 girls who finished 6th team and 2nd Northern club team.

The senior women's team were 13th (5th Northern club) and the Under 17 men's team 17th (2nd Northern club).

Mikey Bacon (who won the U15 boys event in 2024), was our highest placed finisher in the team, in 15th place - an excellent performance for a first year athlete in the age group.

The full club athlete performances are listed below

U17 Women

162 Martha Hazlehurst 26:46

U15 Boys

122 Sebastian Johnson 17:14, 165 Louis Johnson 17:46, 228 Robson Hughes 18:29.

U13 Girls

235 Phoebe Milbourne 17:40

U17 Men 17th team (2nd Northern club)

15 Mikey Bacon 23:24, 126 Vincent Johnson 25:51, 154 Theo Armitage 26:20,

215 Daniel Reeve 27:27, 274 Jake Parker 29:46.

U13 Boys

28 Edward Rose 13:01, 270 Harry Hudson 16:12.

U15 Girls 6th Team (2nd Northern club)

27 Matilda Holmes 18:44, 29 Haley Bacon 18:48, 78 Esme Milbourne 20:01,

103 Abigail Andrews 20:26.

U20 Women

36 Lilia Harris 29:12, 61 Marci Walsh 30:59.

Senior Women 13th team (5th Northern club)

46 Emily Cowper-coles 33:38, 85 Ellen Mcleod 35:17, 162 Sophie Cowper 37:18

182 Amy Hodgson 37:51, 329 Naomi Clegg 41:18.

U20 Men

28 Sonny boy Hughes 36:31, 158 George Ellis 45:31

Senior Men

176 Josh Wragg 51:36, 199 James Mellor 52:19, 329 Aidan Johnson 54:35,

468 Sam Clegg 56:53, 906 Richard Harris 64:18.hen finished 3rd in the womens race with 36:38

Northern Athletics Senior, U20 & U17 indoor championships 2024 from the weekend 13th &14th Jan.

Another successful championships for Rotherham Harriers, 17 athletes took part in heats, semi finals and finals over the weekend, with a fantastic 8 medal winners.

Gold - Henry Parker, U20 men’s 400m, Katie Battle, U17 women’s 1500m

Silver - Isla Kerr, U20 women’s shot putt, Layla Roden U17 Women’s 800m, Graighagh Turner U17 women’s 1500m

Bronze- Olivia Bell, U20 Women’s 400m, Caitlin McCloy U20 women’s 800m, Harper Tompkin, U17 women’s 1500m.

Finals - Senior women’s 800m, 4th place Nicole Norton, u20 men’s 800m, 5th place Luke Parker, u17 men’s 1500m, 6th place Daniel Reeve.

Well done to all athletes in their semi finals and heats: Alex Wootton & Jonathon Fields in the Senior men’s 60m, Lucy Rebori in the U20 women’s 60m, Alfie Nicholls & Henry Parker in the U20 men’s 200m, Olivia bell in the U20 women’s 200m, Jacob Nicholson in the u17 men’s 60m & 200m.

Yorkshire County Cross Country Championships: 6th January Lightwater Valley.

The annual event consists of a total of 10 age group races, with individual, and team medals to be won.

However the standard of competition for the Yorkshire event is high, with many international standard athletes taking part; The senior race winners were UK European cross country athlete Angus McMillan and Olympic and World Championship athlete Alex Bell.

Rotherham had 45 athletes entered - and as we have almost come to expect - many had great individual and team medal successes, with the club again topping the overall medal table.

The medal table reads:-

Club Gold Silver Bronze Total

Rotherham Harriers 4 5 3 12

Hallamshire Harriers 4 1 3 8

Leeds City 3 4 0 7

City of York 3 2 2 7

There were many individual medal winners The U15 girls had a clean sweep of the individual medals with Graihagh Turner 1st, Grace Igoe 2nd and Maya Schofield 3rd with an unbeatable team score of 6 points to win team gold.

The U15 Boys A team of Alfie Bedford (4th), Mikey Bacon (8th) and Bartley Hughes (19th) were silver team medalists. The B team were 7th team and first B team; (Louis Johnson 29th, Riley Welton-Seymour 31st & Sebastian Johnson 34th.)

Lilia Harris won silver and Katie Battle bronze, in the U17 women's race, and with Harper Tompkin in 22nd won bronze team medals.

Jonson Hughes won gold on the U17 men's race, with his brother Rocco in 8th and Will Platts in 12th won the gold team medal. The B team athletes (Daniel Reeve 23rd, Jack Williams 27th, & Theo Armitage 33rd were 8th team, and 3rd B team.

Sonny Boy Hughes won silver in the U20 men's race, and Joe Massingham continued his excellent winter form to finish a tremendous 2nd in the senior men's race. The senior mens team were in 4th team place, with Leeds City winning both men's and women's team races.

The race is also used to select the Yorkshire team for the Inter Counties championships in March with 14 of the club's athletes winning automatic selection. Notable among those was Matilda Holmes who finished 8th in her first cross country season to make the Yorkshire U15 girls team; and Haley Bacon was 5th so will be in the Yorkshire U13 girls team.

and Natasha Hatswell was our first finisher in the senior women's race in 6th, to get selected and with Ellen McLeod likely to get a senior team call in 12th. Likewise Marci Walsh who was 9th in the U20 women's race.

Thanks to the athletes and the parents for all their support at the event!

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