Young Athletes Main Page

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 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.

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.

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

Young Athletes win the league!

At the 3rd and final fixture, held at Doncaster's Keepmoat Stadium, the team of Lower Age group athletes won the match, and in so doing sealed the league victory.

The match scores were:-

1 Rotherham Harriers & AC 453.3.5pts

2 Hallamshire Harriers Sheffield 416.0

3 Chesterfield & District AC 371.0

4 Doncaster AC 334.3

5 City of Sheffield & Dearne AC 278.3

6 Lincoln Wellington AC 275.0

This meant that the league points, after the 3 fixtures are:-

1 Rotherham Harriers & AC 17 points

2 Chesterfield & District AC 14

3 Hallamshire Harriers Sheffield 13

4 Doncaster AC 10

5 City of Sheffield & Dearne AC 5

6 Lincoln Wellington AC 4

Club athletes had double wins in events as follows:-

U15 Boys

100m A Jake Preece 13.0, B Jay Mylett 12.9

200m A Henry Parker 24.3, B Jake Preece 26.5

300m A Henry Parker 37.5, B Jay Mylett 40.2 (PB and AAA grade 3 award)

High Jump A Jakub Patyk 1.60m (PB and AAA grade 3 award), B Jake Preece 1.30m

4 x 100m relay 1st 50.5; (Alfie Nicholls, Jay Mylett, Jake Preece, Henry Parker).

4 x 300m relay 1st 2:55.8 (Alfie Nicholls,Luke Stables, George Ellis, Henry Parker)

U15 Girls

800m A Lilia Harris 2:19.1, B Emily Bott 2:20.7 (Both AAA grade 1)

1500m A Caitlin McCloy 4:48.6 (PB & AAA grade 1), B Katie Battle 4:57.2 (PB and AAA grade 3 award)

U13 Girls

1200m A Grace Igoe 3:53.1, B Graihagh Turner 3:58.0

Long Jump A Layla Roden 4.33m, B Emmie Surgey 3.53m.

Other winners were:-

Lucas McLean U15 boys A Shot put 12.03m

Jakub Patyk U15 boys B 800m 2:31.5.

Cadence Strutt U15 girls B discus 11.59m

U15 girls 4 x 300m relay; 3:01.6 (Lilia Harris, Emily Bott, Katie Battle, Caitlin McCloy)

This bodes well for the next season, when we will hopefully have got more new members and more events covered.

A big thank you to all the athletes, coaches team managers and supporters for their work during this difficult year.

Five of the Harrier's female athletes competed in the 2021 event, held at Sportcity Manchester over the weekend of the 7th & 8th of August. Three were middle distance athletes coached by Richard Harris, and two were sprint athletes coached by Stuart Kerr.

Not only are the national champs the pinnacle of the competition pyramid for the athletes, they also provide valuable experience of competing & qualifying in heats and finals, which will be invaluable for the next level of competition.

The best performance was a silver medal, won by Lilia Harris (Richard's youngest daughter) in the U15 girls 1500m.

This was a straight final, held on Saturday the 7th, and Lilia was the early leader, with Freya Murdoch leading through 800m in 2:23, Lilia again took the lead with 100m to go, but just lost out - by 4 tenths of a second at the finish. The race winner, Freya, from Stockport Harriers, who ran 4:32.57, with Lilia setting a new PB of 4:32 .96.

Evie Thomson ran in the U17 women's 1500m on Sunday the 8th, which again was a straight final to finish 4th, just outside the medals, in 4:34.50. The winner was Kiera Brady-Jones (Wirral AC) in 4:27.18.

The remaining 3 athletes all had to qualify for their event final. Lucy Rebori ran 12.83 to finish 5th in heat 1 of the U17 women's 100m, but unfortunately didn't progress beyond her heat.

Maisy Heggie finished 4th in her heat of the U17 women's 300m hurdles event, on Saturday but made it through to the final on Sunday with her time of 48.02, finishing 7th in the final in an improved time of 47.48. The final was won by Stephanie Okoru (Havering AC) with a significant lead in a time of 42.82.

Caitlin McCloy also qualified for the final of the U15 girls 800m (on Sunday) finishing 3rd in her Saturday heat, in a time of 2:18.07. Caitlin finished 7th in the final, with a time of 2:19.58, the race winner was Shakira King (Wreake & Soar Valley) in a time of 2:13.74.

The performances above suggests that the next generation of athletes is preparing to repeat the successes achieved by the GB athletes in the women's 800m at the Tokyo Olympics - where all 3 made the final and ran PB times.

Congratulations to Melissa Coxon, who has been invited to compete in the British T&F championships (400m Hurdles) following her performance in one of the pilot competitions held at Nuneaton.

The event is at Manchester on September 4th and 5th. Melissa is the youngest athlete in thre event.

from Fiona Topliss:

It was a very late start to the track season last week when Doncaster Athletics stadium hosted the first local athletic event of the year.

Covid19 has seen all sports off to a slow start this year and athletics has been no different.

The Rotherham athletes have not had access to track at Herringthorpe Stadium since March and have been training in accordance with England Athletics guidelines during the Covid period. For some months this was done in isolation and then in smaller groups once restrictions allowed.

They have been reliant on training in public spaces, which has, at times, proved difficult but with much commitment and determination they have maintained fitness and were ready to race as soon as the opportunity came along.

The event, hosted by Sheffield & Dearne AC at Doncaster was held on Thursday 20 August was held under strict conditions with limited spectators and reduced lane numbers.

Rotherham Harriers had a number of athletes competing across the categories and despite the unorthodox lead up to the event a number of them showed their training had paid off with many personal bests (PBs achieved).

The heats were seeded and were mixed gender and in mixed age groups for the older athletes.

Owen Haffner (U15B) who had been on great form during the winter cross country season showed he is just as comfortable on the track knocking 11 seconds off his 800m PB to win his heat and take 7th overall.

Layla Roden moved up into the U13G category this season and showed her potential with a 6 second PB to take second place in the 800m.

Luke Parker (U15B), Evie Thomson (U15G), Joshua Wragg and Samuel Gilson (both U17M) all scored PBs in their respective 800m events, whilst Matthew France (U15B 100m) and Angelique Abberley (U15G 200m) also achieved PBs in their events.

With just a few track events left in the calendar this year the athletes are hoping Rotherham Council will be able to re-open the stadium to enable them to return to normal training sessions and hopefully a few more PBs in the coming weeks.

Results:

U13B 100m

1 Alfie Ferguson 14.82 (PB)

U13G 100m

1 Molly Gray (Sheffield & Dearne) 13.29; 2 Jo Dixon 14.40 (PB)

U13B 800m

1 William Platts (Sheffield & Dearne) 2:20.71; 2 Jake Parker 2:45.04

U13G 800m

1 Megan Taylor (Notts) 2:24.52; 2 Layla Roden 2:24.86 (PB)

U15B 100m

1 Matthew France 11.82 (PB)

U15B 200m

1 Fabian Powell (Corby AC) 23.6; 2 Matthew France 24.70

U15G 200m

1 Angelique Abberley 25.78 (PB)

U15B 800m

1 Zachary Rayner (Wakefield) 2:09.54; 6 Luke Parker 2:15.45 (PB); 7 Owen Haffner 2:17.0 (PB); 10 George Ellis 2:36.78

U15G 800m

1 Lottie Langan (City of York AC) 2:20.03; 3 Evie Thomson 2:26.11 (PB); 6 Lilia Harris 2:28.41; 9= Emily Bott 2:34.0; 13 Amelia Topliss 2:39.35; 14 Anna Maddocks 2:40.77

U17M 400m

1 Bayleigh Lawton (Spenborough AC) 50.74; 2 Alexander Newell 52.83

U17M 800m

1 Kian Wiles (Barton & District AC) 1:56.31; 5 Joshua Wragg 2:07.7 (PB); 10 Samuel Gilson 2:15.27 (PB)

U17W 800m

1 Leah Gregory (Hallamshire Harriers) 2:19.25; 2 Hayley Butcher 2:23.05; 7 Olivia Hare 2:27.93

U20W 100m

1 Ellie Booker 11.99 (PB)

U20 W 400m

1 Melissa Coxon 56.75 (PB)

CAU Inter Counties Cross Country Championships 7th March . Prestwold Hall, near Lougborough again hosted the annual championships and thanks to a spell of windy dry weather the ground (which has been a real mudbath in previous years) had dryed out quite well - but there were several really gluey muddy sections.

11 club athletes had been selected to represent their county, with two further club athletes competing in the cross Challenge final fixture

9 club athletes had been selected for Yorkshire with several winning team medals as Yorkshire again won the overall county winners award - The Frank Rickard Trophy.

One - Joshua Wragg - was representing Derbyshire and Anna Maddox was representing Nottinghamshire.

Half of the winning Yorkshire U20 womens team were from Rotherham, with Cyane Robinson & Keiva Rennocks being the 3rd and 4th in the scoring team 4.

Lilia Harris had another good run finishing 3rd scorer in the silver medal winning U13 girls Yorkshire team of 4, and Owen Haffner continued his successful first year of U13 cross country running, finishing 4th scorer in the Yorkshire silver medal winning team

Nicola Devine had a better run to finish the 5th scorer in the Yorkshire senior women's gold medal winning team.

Sam Gilson , who has missed a few months due to illness showed that he is retuurning to fitness with an improved performance here.

Results for the club athletes are:-

U13 Gilson

Yorkshire team 2nd - 78 points. Winners Bedfordshire 69 points

Individual Results

1st Zoe Gilbody Shropshire 13:36

27 Lilia Harris 15:07

68 Mischa Walsh 15:36

U13 Boys

Yorkshire team 2nd - 97 points. Winners Devon 82 points

Individual Results

1st Henry Sheffield Glouster) 13:12

38 Owen Haffner 14:14

U15 Girls

Yorkshire team 2nd - 101 points. Winners Cheshire 46 points.

Individual Results

1st Kiya Dee Gloucestershire 16:24

97 Olivia Bell 19:04

120 Amelia Topliss (RHAC) 19:21

187 Anna Maddox (Notts) 20:14

U17 Men

Individual Results

1st Will Barnicoat Surrey 20:41

83 Joshua Wragg (Derbyshire) 23:14

121 Sam Gilson (RHAC) 23:49

Junior Women

Yorkshire Team 1st 83 points

Individual Results

1st Megan Keith Scotland N 23:34

10th Emily Field (Bingley) 25:48

13th Cyane Robinson 26:00

29th Keiva Rennocks 26:57

31st Abbey Brooke (Wakefield) 27:00

Senior Women

Yorkshire Team 1st 118 points

Individual Results

1st Charlotte Dannatt Surrey 43:01

31st Nicola Devine 47:10

222 Jenny Blizard 57:47

Senior Men

Yorks team 2nd 221 points 1st North East 203 points

Individual Results

1st Mahamed Mahamed Hampshire 37:21

117 Lee Milburn 43:12

Storm Ciara and Storm Dennis may have left a number of sporting casualties in their wake but cross country runners are made of sturdy stuff and were not to be put off by the extra muddy conditions created for the English National Cross Country Championships at the weekend.

Organisers nearly called off the event a few days before due to the atrocious parking conditions at the venue at Woollaton Park, Nottingham. With over 2,500 cars expected moving the parking and finding spaces away from the park was a big ask but the English Cross Country Association and Nottinghamshire County Council managed to secure alternative parking with minimum disruption.

The heavy rain over the previous week provided one of the muddiest cross country courses of the season, which athletes running through knee deep stretches of thick mud and water as they battled over the various length courses. Conditions got progressively worse and more testing as the day progressed and many athletes came home minus a shoe or two!

Nearly 5,000 athletes took part over courses ranging from three to eight kilometres.

Rotherham Harriers had athletes in all but one of the ten categories, with strong turnout in the young athlete events. There were excellent individual and team performances across the day.

The young athletes once again showed their strength with three of the four age categories (U13Gs, U15Gs and U15Bs) all coming in as top Yorkshire team. The U13Bs were second Yorkshire team. The U13Gs were also first Northern team.

The top individual performances of the day went to Cyanne Robinson (Junior Women) who came 18th and Lilia Harris (U13Gs) who was 20th.

In the Senior Men’s event there was controversy when Richard Harris (Young Athlete Coach), who was taking part in his first race since undergoing surgery in October, had a collision in the mud and lost his timing chip. Fortunately the club had photographers on course and he could be seen wearing his chip during the early part of the race. Photo finish technology enabled his time to be recorded and his score count for the team placing, which moved the team up from 48th place to 37th overall.

U13 Girls

Team Position: 10th (307 points)

2nd Northern club, 1st Yorkshire club

20th Lilia Harris (00:16:21), 42nd Layla Roden (00:16:49), 115th Heather Berry (00:17:40), 130th Katie Battle (00:17:49), 135th Emily Bott (00:17:58), 223rd Harper Tompkin (00:19:11,

234th Keira Branagan (00:19:23)

U15 Girls

Team Position: 13th (521 points)

3rd Northern club, 1st Yorkshire club

94th Hayley Butcher (00:21:46), 115th Amelia Topliss (00:22:04), 118th Olivia Bell (00:22:07), 194th Evie Thomson (00:23:14), 222nd Miya Lambert (00:23:41), 234th Cadence Taylor (00:23:55)

Junior Women

Team Position: 6th (183 points)

1st Northern club

18th Cyane Robinson (00:27:50), 64th Keiva Rennocks (00:30:42), 101st Emily Holden (00:33:20)

Senior Women

62nd Sophie Cowper (00:37:51), 79th Natasha Hatswell (00:38:16), 227th Robyn Lanceley (00:42:31)

U13 boys

Team Position: 21st (681points)

6th Northern club, 2nd Yorkshire club

100th George Ellis (00:16:22), 117th Owen Haffner (00:16:31) 201st Jake Parker (00:17:22), 263rd Joshua Wade (00:18:04), 267th Jack Williams (00:18:06), 298th Reece Levitt (00:18:46), 349th Oliver Picton (00:20:15 )

U15 Boys

Team Position: 26th (741 points)

4th Northern club, 1st Yorkshire

125th Luke Parker (00:19:08), 147th Joshua Gilbert (00:19:24), 156th Thomas Bowman (00:19:28), 313th Alexander Brand (00:22:20)

U17 Men

113th Samuel Gilson (00:26:07)

Senior Men

Team Position: 37th (2630 points)

37th Joseph Massingham (00:46:27), 322nd Aidan Johnson (00:52:08), 426th Richard Harris (00:53:41), 577th Ben Burton (00:55:53), 615th Philip Hoole (00:56:34), 643rd Chris Griffiths (00:57:00), 1474th John Comrie (01:13:00)

North of England Cross Country Championships.

The 2020 event was held at a new venue - Camp Hill Estate near Bedale in North Yorkshire.

The event attracted 2500 entrants across the 10 races for the different age groups, and Rotherham Harriers had a total of 45 athletes competing on the day.

As always the standard was incredibly high with many GB and England Internationals in the senior races.

The venue provided a real contrast in terrain with good fast running in the start and finish areas, but very muddy tough conditions out on the longer lap

The Harriers team performance was consistently good - with seven complete teams and all those teams finishing in the top 10 in each race.

Pride of place went to the Junior women's team who won the gold medal in a very close competition, beating the Gateshead team by one single point.

The U13 girls team won silver team medals - repeating their 2019 success.

Individually there were some great performances, with seven club athletes finishing in the top 20 in their race. Cyane Robinson was 5th and Keiva Rennocks 10th in the Junior Womens race, Mischa Walsh was 7th, and Lilia Harris 17th in the U13 girls race. Owen Haffner had one of his best performances to date, finishing 12th in the U13 boys race. Lee Milburn was 17th in the senior men's race and Nicola Devine 19th in the senior women's race.

Race Results

Junior Women

Winner: Olivia Mason (Border Harriers)

Winning team: Rotherham Harriers 46 points

Cyane Robinson 5th, Keiva Rennocks 10th, Emily Holden 31st

U13 Girls

Winner: Maisie Bellwood (Keighley & Craven)

Winning team: Stockport Harriers & AC 61 points

Rotherham 2nd 102 points

Mischa Walsh 7th, Lilia Harris 17th, Layla Roden 28th, Emily Bott 50th,

Heather Berry 84th, Keira Branagan 108th, Thalia Peace 136th, Sophie Leighton 189th

U15 Boys

Winner: Christopher Perkins (Birtley AC)

Winning team: Wirral AC 53 points

Rotherham 5th 219 points (1st Yorkshire Club)

Zak Ferguson 25th, Josh Gilbert 49th, Luke Parker 65th, Thomas Bowman 80th,

Alex Brand 155th.

U15 Girls

Winner: Grace Roberts (Vale Royal AC)

Winning team: Vale royal AC 39 points

Rotherham 5th 204 points (2nd Yorkshire Club)

Olivia Bell 36th, Evie Thomson 44th, Hayley Butcher 60th, Amelia Topliss 64th, Miya Lambert 69th, Marci Walsh 76th, Cadence Taylor 128th.

U13 Boys

Winner: Alex Boyer (Darlington H & AC)

Winning Team: Sale Harriers 58 points

Rotherham 7th 256 points

Owen Haffner 12th, Jake Parker 50th, George Ellis 93rd, Reece Levitt 101st,

Joshua Wade 118th, Harry Ryder 178th

Senior Women

Winner: jessica Judd (Blackburn Harriers)

Winning team: Leeds City 33 points

Rotherham 7th 124 points

Nicola Devine 19th, Zara Knappy 28th, Jenny Blizard 35th, Keri Pearson 42nd, Robyn Lanceley 92nd.

Senior Men

Winner: Callum Johnson (Gateshead Harriers)

Winning team: Sale Harriers 148 points

Rotherham 9th 598 points (3rd Yorkshire Club)

Lee Milburn 17th, Elliott Smales 37th, Jonathan Johnson 98th, Steve Simms 129th, Gareth Sampson 130th, Ben Burton 187th, Philip Hoole 213th, Chris Griffiths 260th.

U17 Men

Winner: Archie Lowe (Middlesbrough Mandale AC)

Winning team: Vale Royal AC 90 points

Joshua Wragg 37th, Sam Gilson 43rd

photo: the silver medal winning team of (from left) Emily Bott, Lilia Harris & Mischa Walsh. along with the Mayor of Mansfield - Andy Abrahams and the President of the English Cross Country Association Rita Brownlie.

Coming shortly:

Zak Ferguson on the first leg for the U15 boys A team

Calli Thackery on leg 3 for the seniroe women's A team

Sport city: 15/9/19 A full range of team performances was capped by RH ladies' dual strike- first and sixth in the autumn Road Relays at Manchester. Under-13 girls also took gold (and 19th).

Photos from Steve Gaines, who rightly stressed the tremendous work and influence of the co-operating coaches, Pete Shaw, Nigel Brookes and Richard Harris.

U13 Boys

1 Sale Harriers Manchester 'A' 37:20

7 Rotherham Harriers & Ac 'A' 39:11

Luke Stables (16) 13:01

Jake Parker (9) 12:57

Owen Haffner (7) 13:13

9 Rotherham Harriers & Ac 'B' 39:20 1st B team

Reece Levitt (19) 13:09

George Ellis (10) 12:57

George Browne (9) 13:14

32 Rotherham Harriers & Ac 'C' 46:35

Jack Williams (31) 13:45

Alfie Nicholls (35) 16:31

Billy Lunn (33) 16:19

U13 Girls

1 Rotherham Harriers & Ac 'A' 39:48

Mischa Walsh (3) 13:01

Emily Bott (2) 13:34

Lilia Harris (1) 13:13

2 Stockport Harriers & Ac 'A' 40:21

3 Sale Harriers Manchester 'A' 41:03

19 Rotherham Harriers & Ac 'B' 44:59 2nd B team ( 1st Sale)

Keira Branagan (26) 14:50

Harper Tompkin (15) 14:25

Annaliese Catley (19) 15:44

35 Rotherham Harriers & Ac 'C' 49:16

Heather Berry (32) 14:59

Ruby Willers (41) 16:31

Sophie Leighton (35) 17:46

U15 Boys

1 Vale Royal AC 'A' 34:15

14 Rotherham Harriers & AC 37:16

Luke Parker (19) 12:28

Joshua Gilbert (15) 12:16

Thomas Bowman (14) 12:32

U15 Girls

1 Vale Royal Ac 'A' 37:02

4 Rotherham Harriers & Ac 'A' 39:26

Hayley Butcher (11) 13:17

Marcileigh Walsh (5) 13:03

Olivia Bell (4) 13:06

12 Rotherham Harriers & Ac 'B' 40:41 2nd B team (1st Vale Royal)

Amelia Topliss (17) 13:40

Evie Thomson (16) 13:47

Miya Lambert (12) 13:14

Incomplete teams

Rotherham Harriers & Ac 'C'

Cadence Taylor (50) 15:40

Undeclared (40) 14:54

U17 Men

1 Houghton Harriers & AC 'A' 35:16

14 Rotherham Harriers & Ac 38:12

Elliott Morton (5) 11:50

Joshual Wragg (2) 12:01

William Beaton (14) 14:21

U17 Women

1 Salford Harriers & AC 'A' 40:58

21 Rotherham Harriers & AC 49:48

Romany Tune (24) 16:02

Lahanna Vardy (23) 16:24

Charli Frisby (21) 17:22

Senior Men

1 Leeds City AC 'A' 2:00:31

13 Rotherham Harriers & AC 'A' 2:08:20

Jonathan Johnson (25) 21:04

Lee Milburn (16) 21:11

Arron Larkin (16) 21:05

Daniel Kestrel (8) 20:47

Gareth Sampson (13) 22:01

Thomas Halloway (13) 22:12

35 Rotherham Harriers & AC 'B' 2:16:15

Aidan Johnson (37) 21:53

Sam Clegg (47) 23:23

David Tune (44) 23:09

Richard Harris (37) 22:08

Chris Griffiths (34) 22:59

Philip Hoole (35) 22:43

Senior Women

1 Rotherham Harriers & AC 'A' 1:27:07

Zara Knappy (13) 22:09

Keri Pearson (5) 22:02

Jenny Blizard (5) 21:44 8th fastest time

Nicola Devine (1) 21:12 6th fastest time

2 Leeds City AC 'A' 1:27:17

3 Lincoln Wellington AC 1:27:20

6 Rotherham Harriers & AC 'B' 1:31:55

Keiva Rennocks (11) 22:04

Hannah Holmes (4) 21:54 12th fastest time

Emmajane Ball (6) 22:17

Jenny Reed (6) 25:40

A group of 17 young athletes from the Club de Atletismo Vino de Toro Caja Rural, in the Zamora region of Spain, came to Rotherham for the first of a planned series of exchange visits between the two clubs.

The 17 young athletes who were aged between 9 & 17 were accompanied by some parents and coaches / club volunteers.

The exchange was initiated by a former Rotherham resident - Nicola Thornton, who attended Wickersley school. Nicola moved to live in Spain some 20 years ago, and her two daughters are now members of the athletics club in Toro. Nicola contacted Rotherham Harriers late in 2018 to suggest the visit, and the party eventually arrived in South Yorkshire on the 8th of August, returning on the 12th August.

The trip was a great success, with the 17 athletes staying with families of club athletes, coaches or volunteers.

The interary included an inter club competition at the Institute of Sport Indoor Athletivs arena, on Friday the 9th, A trip to visit Chatsworth House and Bakewell on the Saturday, followed by an evening Barbecue (including an impromptu England v Spain football 27- a -side match) at Herringthorpe Stadium.

On Sunday South Yorkshire County Athletics Association had kindly agreed to let the 17 young athletes compete in the SYCAA Track & Field Championships, held at Cudworth, as guests. The guest athletes performed very well, with 5 winning their age group events and several athletes registering performances which exceeded the defined UK standards of performance.

It is planned that the Harriers athletes will return to Toro sometime in Spring 2020, to again meet the friends they made on the inaugural trip, and to enjoy some athletics in Spain.

UK Cross Challenge Race 4 / CAU Inter Counties Championships: Prestwold Hall Loughborough 9th March.

The final Cross challenge event - which also hosts the Inter Counties Championships, was held at Prestwold Hall, near Loughborough.

The Cross Challenge series offers an invitation to those club athletes who have competed in two of the first 3 races of the series, and it also allows counties to enter teams - selected to represent their county of birth or residence, usually based upon the results of the county championhsip events - and for teams of 4 ( 6 for senior men) to score in the inter counties event.

The club had a total of 14 athletes selected to represent their county - 10 of those were in the Yorkshire teams, - Joshua wragg and Sam Gilson were in the Derbyshire U15 boys team, Lori Handbury (Notts ) and Keri Pearson (Humberside) were the first counters for their county in the senior women's race.

Olivia Bell had not been selected for the Yorkshire U13 girls team, as she was on holiday on the date of the Yorkshire county event, and was not therefore eligible for selection. This was to Yorkshire's disadvantage, as Olivia was the first Yorkshire athlete home in 18th place. This would have moved the team of 4 into bronze team medal position.

There were also excellent runs from:- Lori Handbury - the first Rotherham Harrier home in the senior women's race; Joshua Wragg 21st in the U15 boys race; Cyane Robinson 29th in the Junior women's race; Keiva Rennocks (having her best run of the season) in 26th in the U17 women's race and Luke Cotter and Lee Milburn who were 4th and 5th Yorkshire runners home.

Yorkshire managed to win the Overall best County Award, based upon the lowest total points for all teams

The Yorkshire teams positions and the Rotherham athletes results, in event order, were:-

Junior men Yorkshire 1st team: 76 points

1st Matt Willis (North Wales) 29:26

U13 Boys Yorkshire 7th team: 204 points

1st Ben Peck (Suffolk) 11:46

Luke Parker 143rd (7th Yorkshire runner) 13:42

Senior Women Yorkshire 1st team: 148 points

1st Jenny Nesbitt (Worcs) 37:52

Nicola Devine 31st (5th Yorkshire runner) 40.56

Natasha Hatswell 65th (8th Yorkshire runner)42.21

Lori Handbury 23rd 40.31

Keri Pearson 115th 44.28

U15 Boys Yorkshire 2nd team 92 points

1st Louis Small (Kent) 13.07

Joshua Wragg 21st (1st Derbyshire runner) 13.53

Sam Gilson 193rd (6th Derbyshire runner) 15.07

U17 Women Yorkshire 1st team 60 points

1st India Pentland (Northeast) 19.38

Keiva Rennocks 26th (5th Yorkshire runner) 20.57

U20 Women Yorkshire 6th team: 191 points

1st Grace Brock (Cornwall) 21.19

Cyane Robinson 29th ( 1st Yorkshire runner) 23.24

U13 Girls Yorkshire 4th team 145 points

1st Ruby VInton (Suffolk) 12:28

Olivia Bell 18th 13:22

Marci Walsh 115th (6th Yorkshire runner) 14.19

Amelia Topliss 140th (7th Yorkshire runner) 14.30

U17 Men Yorkshire 2nd team 52 points

1st Sam Charlton (Northeast) 18:48

U15 Girls Yorkshire 5th team 147 points

1st Beatrice Wood (Wilts) 14:17

Hayley Butcher 116th (7th Yorkshire runner) 16.17

Senior Men Yorkshire 7th Team 321 points

1st Adam Hickey (Essex) 32.44

Luke Cotter 66th (4th Yorkshire runner) 35.30

Lee Milburn 82nd (5th Yorkshire runner) 35.44

Pupils from across the county braved the freezing conditions to take part in the South Yorkshire Schools Cross Country Finals at Penistone Show Ground last weekend.

Teams from all four boroughs battled it out for places on the South Yorkshire team in the prestigious English Schools Cross Country Championships, which take place at Temple Newsome Park in Leeds next month. Eight places in each category were up for grabs with most offered by placings on the day, but a small number of places were offered on a discretionary basis to athletes who were unable to compete on the day

Rotherham schools fielded strong teams throughout the categories and eleven athletes were successful in gaining their places on the South Yorkshire team. All eleven athletes are members of the Rotherham Harriers.

In the Year 8/9 boys event Josh Gilbert took fourth place, closely followed by Luke Parker in fifth. Both boys were representing Wickersley School.

The girls Y8/9 saw three Rotherham athletes make the team with Hayley Butcher (Maltby) taking second ahead of Olivia Bell (Swinton) and Amelia Topliss (Wickersley).

Elliott Morton (Wales) ran a strong race where he battled hard with friendly rival Scott Nutter from Barnsley to take second place in the Y10/11 boys and Jack Stokes (Wath) put in a great performance to take second in the Y12/13 boys.

Cyane Robinson (Wickersley) came home in second in the Year 12/13 girls event, closely followed by Emily Holden (Dinnington) in fourth. Rotherham Harriers teammates Emma Ball (Wales) and Keiva Rennocks (Wales) were unable to take part in Saturday's event but were selected on discretionary places, based on their strong and consistent performances both within the Rotherham Schools Championships and in club competitions in recent months.

The Rotherham Y7 girls team dominated their event taking the first four places. The race was led from the start by Lilia Harris (Wales) who gradually extended her lead across the 2500m course to take a comfortable win ahead of her Rotherham schools and Rotherham Harriers teammates Mischa Walsh (Rawmarsh) in second, Amelia Longden (Rawmarsh) third and Emily Bott (Wales) in fourth. Reece Levitt (Wath) and Luke Stables (Swinton) were the highest placed Rotherham Y7 boys.

the Primary and Y7 Championships that take place at Prestwold Hall, Loughborough in March.

UK Athletics Cross Challenge (Incorporating the UK Trials for the GB team for the European XC Championships) Sefton Park 24th November

This fixture always attracts the top athletes in the UK, but particularly so when the event is being used as the selection race for the GB team athletes at Junior and senior level.

Rotherham Harriers had 16 athletes competing. Again it was in the senior women's and U13 girls races where the numbers were largest, but all the club athletes ran well against top level competition.

Olivia Bell had a good run to finish the first of the club's athletes in 12th, but all the athletes ran really well, with the girls giving an early indcation that they could well be in contention for team medals when the Northern Champs are held at Pontefract in January 2019 - since five of our 7 athletes were in the top 20 Northern finishers.Josh Wragg and Sam Gilson, fresh from their 1st & 2nd positions in last weeks SY league event, both had good runs with Josh 6th Northern finisher.

Cyane Robinson had a good run to finish 24th, but more significantly 3rd Northern athlete; which stands her in good stead for consideration for Northern team selection during this season.

The senior Women's race positions went according to recent form with the club finishing order being pretty much in line with earlier relay times and positions. Again our first 5 athletes were inside the top 30 Northern positions.

Another good day for the club with some encouraging results and great performances!

Results

Pos Time

Under 13 Girls

1 00:11:06 Isla Thoms Fife AC

2 00:11:11 Isabelle Price Wolverhampton & Bilston AC

3 00:11:16 Sophie Dunbobbin Wreake and Soar Valley AC

12 00:11:44 Olivia Bell 4th Northern athlete

18 00:11:54 Amelia Topliss 7th Northern athlete

21 00:11:59 Marci Walsh 9th Northern athlete

35 00:12:19 Lilia Harris 16th Northern athlete

44 00:12:30 Evie Thomson 20th Northern athlete

55 00:12:50 Mischa Walsh 31st Northern athlete

75 00:13:24 Cadence Taylor 43rd Northern Athlete

U15 Boys

1 00:09:32 Woody Jerome Aldershot Farnham & District AC

2 00:09:35 Lewis Sullivan St. Edmunds Pacers

3 00:09:36 Kyle Rabjohn Richmond & Zetland Harriers

23 00:10:10 Joshua Wragg 6th Northern athlete

58 00:10:45 Sam Gilson

U20 Women

1 00:14:41 Cari Hughes Swansea Harriers

2 00:14:42 Amelia Quirk Bracknell AC

3 00:14:45 Khahisa Mhlanga Herts Phoenix AC

24 00:16:02 Cyane Robinson 3rd Northern Athlete

Senior Women

1 00:26:10 Charlotte Arter Cardiff AAC

2 00:26:14 Verity Ockenden Swansea Harriers

3 00:26:14 Jessica Piasecki Stockport Harriers & AC

38 00:28:19 Natasha Hatswell 12th Northern athlete

39 00:28:23 Nicola Devine 13th Northern athlete

41 00:28:30 Lori Handbury 14th Northern athlete

66 00:29:46 Emma Parkinson 26th Northern athlete

72 00:29:57 Samantha Hughes 28th Northern athlete

163 00:37:39 Georgina Weston

England Cross Country Relay Championships, Berry Hill Park Mansfield, 3rd November

With another show of club strength, Rotherham Harriers added another set of England medals to their collection.

The senior women's A team won the club's first ever senior medals in what was the 20th running of this event.

The Northern championship winning trio of Natasha Hatswell, Nicola Devine and Lori Handbury again proved to be the strongest Northern team, behind Southern winners Tonbridge and silver medalists Aldershot Farnham & Ditrict AC. Again the clubs strength in depth showed as the B & C team were again the first teams to finish in those categories.

The club again fielded 14 teams across the age categories. The U13 girls A team were 7th, the 3rd Northern team behind Middlesborough (5th) and Stockport (6th) and the first Yorkshire team.

The senior men's A team notched up their best position for many years in 19th position 5th Northern club and 3rd Yorkshire club team behind two very strong Leeds teams in 1st and 5th places.

The U17 women's A team finished in a very creditable 16th place, and were 7th Northern club and second Yorkshire club.

The achievement in all age groups was strong in terms of Northern and Yorkshire placings, and the athletes and coaches should be very proud of their performances at this top level of competition.

Results

U13 girls (88 Teams)

1 22:11 Tonbridge AC 'A'

7 23:27 Rotherham Harriers and AC 'A' 7:29. (7) O Bell, 7:49 (5) Marci Walsh, 8:08 (7) A Topliss.

27 24:15 Rotherham Harriers and AC 'B' 7:55 (37) Mischa Walsh, 8:04 (31) A Longden, 8:15 (27) E Thomson.

60 26:11 Rotherham Harriers and AC 'C' 8:24 (69) N Jakuc, 8:30.65 (59) E Bott 9:16 (60) C Taylor

U13 Boys (106 Teams)

1 20:42 Cambridge & Coleridge AC 'A'

47 23:32 Rotherham Harriers and AC 'A' 7:36 (50) G Browne, 7:56 (47) L Stables, 7:59 (47) R Levitt.

74 25:16 Rotherham Harriers and AC 'B' 7:56 (77) O Haffner, 8:26 (71) J Williams, 8:53 (74) A Nicholls

U15 Girls (106 Teams)

1 21:41 Windsor Slough Eton & Hounslow

56 24:22 Rotherham Harriers and AC 7:31 (35) H Butcher, 8:12 (46) L Vardy, 8:38 (56) R Tune

U15 Boys (113 Teams)

1 19:18 Aldershot Farnham & District AC

51 21:15 Rotherham Harriers and AC 6:31 (18) J Wragg, 7:34 (52) J Gilbert, 7:09 (51) S Gilson

U17 Women (76 Teams)

1 26:15 Herne Hill Harriers 'A'

16 28:43 Rotherham Harriers and AC 'A' 9:41 (39) K Rennocks, 09:20 (22) E Ball, 9:41 (16) E Holden

58 34:24 Rotherham Harriers and AC 'B' 10:13 (63) B Mount, 11:22 (62) A Stroughar, 12:49 (58) E Hine

Junior men

1 26:31 Morpeth Harriers & Ac

9:54 (56) J Stokes

Senior Women (139 Teams)

1 29:27 Tonbridge Ac 'A'

2 30:01 Aldershot Farnham & District 'A'

3 30:16 Rotherham Harriers And Ac 'A' 9:58 (11) N Hatswell, 10:13 (4) N Devine, 10:05 (3) L Handbury

18 31:58 Rotherham Harriers And Ac 'B' 10:22 (28) S Hughes, 10:56 (20) S Burns, 10:40 (18) E Parkinson

33 34:06 Rotherham Harriers And Ac 'C' 10:08 (17) H Holmes, 11:31 (25) J Reed, 12:26 (33) N Clegg

Senior Men (173 teams)

1 1:00:22 Leeds City AC 'A

19 1:04:48 Rotherham Harriers And Ac 'A' 15:24 (12) L Cotter, 16:16 (16) L Milburn, 16:26 (16) E Smales, 16:41 (19) A Larkin.

73 1:13:27 Rotherham Harriers And Ac 'B' 16:28 (53) A Johnson, 18:02 (60) P Hoole, 17:43 (60) S Clegg,

21:13 (73) H Darwin.

I don't think they can take both medals, but that was the finish position for RH Ladies at Graves Park today, with the C team 13th and a runner in support

With Lincoln second, Hallamshire 4th, followed by Derby, Trafford, Liverpool, Birtley, Leeds, York, Sale and Salford. Natasha Hatswell second fastest of all stages.

Strong men's performance in 8th and 19th place.

Bronze medals for U11 girls U13 girls and U17 women, U13 boys close miss in 4th.

Full results to follow

preliminary list:

Bronze for U11 girls, also 22nd

U11 boys 8th and 26

U13 girls 3, 8th and 13th

U13 boys 4th, 17 and 24

U15 girls 29th

U15 boys 7th and 26

U17 women 3rd and 18th

Well done all runners, supporters, parents & coaches

A fine afternoon for outdoor sport and very good support for the Rotherham Primary Schools Cross-country events at Herringthorpe today

Results are about to be displayed here: you can get them by clicking the panel headed "Schools Results"

Please note that the results you have already seen and the results displayed here are still PROVISIONAL: we know there will be errors in them as there always are. If you are missing a name who ran, or need to have a school amended etc etc please contact your school or go direct to:-

schools@rotherhamharriers.org

I will put updates in as we get them, there will be a note in the panel

English National 6, 4 & Young Athlete road relay championships.

Rotherham Harriers achieved another significant step forward on Saturday the 6th October at Sutton Park Birmingham in this English and UK championship event.

There may not have been any medals won on this occasion, but the breadth of the club team coverage combined with the performances of those teams, was the best the club has ever had at the top national level.

As a club we have always supported the national events in the past in the past, but never performed as solidly as the 2018 team athletes did.

We had a total of 17 teams entered - covering all age groups. Unfortunately the U17 boys team and the senior women's C team were not complete due to injuries and illness, but the 15 complete teams were very strong - with 6 of the 15 teams in the top 20, and four in the top 10 - a Premier performance!

The U13 age group had a phenomenal 7 complete teams, with both A teams improving on the Northern relay positions achieved at Manchester. The girls team beat the Northern winners Liverpool to finish 1st Northern club. The boy's team finished 4th Northern club, with Thomas Bowman added to the team for this fixture.

Individually Olivia Bell (17th fastest) and Marci Walsh (19th fastest) made the top 20 best times. The Under 17 women's team, boosted by the return of Emma Ball & Emily Holden back after injury absences, finished an impressive 9th place and 3rd Northern club.

The senior women's teams improved on a 6 year run of good performances with the best ever position for the A team in 4 place, and the B team in the top 10 for the first time and first B team. It looked after leg 3, when Hayley Carruthers brought the team home in 3rd, as though bronze medals were possible but Tonbridge's Ashley Gibson went past Nicola Devine at the top of the long first hill and extended their lead to 30 seconds by the finish.

Lori Handbury made her debut appearance for the club on leg 2 for the B team and had a good run making the top 30 in the days fastest times. Aldershot Farnham & District won comfortably beating a very strong Leeds team.

Hayley Carruthers (15th fastest) and Natasha Hatswell (17th fastest) had great runs.

The Men's team, having qualified for the 10th consecutive year, had not finished in the top 20 before.

The team was the same team that finished 9th in the Northern event, but was strengthened by the availability of Joe Massingham for this race. In what was one of the strongest in-depth races of recent years races, the team finished 20th.

Despite the cold and wet conditions, the club performances and the support provided by all the coaches and parents, proves that the club is in a very good place at the moment!

U13 Girls (47 complete teams)

1 Tonbridge AC 'A' 43:11

5 Rotherham Harriers & AC 'A' 45:39 1st Northern club

Marci Walsh (9) 15:01 19th fastest time

Amelia Topliss (6) 15:40

Olivia Bell (5) 14:58 17th fastest time

20 Rotherham Harriers & AC 'B' 47:44 2nd B team, 4th Northern club, 2nd Yorkshire club team

Miya Lambert (29) 15:47

Lilia Harris (20) 15:58

Mischa Walsh (20) 15:59

28 Rotherham Harriers & AC 'C' 49:23 1st C team 3rd Yorkshire club team.

Evie Thomson (35) 16:04

Amelia Longden (30) 16:24

Nola Jakuc (28) 16:55

46 Rotherham Harriers & AC 'D' 54:00

Emily Bott (43) 16:33

Elise Bell (53) 20:18

Cadence Taylor (46) 17:09

U13 Boys (66 complete teams)

1 Cambridge & Coleridge AC 'A' 41:19

17 Rotherham Harriers & AC 'A' 43:32 4th Northern club, 2nd Yorkshire club team

Luke Parker (11) 14:09

Thomas Bowman (8) 14:23

Luke Stables (17) 15:00

46 Rotherham Harriers & AC 'B' 46:49 4th Yorkshire club

George Browne (30) 14:41

Reece Levitt (37) 15:29

Jack Williams (46) 16:39

57 Rotherham Harriers & AC 'C' 50:15

George Ellis (72) 16:39

Owen Haffner (61) 16:41

Alfie Nicholls (57) 16:55

U15 Girls (61 complete teams)

1 Vale Royal AC 'A' 42:31

36 Rotherham Harriers & AC 48:00

Hayley Butcher (17) 14:38 27th fastest

Romany Tune (47) 17:36

Lahanna Vardy (36) 15:46

U15 Boys (68 complete teams)

1 Aldershot Farnham & District 'A' 37:53

24 Rotherham Harriers & AC 'A' 41:14 7th Northern Club, 2nd Yorkshire club team

Samuel Gilson (41) 13:49

Joshua Gilbert (44) 14:21

Joshua Wragg (24) 13:04 26th fasest time

57 Rotherham Harriers & AC 'B' 44:20

Jay Jessop (75) 14:59

Tobey Baker (61) 14:30

Alexander Brand (57) 14:51

U17 Women (41 complete teams)

1 City Of Norwich AC 'A' 42:39

9 Rotherham Harriers & AC 'A' 44:22 3rd Northern club, 1st Yorkshire club team

Keiva Rennocks (13) 14:32 22nd fastest time

Emma Ball (8) 14:51 32nd fastest

Emily Holden (9) 14:59 40th fasest

40 Rotherham Harriers & AC 'B' 52:05 3rd Yorkshire club team

Beth Mount (35) 15:40

Abby Stroughair (40) 17:37

Elina Hine (40) 18:48

Senior Women (68 complete teams)

1 Aldershot Farnham & District 'A' 57:56

2 Leeds City AC 'A' 59:29

3 Tonbridge AC 'A' 59:56

4 Rotherham Harriers & AC 'A' 1:00:26 2nd Northern & Yorkshire Club

Natasha Hatswell (7) 14:55 18th fastest

Sophie Cowper (5) 15:14 30th fastest

Hayley Carruther (3) 14:49 15th fastest

Nicola Devine (4) 15:28 43rd fastest

9 Rotherham Harriers & AC 'B' 1:02:03 1st B team, 4th Northern club, 3rd Yorkshire club

Sarah Lowery (16) 15:25 38th fastest

Lori Handbury (7) 15:14 30th fastest

Stephanie Burns (7) 15:48 60th fastest

Hannah Holmes (9) 15:36 48th fastest

Rotherham Harriers & AC 'C' Incomplete

Jenny Reed (66) 17:59

Senior Men

1 Stockport Harriers & AC 1:45:07

2 Leeds City AC 'A' 1:45:32

3 Aldershot Farnham & District 'A' 1:45:40

20 Rotherham Harriers & AC 1:51:15 7th Northern, 2nd Yorkshire

Luke Cotter (18) 17:45

Arron Larkin (34) 19:10

Daniel Kestrel (32) 18:58

Jonathan Johnson (30) 18:40

Joseph Massingha (21) 18:02

Lee Milburn (20) 18:40

The championship event for both senior and young age group athletes was again held at the Sportcity Campus at Manchester. Athletes started and finished on the running track and the course then used the Etihad Stadium concourse and surrounding areas.

The club had a total of 15 complete teams - the Young athletes had 3 athletes in each team, the senior women 4 and the men 6.

The club's team managers - Richard Harris (Young Athletes), Nigel Brookes (Women) & Peter Shaw (Men) had done an excellent job to get the teams organised and the athletes there. The athletes themselves performed at such a great level that the club performance again consolidated the strong performances of 2017 and also confirmed that we are now one of the most consistent clubs in Yorkshire across all the age groups. Five of the teams finished in the top 10, and ten of the 15 teams finished in the top 20. We had two medal winning teams - the U13 girls A team were 2nd and the Senior women's A team were 3rd, the U13 girls B team won the 1st B team medals in 12th place - a phenomenal performance! Tje men's team matched their 2016 finishing position of 9th and comfortably qualified for the National event, on the 6th October, for the 12th consecutive year with 5 of the 6 athletes within 30 seconds of Luke Cotter's club fastest time.

Individual athletes performances of note were:-

U13 Girls:- Marci Walsh 5th Fastest time, Olivia Bell 9th Fastest time

U15 girls Hayley Butcher 6th fastest and 2nd on first leg.

U15 boys Josh Wragg 6th Fastest time.

Senior Women Sophie Cowper 8th fastest time, Natasha Hatswell 9th fastest time.

Full club results

Under 13 girls (42 teams finished)

1 Liverpool Harriers & AC 'A' 39:25

2 Rotherham Harriers & AC 'A' 40:11

Olivia Bell (4) 13:30

Marcileigh Walsh (2) 13:03

Amelia Topliss (2) 13:38

12 Rotherham Harriers & AC 'B' 42:54 (1st) B team

Nola Jakuc (27) 14:46

Mischa Walsh (19) 14:28

Lilia Harris (12) 13:40

15 Rotherham Harriers & AC 'C' 43:41

Miya Lambert (10) 13:48

Amelia Longden (12) 15:01

Evie Thomson (15) 14:52

40 Rotherham Harriers & AC 'D' 50:27

Cadence Taylor (45) 16:01

Emily Bott (40) 15:39

Elise Bell (40) 18:47

Under 13 Boys (37 teams finished)

1 City Of Sheffield & Dearne AC 37:08

8 Rotherham Harriers & AC 'A' 38:49

Luke Parker (3) 12:29

Luke Stables (5) 12:58

Reece Levitt (8) 13:22

23 Rotherham Harriers & AC 'B' 42:48

Jack Williams (33) 13:50

George Ellis (24) 14:11

Owen Haffner (24) 14:47

Under 15 girls (44 teams finished)

1 Vale Royal AC 'A' 37:28

20 Rotherham Harriers & AC 41:31

Hayley Butcher (2) 12:39

Lahanna Vardy (9) 13:42

Romany Tune (20) 15:10

Under 15 Boys (37 teams finished)

1 Morpeth Harriers & AC 'A' 34:34

10 Rotherham Harriers & AC 'A' 36:11

Joshua Wragg (3) 11:23

Samuel Gilson (6) 12:09

Joshua Gilbert (10) 12:39

U17 Women (19 teams

1 Vale Royal AC 'A' 40:55

11 Rotherham Harriers & AC 46:11

Keiva Rennocks (8) 13:56 (12th fastest)

Bethany Mount (10) 15:30

Abby Stroughair (11) 16:45

Senior Women 4 stage relay (97 teams finished)

1 Leeds City AC 'A' 1:24:46

2 Leigh Harriers & AC 'A' 1:25:05

3 Rotherham Harriers & AC 'A' 1:25:17

Natasha Hatswell (4) 21:04

Nicola Devine (5) 21:18

Stephanie Burns (3) 21:58

Sophie Cowper (3) 20:57

12 Rotherham Harriers & AC 'B' 1:32:10 (2nd B team behind Leeds city)

Samantha Hughes (13) 21:54

Jessica Freeman (28) 25:46

Fiona Davies (18) 22:25

Hannah Holmes (13) 22:05

57 Rotherham Harriers & AC 'C' 1:46:15

Jenny Reed (42) 24:05

Naomi Armitage (51) 26:51

Diane Elliott (46) 25:21

Emma Dutton (61) 29:58

Senior men 6 stage relay (127 teams finished)

1 Lincoln Wellington AC 'A' 2:00:15

9 Rotherham Harriers & AC 'A' 2:06:14

Jonathan Johnson (16) 20:45

Luke Cotter (12) 20:39

Lee Milburn (11) 21:03

Aidan Johnson (12) 21:54

Daniel Kestrel (10) 20:44

Arron Larkin (9) 21:09

44 Rotherham Harriers & AC 'B' 2:18:54

Gareth Sampson (40) 21:40

David Tune (48) 22:56

Steven Sims (61) 24:55

Sam Clegg (54) 22:42

Philip Hoole (42) 22:24

Rhian Hastey (44) 24:17

86 Rotherham Harriers & AC 'C' 2:30:57

Carl Taylor (89) 24:18

Jack Stokes (78) 23:24

Steven Marshall (78) 24:12

Chris Griffiths (77) 24:42

James Gallacher (87) 28:40

Richard Parker (86) 25:41

The 2018 Yorkshire Road Relay & Road race Championship event was held at the newly opened Brownlee Triathlon training centre in North Leeds. The centre offers a traffic free 1600m circuit, which is eminently suitable for road running & relays.

Unfortunately the club athletics race calendar is so congested that getting an ideal event date proves problematic, and in this case dictated that the event fell on the weekend between the Northern & National events for seniors. Rotherham did not field any senior women's teams, and Leeds City were also absent, Wakefield took the team honours in their absence. We did have 2 senior men's teams and the A team won by over 50 seconds advantage ahead of Richmond & Zetland in second with local rivals Hallamshire Harriers in 3rd.

Men's 4 stage relay

1 ROTHERHAM HARRIERS 'A' 61:06 ELLIOTT SMALES 15:03 15:03 3

JONATHAN JOHNSON 15:30 30:33 1

DANIEL KESTREL 15:04 45:37 1

ARRON LARKIN 15:29 61:06 1

2 RICHMOND & ZETLAND 'A' 61:59

3 HALLAMSHIRE H. 'A' 62:53

6 ROTHERHAM HARRIERS 'B' 65:35 GARETH SAMPSON 15:58 15:58 8

LEE MILBURN 15:52 31:50 7

PHILIP HOOLE 16:24 48:14 6

STEVEN MARSHALL 17:21 65:35 6

The U17 women's team were the relay winners

1 ROTHERHAM HARRIERS 'A' 38:10 KEIVA RENNOCKS 12:45 12:45 1

MOLLIE PLATTS 12:38 25:23 1

EMMA BALL 12:47 38:10 1

The event also includes races for U15 and u13 age groups, and Rotherham had a total of 15 young athletes competing, with excellent team results for the U17 women, U13 girls (1st) and U13 boys 2nd. Luke Parker had his best run for some time winning the individual bronze medal and leading the team home to win silver team medals

U15 boys

1 Finnion Hutchinson CITY OF YORK 10:13

2 Sam Smith WHARFEDALE H 10:21

3 Kyle Rabjohn RICHMOND & ZETLAND 10:26

4 Elliott Morton ROTHERHAM HARRIERS 10:28

U15 Girls

1 HALLAMSHIRE H. 18 4 Mo Martin, 6 Hannah Metherall, 8 Emily Hunter

5 ROTHERHAM HARRIERS 60 14 Lahanna Vardy, 20 Abby Rose Stroughar, 26 Ciara Mullane

U13 Boys

1 Sam Conroy KEIGHLEY & CRAVEN 11:11

2 Kristian Green HOLMFIRTH HARRIERS 11:25

3 Luke Parker ROTHERHAM HARRIERS 11:30

6 Joshua Gilbert ROTHERHAM HARRIERS 11:42

15 Daniel Hutson ROTHERHAM HARRIERS 12:36

17 Thomas Bowman ROTHERHAM HARRIERS 12:41

27 Harry Stroughair ROTHERHAM HARRIERS 13:57

Teams

1 RICHMOND & ZETLAND 22 5 Joshua Hammett, 8 Thomas O'Mahoney, 9 Joseph Reeve

2 ROTHERHAM HARRIERS 24 3 Luke Parker, 6 Joshua Gilbert, 15 Daniel Hutson

3 KEIGHLEY & CRAVEN 26 1 Sam Conroy, 12 Jake Thompson, 13 Sam Benson

U13 Girls

1 Ruby Simpson HALLAMSHIRE H. 11:39

2 Isobel Nicholls SCARBOROUGH AC 12:06

3 Sebastienna Bairstow KEIGHLEY & CRAVEN 12:11

4 Hayley Butcher ROTHERHAM HARRIERS 12:20

5 Olivia Bell ROTHERHAM HARRIERS 12:24

6 Marci Leigh Walsh ROTHERHAM HARRIERS 12:26

10 Amelia Topliss ROTHERHAM HARRIERS 12:47

13 Evie Thomson ROTHERHAM HARRIERS 13:02

23 Cadence Taylor ROTHERHAM HARRIERS 14:07

Teams

1 ROTHERHAM HARRIERS 15

2 KEIGHLEY & CRAVEN 22

3 RICHMOND & ZETLAND 33

Sheffield half Marathon

Over 5400 runners completed the hilly course, with Emma Parkinson taking an impressive 10 minutes of her previous best time at this distance to finish 3rd female behind Nicola Squires (Hallamshire 1:19.21) and Kirsty Longley ( Liverpool Pembroke & Sefton AC 1:19.36)

43 1:23:09 Emma Parkinson

153 1:29:29 Gary Ridgeway 8th MV50

Northern Men's 12 stage and women's 6 stage road relays 26th March Birkenhead park

The traditional area relay fixture for mens 12 stage, and women's 6 stage club teams took place at a new venue - Birkenhead Park. The event also includes Northern 5Km championship races for under 15 and under 17 club athletes. The women's race has two long legs and 4 short, the mens race 4 long and 8 short

The club's senior ladies team were winners in 2012, 2013 and 2017, but were up against a very strong team from Leeds City AC. Team manager Nigel Brookes had two teams entered and both performed extremely well. The A team couldn't match the Leeds team strength - they were in first place from leg 2 onwards, but the team did finish well clear in second place to take silver medals - their 6th set of team medals in 7 years.

New member Hayley Carruthers, who has been running extremely well on the roads this winter, had been put in the B team as this was her first road relay event. Hayley had another brilliant run to finish first on leg 1 and set the fastest long leg time of the day with a 26:42 clocking. Hayley's start leg was backed up by her team mates to finish a very creditable 9th overall and they were awarded the 1st B team medals.

The men's team were looking to again qualify for the National championships - only the first 25 club teams from each area qualify for the national event - held at Sutton park on the 14th April.

The team were 11th and 3rd Yorkshire club behind Leeds City (5th) and Hallamshire Harriers (7th). This is the 6th successive year that the club has finished inside the top 15 clubs - a remarkably consistent set of performances that are a credit to team manager Pete Shaw and to the athletes themselves. A big thankyou to Joe Massingham for his support after competing the previous day at Nottingham. Daniel Kestrel ran the clubs fastest long leg time at 24:06, and his training partner Arron Larkin ran the fastest short leg time of 12:08.

In the 5K championhsips 4 club athletes were competing, Elliott Morton and Keiva Rennocks having good runs to finish 5th in their races, Beth Mount and Lahana Vardy also competing.

Results

Women's 6 stage

1 Leeds City Ac 'A' 1:47:49

1 Lucy Crookes (2) 26:45, 2 Alice Leake (1) 13:24, 3 Claire Duck (1) 12:33

4 Heather Sellars (1) 28:12, 5 Harriet Buswell (1) 13:41, 6 Georgia Malir (1) 13:14.

2 Rotherham Harriers & Ac 'A' 1:49:37

1 Jenny Blizard (4) 27:15 2 Stephanie Burns (3) 13:55, 3 Emma Parkinson (4) 13:42,

4 Sophie Cowper (2) 27:41, 5 Zara Knappy (2) 13:51, 6 Samantha Hughes (2) 13:13.

3 Salford Harriers & Ac 'A' 1:53:13

9 Rotherham Harriers & Ac 'B' 1:58:10 (1st B team award)

1Hayley Carruthers (1) 26:42, 2 Natalie Harris (5) 15:05 3 Diane Elliott (8) 15:39,

4 Fiona Davies (7) 28:11, 5 Naomi Armitage (9) 16:10, 6 Robyn Lanceley (9) 16:23.

Mens 12 stage

1 Lincoln Wellington AC 'A' 3:11:31

11 Rotherham Harriers & AC 3:20:42

1 Luke Cotter (15) 24:14, 2 Kyle Craib (19) 13:21, 3 Aidan Johnson (19) 24:53,

4 Gareth Sampson (19) 12:30, 5 Jonathan Johnson (19) 25:26, 6 David Tune (19) 13:09,

7 Daniel Kestrel (13) 24:06, 8 Joseph Massingham (12) 12:13, 9 Arron Larkin (12) 12:08,

10 Richard Harris (11) 12:20, 11 Philip Hoole (11) 13:06, 12 Sam Clegg (11) 13:16.

U17 Women's 5K championships

1 Jessica Cook Liverpool Harriers & AC 19:06

5 Keiva Rennocks 20:21

9 Bethany Mount 21:01

U15 Boys 5K championships

1 Scott Nutter Barnsley Athletic Club 16:10

5 Elliott Morton 16:33

U15 Girls 5K championships

1 Megan Dingle Vale Royal Ac 18:23

16 Lahanna Vardy 21:00

CAU Inter Counties Cross Country Championships

The annual inter county championship event took place at Prestwold Hall, near Loughborough. This is the first time the event has been held there, and it proved a good venue with varying terrain and underfoot conditions.

The event was also used as the selection race for the GB teams for the World Cross country championships to be held in Kampala, Uganda later this month. This ensured that the best were out in the senior and junior races, and with the English counties along with Scotland and Wales area teams in all the other age group races it made for a very competitive set of races.

Yorkshire had another good year in the competition and were duly awarded the Best Overall team award, with 7 of their 10 teams winning team medals. Yorkshire had two individual Gold medal winners Josh Dickinson (City of York) in the U15 boys race and Jonathan Shields (City of Sheffield & Dearne AC) in the Junior men's race. This also got Jonathan automatic selection to represent GB in Kampala.

Claire Duck (Leeds City) - who was the guest of honour at the Rotherham Harriers awards evening last year - was second in the senior women's race, behind Jess Judd and another Yorkshire athlete selected for Kampala.

Mya Taylor was the best placed club athlete finishing an excellent 10th place in the U17 women's race.

Joe Massingham had a very good run to finish 18th (2nd Yorkshire team scorer) and was rewarded with a silver team medal

Sophie Cowper (representing Surrey, the winning team) was the best placed (in 23rd) of our 5 senior women who had been selected to represent their home county. Fiona Davies answered a late call on Thursday to join her 3 club team mates in the Yorkshire senior women's squad.

Rotherham Harriers Athlete results:

U13 Boys

Pos Time

156 0:13:22 433 Joshua Wragg Derbyshire

212 0:13:40 426 Samuel Gilson Derbyshire

U17 Women

10 0:20:48 Mya Taylor Yorkshire

U20 men

18 0:28:27 Joe Massingham Yorkshire

Senior Women

23 0:31:33 1305 Sophie Cowper Surrey

57 0:32:55 1385 Zara Knappy Yorkshire

68 0:33:13 1380 Stephanie Burns Yorkshire

84 0:33:46 1387 Emma Parkinson Yorkshire

136 0:35:23 1382 Fiona Davies Yorkshire

Team positions

U13 girls

1 82 Leicestershire ( 11 13 18 40 )

2 92 Yorkshire ( 15 19 28 30 )

3 95 North East ( 10 21 23 41 )

U13 boys

1 24 Surrey ( 1 4 9 10 )

2 128 Hampshire ( 6 14 25 83 )

3 138 Yorkshire ( 5 34 38 61 )

U15 Girls

1 60 Scotland West ( 2 5 24 29 )

2 78 Cheshire ( 7 11 19 41 )

3 124 Yorkshire ( 9 12 46 57 )

U15 Boys

1 46 Kent ( 7 10 12 17 )

2 72 Yorkshire ( 1 5 31 35 )

3 76 North East ( 9 18 23 26 )

U17 Women

1 36 Surrey ( 1 2 4 29 )

2 40 Scotland East ( 5 8 9 18 )

3 66 Essex ( 3 7 13 43 )

4 122 Yorkshire ( 10 21 38 53 )

U17 Men

1 49 Yorkshire ( 4 8 17 20 )

2 67 Hampshire ( 1 3 29 34 )

3 139 Kent ( 9 35 44 51 )

U20 Women

1 103 North East ( 6 19 23 55 )

2 153 Gt.Manchester ( 12 28 31 82 )

3 155 Yorkshire ( 36 38 40 41 )

U20 Men

1 48 Scotland East ( 8 11 14 15 )

2 94 Yorkshire ( 1 18 19 56 )

3 107 Kent ( 9 28 33 37 )

Senior Women

1 170 Surrey ( 5 23 27 31 38 46 )

2 199 Scotland East ( 9 14 25 41 49 61 )

3 250 Hampshire ( 4 13 21 52 58 102 )

4 299 North East ( 18 20 47 62 71 81 )

5 316 Yorkshire ( 2 44 57 67 68 78 )

Senior men

1 160 North East ( 9 10 22 23 47 49 )

2 177 Surrey ( 3 5 19 28 45 77 )

3 200 Middlesex ( 7 20 33 37 40 63 )

4 308 Hampshire ( 1 2 31 56 67 151 )

5 330 Yorkshire ( 15 17 39 82 83 94 )

English National Cross Country Championships

The 2018 event was held at Parliament Hill fields, Hampstead North London, on a bright but bitterly cold day.

This is a popular venue, and 6444 athletes competed in total - a record number for this event.

Rotherham Harriers had 34 athletes competing and 6 full teams.

The team performances were good - the U13 girls team were 24th (out of 51 teams) and the u13 boys were 35th (out of 56) and both were the 1st Yorkshire and 3rd Northern club teams to finish. The under 15 boys team and the u17 women's team both finshed in a very impressive 13th place were again the 1st Yorkshire and 3rd Northern club teams to finish. This demonstrates the strength of the young athlete teams in the club, and the commitment of the athletes to support the club.

The senior women's team, who have won team medals at this level, were weakened due to illness and injury and were down to only 4 athletes. However they did finish in a very creditable 15th team place, (there were 112 complete teams) and were the 1st Yorkshire and 3rd Northern club, behind Leeds City in 3rd and Hallamshire in 11th.

The senior mens team were 34th (out of 162 teams) and were 3rd Yorkshire & 8th Northern club to finish. (The smae team positions achieved in both those championships.

There were some excellent individual performances; Mya Taylor was 8th in the U17 women's race, Elliot Morton was 17th in the U15 boys race and Natasha Hatswell had another great run to finish 26th - ahead of several international athletes - in the senior women's race. Joe Massingham was 27th in the Junior men's race, and both Emma Parkinson (55th) and Zara Knappy (68th) had good runs. Olivia Bell (82nd in the U13 girl's race) and Emma Ball (88th in the U17 women's race) achieved the very difficult aim of finishing in the top 100 of the National championships. The club also is grateful to Lizzie Hutson for her efforts to ensure that we had a full senior women's team finish.

The above athletes have performed consistently well at County, Northern and National levels, indeed the commitment and support of all the club's cross country athletes, as well as the work done by the coaches and team managers, is the reason that the club can now be considered as one of the stronger clubs at Yorkshire and Northern level.

Results

U13 Girls

1 Maisy Luke Cornwall AC 12:25

82 Olivia Bell 13:52, 153 Marci Walsh 14:25, 167 Amelia Topliss 14:30, 254 Miya Lambert 15:07,

432 Cadence Taylor 17:22.

u13 Boys

1 William Rabjohns Poole AC 11:22

117 Joshua Gilbert 13:03, 181 Luke Parker 13:21, 262 George Browne 13:49, 369 Daniel Hutson 14:25,

375 Reece Levitt 14:26.

U15 Boys

1 Mohammed Ali Ealing Southall & Middlesex AC 15:13

17 Elliot Morton 16:02, 103 Joshua Wragg 17:14, 197 Will Beaton 17:57, 209 Samuel Gilson 18:02.

U17 Women

1 Ella McNiven Liverpool Harriers 18:27

8 Mya Taylor 19:11, 88 Emma Ball 21:27, 141 Keiva Rennocks 22:24, 200 Beth Mount 23:38.

U17 men

1 David Stone Shaftesbury Barnet Harriers 19:29

124 Jack Stokes 22:30

Junior men

1 Mahamed Mahamed 31:26

27 Joe Massingham 35:01

Senior Women

1 Phoebe Law Kingston AC 28:33

26 Natasha Hatswell 30:47, 55 Emma Parkinson 32:01, 68 Zara Knappy 32:28, 321 Lizzie Hutson 37:51.

Senior Men

1 Adam Hickey Southend on sea AC 39:55

179 Aidan Johnson 44:55, 221 Jonny Johnson 45:44, 241 Richard Harris 46:00, Aaron Larkin 46:07,

603 Gareth Sampson 50:02, 770 Kyle Craib 51:41, 847 Phil Hoole 52:31, 966 Richard Parker 53:44,

2009 James Gallacher 66:53.

U15 Boys were crowned North of England XC Champions at Harewood last week as the ladies continued to impress all round, with two team bronze medals.

Northern Cross Country Championships: Harewood House 27th January 2018

The harriers again had a strong entry for this second of the 2018 championships - following their good performances 3 weeks earlier at the county championships. The bulk of the athletes who had competed in the Yorkshire event were again competing, but were augmented by some who had competed in the Derbyshire championships, and their contribution was to have a marked effect on the U15 boys team results.

The venue had never before been used for these championships, and the rolling landscape of the South Park - created by Lancelot "Capability" Brown - was always going to create a challenging and varied course for all the races. One advantage of all the available space, is that a lap of 6Km long is possible for the senior men, which means that the 12Km race distance can be covered in 2 laps - which reduces the problem of the race leaders being slowed by the mass of runners they would ordinarily encounter over a 3 lap event.

The week leading up to the event had seen Storm Georgina bring very heavy rain, and this had a double effect, parking on the grass areas needed much work to ensure that cars did not become stuck; and it also meant some areas of the course laps were very wet, with ankle deep mud.

However, the clubs athletes - with many months of hill training behind them on Herringthorpe playing fields - were well prepared and produced the best club performance at this level for many years.

The club athletes had 7 complete teams (races have 4 athletes to score in the team race, with 6 to score for the senior men) and of those teams 6 finished in the first 10 - an incredible performance when you look at the strength of the clubs and athletes across the North.

Pride of place went to the U15 boys team, who after a nail biting wait were confirmed as the winning team, but it was very close!

Both the first 2 teams (Rotherham & Hallamshire - who had been battling all winter in the South Yorkshire league races) had the same points total - 186, and the deciding factor was the finishing position of the clubs 4th finisher. Sam Gilson was our 4th scorer in 100th position, whereas the Hallamshire 4th placed athlete was 113th.

The winning quartet - Eliot Morton, Will Beaton, Joshua Wragg and Sam Gilson, richly deserved the win. The trophy shows that exactly 40 years earlier, in 1978, Rotherham had won the same cup - helped no doubt by the presence of future Commonwealth, Olympic and world title holder Peter Elliot in that team.

There were two further team medals won by Harrier's teams - The U17 womens team of Mya Taylor, Cyane Robinson, Emma Ball and Keiva Rennocks won a well deserved team bronze, behind winners Vale Royal AC and Liverpool Harriers.

Mya's 4th place and Cyane's 6th place were the best individual placings on the day.

The senior women's team who have previously won gold in 2015, bronze in 2016, and silver in 2017 won their 4th team medal in a row, finishing 3rd - with 170 points - behind very strong teams from Sale (132 points) and Leeds city (158 points). The team of Sophie Cowper, Natasha Hatswell, Emma Parkinson & Zara Knappy were also strongly supported by Steph Burns, whose 43rd finishing position would have guaranteed the bronze team medals had any of the first 4 faltered.

Further club athletes managed top 10 finishing positions as follows: Joe Massingham 7th in the U 20 men's race, and Elliot Morton 10th in the U15 boys race.

The senior mens team wnet one better than last year with an impressive 8th team place - achieved by some great packing of individuals - with all the scoring 6 inside the first 100 finishers, led home by Elliot Smales in a very impressive 29th spot. Sale harries won the team race from leeds City in 2nd some 26 points behind.

The club goes from strength to strength - there were many great indiviudal performances here, and we look forward now to the National Championships on the 23rd February at Parliament Hill, London.

Rotherham Results

U13 Boys 3Km Team 5th 226 points

1st 10:44 Joshua Blevins North Shields Polytechnic.

28th 11:43 Joshua Gilbert, 58th 12:05 Luke Parker, 59th 12:05 George Browne, 80th 12:19 Thomas Bowman, 89th 12:25 Alex Brand, 125th Reece Levitt 12:50, 220th 14:56 Harry Stroughair.

U13 Girls Team 3Km 9th 286 points

1st 11:35 Holly Weedall Vale Royal AC

36th 12:35 Olivia Bell, 50th 12:43 Amelia Topliss, 98th 13:18 Marci Walsh, 102nd 13:21 Miya Lambert,131st 13:43 Evie Thomson, 192nd 14:48 Cadence Taylor.

U15 Boys 4 Km Team 1st 178 points

1st 13:51 Archie Lowe Middlesborough AC

10th 14:36 Elliot Morton, 32nd 15:02 Will Beaton, 42nd 15:19 Joshua Wragg, 100th 16:07 Sam Gilson, 148th 17:12 Jack Steele, 152nd 17:15 Jay Jessop.

U15 girls 4Km Team 18th 596 points

1st 15:23 Sian Heslop Macclesfield Harriers

139th 20:06 Abby Stroughair, 144th 20:13 Lahana Vardy, 146th 20:17 Ciara Mullane, 167 21:24 Elina Hine.

U17 men 6 Km (RH No team)

1st 20:05 Rory Leonard Morpeth Harriers & AC

65th 23:17 Jack Stokes, 85th 24:23 Oliver Jervis.

U17 Women 5.5Km team 3rd 97 points,

1st 20:48 Ella McNiven Liverpool Harriers

4th 21:13 Mya Taylor, 6th Cyane Robinson, 30th 23:56 Emma Ball, 57th 25:24 Keiva Rennocks, 62nd 25:56 Bethany Mount, 75th 27:01 Emily Holden.

Junior Men 8Km

1st 27:07 Emile Cairess Leeds City AC

7th 28:18 Joe Massingham.

Senior Men 12Km Team 8th 396 points

1st 39:50 Carl Avery Morpeth Harriers

29th 41:52 Elliot Samles, 61st 43:43 Dan Kestrel, 69th 44:06 Aidan Johnson, 74th 44:14 Jonny Johnson, 79th 44:27 Aaron Larkin, 89th 44:59 Richard Harris, 168th 47:34 Gareth Sampson, 183rd 47:51 Kyle Craib, 216th 48:55 Philip Hoole, 495th 56:11 John Comrie, 511th Howard Darwin 56:58.

Senior Women 8Km Team 3rd 81 points

1st 30:50 Mhairi McLennan Morpeth Harriers

10th 32:31 Sophie Cowper, 12th 32:40 Natasha Hatswell, 29th 33:32 Emma Parkinson, 30th 33:35 Zara Knappy, 43rd 34:23 Steph Burns.

RHAC was impressive all-round at the 2017 Northern Autumn Road Relay Championships (Sportcity Manchester)

The Northern championships for senior Men (Teams of 6) senior women (teams of 4) and all young athlete ages (U13, U15 & U17 - teams of 3) took place on Saturday the 16th on a traffic free course around the Etihad stadium campus.

Rotherham Harriers strength across all age groups was impressive - the club had 14 scoring teams and was the only Yorkshire club with finishing teams in every age category race.

Not only was the coverage the best we have managed for many years, but the level of club team and individual performances was tremendous. This is a tribute to i) the excellent work done by club coaches and team managers - Nigel Brookes, Richard Harris & Pete Shaw, ii) The dedication and commitment of the athletes & iii) the help & support of athletes parents & families.

We had two bronze medal winning teams - the U15 boys team and the senior women's A team; The U17 women's team were 4th, the B team were 9th (and 2nd B team) and the C team finished 15th, making these the 1st three teams from South Yorkshire clubs. The senior men's A team qualified for the National championships for the 11th successive year by finishing 16th. (The first 25 clubs qualify). The senior women's B team were 7th (1st B team, and 3rd Yorkshire team).The U13 boys team were 9th, after some very consistent times by the 3 team athletes, and the U13 girls were 11th - a really good result for that trio.

At an Individual level there were some excellent performances - Elliot Morton ran the 3rd fastest time of the day in the U15 boy's group.Mya Taylor ran the 3rd fastest time in the U17 women's race, with team mate Cyane Robinson recording the 10th fastest time. In the senior ladies teams, Jenny Blizard had a brilliant run to record the clubs fastest leg which made her the 4th= fastest of the day. Club mate Sophie Cowper was just 2 seconds slower than Jenny, and recorded the 6th fastest time.

The Taylor family had a busy day with Mya, her sister Cadence and dad Carl all running in club teams

Results

U13 Girls

'A' Team 11th 40:27

Hayley Butcher (16) 13:19, Marci Walsh (8) 13:27, Olivia Bell (11) 13:41

'B' Team 34th 44:34

Amelia Topliss (30) 14:14, Cadence Taylor (40) 15:44, Miya Lambert (35) 14:36

U13 Boys

9th 37:17

Joshua Gilbert (8) 12:02, Daniel Hutson (8) 12:31, Luke Parker (9) 12:44

U15 Girls

'A' Team 42:59

Abby Stroughair (27) 13:42, Romany Tune (21) 13:40, Keira Sampson (29) 15:37

'B' Team (Incomplete)

Ciara Mullane (40) 15:33, Elina Hine,(38) 16:51.

U15 Boys

'A' Team 3rd 33:53

Elliott Morton (3) 10:45, William Beaton (2) 11:33, Joshua Wragg (3) 11:35

'B' Team 29th 36:59

Jack Steele (42) 12:29, Jay Jessop (32) 12:09, Samuel Gilson (31) 12:21.

U17 women

'A' Team 4th 39:58

Mya Taylor (1) 12:44, Cyane Robinson, (1) 13:14, Emma Ball (4) 14:00

'B' Team 9th 43:50

Grace Harris (13) 14:31, Keiva Rennocks (11) 14:37, Bethany Mount (9) 14:42

'C' Team 46:38

M Platts (15) 14:36, Catherine Kebell (17) 15:48, Ellis Jackson (15) 16:14

U17 Men

32nd 40:57

Matthew Pagdin (37) 13:33, Oliver Jervis (32) 12:50, Howard Kniveton (32) 14:34

Senior Women

'A' Team 3rd 1:25:18

1 Zara Knappy (18) 22:04, 2 Jenny Blizard (6) 20:42, 3 Samantha Hughes (4) 21:48, 4 Sophie Cowper (3) 20:44

'B' Team 7th 1:28:56

1 Natasha Hatswell, (11) 21:36, 2 Stephanie Burns (10) 21:51, 3 Jenny Reed (11) 23:34, 4 Fiona Davies (7) 21:55

Senior Men

'A' team 16th 2:07:59

1 Richard Harris (50) 21:57, 2 David Tune (50) 22:16, 3 Aidan Johnson (37) 21:01

4 Arron Larkin (28) 21:01, 5 Joseph Massingham (23) 20:40, 6 Gareth Sampson (16) 21:04

'B' team 53rd 2:20:36

1 Steven Marshall (81) 23:06, 2 Rhian Hastey (69) 22:39, 3 Ian Whyman (64) 22:45,

4 Chris Griffiths (66) 24:41, 5 Carl Taylor (64) 24:55, 6 Philip Hoole (53) 22:30.

Yorkshire Cross Country Championships

Rotherham Harriers had another successful day at the 2017 event, held at Lightwater Valley, North Stainley on the 7th January.

We had a total of 10 complete teams across the 10 age groups and 8 races.

For the first time for a number of years, the club had an individual champion as Mya Taylor took her promising start to this season to another level with an emphatic win in the U17 women's race - and it is her first year in the age group! Joe Massingham placed 3rd in the Junior men's race, and was the only other club individual medal winner.

The championships are not only about individual winners though, and the club athletes showed great team spirit and commitment to do their absolute best for the club teams.

Nowhere was this more evident than in the senior women's race, where the club athletes battled to beat rivals Leeds City by just one point. It was clear from the situation at the end of the first lap that it would be close, with Samantha Johnson and Zara Knappy in the lead group with several Leeds athletes in close attendance. Unfortunately Samantha, who had been suffering with a viral infection over Christmas, had to drop out as she was not fully recovered and able to perform to her usual high standard. This suggested that Leeds would now be unbeatable, but with Leeds' Georgia Malir having to drop out with an injured ankle, the race become wide open again and at the end Zara's fine 5th place was backed up by Emma Parkinson (10th), Steph Burns (11th) and Fiona Davies (14th after a very strong last lap) to seal the 5th team win in a row at this event. Holmfirth Harriers were 3rd team

Mya Taylors individual win was backed up by a fine run from Cyane Robinson in 4th and Ellis Jackson in 20th to seal the team gold medal.

The under 15 girls were out in strength, with 3 full teams. Only local rivals Hallamshire could match that turnout, and they were clear winners of the 1st team award, with The Harriers trio of Lucy Elliott, Keiva Rennocks and Leah Hayward all having good runs to finish 10 points ahead of the Ilkley team in 3rd place.

The senior men's team secured a bronze team medal (to add to the silver medals they won last year) thanks to godd performances by the 6 scoring athletes. Hallamshire were clear team winners with Leeds City in 2nd place.

Former Harrier Iain Whitaker, now living in Edinburgh and competing for Edinburgh AC, qualifing to run through his birth in the county, had a good run to finish 15th individual.

Full Rotherham Harriers results

Under 13 boys Team 11th

19 0:09:29 GILBERT, Joshua

32 0:09:37 JESSOP, Jay

54 0:10:02 HUTSON, Daniel

U13 girls A team 11th, B team 23rd

23 0:10:06 TUNE, Romany

52 0:10:49 SENIOR, Lauren

58 0:10:55 HARPHAM, Megan

67 0:11:07 BUTCHER, Hayley

76 0:11:28 WALSH, Marci

80 0:11:41 TAYLOR, Cadence

U15 Boys Team 6th

11 0:14:37 MORTON, Elliot

23 0:15:39 STEAD, Bailey

31 0:15:55 BEATON, William

45 0:16:33 STEELE, Jack

U15 Girls A team 2nd, B team 11th C team 13th

9 0:14:53 ELLIOTT, Lucy

14 0:15:13 RENNOCKS, Keiva

20 0:15:33 HAYWARD, Leah

30 0:15:59 STROUGHAIR, Abby

40 0:16:35 MOUNT, Bethany

47 0:16:55 PLATTS, Mollie

49 0:17:07 BALL, Emma

55 0:18:16 WARD, Macey

62 0:19:49 SAMPSON, Kiera

U17 Women Team 1st

1 0:16:17 TAYLOR, Mya

4 0:17:14 ROBINSON, Cyane

20 0:19:41 JACKSON, Ellis

26 0:20:33 MORTON, Grace

Junior Men

3 0:27:51 MASSINGHAM, Joe

Senior Women Team 1st

5 0:31:20 KNAPPY, Zara

10 0:32:18 PARKINSON, Emma

11 0:32:38 BURNS, Stephanie

14 0:33:39 DAVIES, Fiona

26 0:34:55 STEPANCHUK, Alina

28 0:35:06 HUTSON, Elizabeth

Senior Men Team 3rd

11 0:35:27 SMALES, Elliot

22 0:36:21 LARKIN, Arron

29 0:36:59 HARRIS, Richard

42 0:37:29 CLEGG, Samuel

57 0:38:09 HOOLE, Philip

59 0:38:12 SAMPSON, Gareth

169 0:43:58 GRIFFITHS, Chris

216 0:47:25 GALLACHER, James

Rotherham Harriers win 4 team golds!

The 2016 championships were held on a new course around Thornes Park. The event has not had a regular venue following the loss of the Don Valley Stadium in 2013, and it is hoped that this venue can be regularly used for an annual road relay championship.

Yorkshire County are grateful to both Wakefield MBC and to the Sports centre management for their help in getting this inaugural event to happen.

The weather on the day was excellent - warm & sunny, but this did make the park paths very busy. Thankfully all the athletes safely navigated their way around the 2580m lap.

The races are for 4 age categories - Under 13, Under 15, Under 17 & Junior / Senior, for male and female runners.

All ages did one lap except senior men who did two.

Team results

The under 13 and under 15 races are straight races, with he first 3 club athletes position total counting as the team points for their club.

There were no Harriers athletes in the U13 races, but we did have 9 athletes in the u15 girl's race, and it was clear that it was going to be very close between Wakefield and Rotherham. Abbey Brooke came in first for Wakefield, with Grace Harris the first harrier to finish in 4th, 22 second behind Abbey

Lucy Elliott, in her first race for the club, made a great debut to finish 9th and Abby Stroughair had one of her best runs to date to finish 10th - importantly they were ahead of the 2nd and 3rd Wakefield runners, beating the Wakefield team score by just 1 point.

Rotherham 23pts, Wakefield 24pts,City of York 27pts.

Further harriers U15 girls results were:- Emma Ball (13th 10:07), Leah Hayward ( 15th 10:12),

Beth Mount (20th 10:23), Erin Lonsdale (27th 10:52) Keira Sampson (28th 10:59), Keiva Rennocks ( 29th 11:04).

In the U15 boys we had 4 athletes, Bailey Stead was our first runner home in 11th place (8:37), Howard Kniveton 17th (9:06), Jack Steele 25th (9:27)h & Will Beaton (in his first race for the club) 28th ( 9:35).

The team were 5th, one place in front of local rivals Hallamshire Harriers.

The U17 women's team were 1st after leg 1, with Mya Taylor running the fastest time of the day with 9:15, Cyane Robinson retained the lead with a time of 9:45 (2nd fastest) and Ellis Jackson secured the gold with a time of 10:22 (5th fastest) to bring the team home 2 mins and 7 seconds in front of Holmfirth harriers.

We only had two athletes in the U17 men's relay and did not therefore have a complete team due to an athlete being injured and unable to run. Jack Stokes was 14th fastest with a time of 8:42 and Aaron Wickson 22nd fastest in 10:14. City of Sheffield & Dearne AC won the team event.

In the senior women's race we had two teams, and had high hopes of a strong performance from the A team; boosted by the inclusion of two new athletes who have joined the club this summer:- Zara Knappy and Natalie Griffiths..

Natasha Hatswell ran the opening leg for the A team coming in just 4 seconds behind England International Katie Walshaw, who ran the days fastest time of 8:47, Zara took the club into first place on leg 2 with a time of 8:58; Hallamshire Harriers moved into 2nd place 24 seconds behind Zara. Natalie ran 9:02 to increase the lead over Holmfirth to 42 seconds. Samantha Johnson left the stadium with Nicola Squires in hot pursuit, Sam didn't weaken though and brought the team home 44 seconds ahead of Hallamshire, with the second fastest time of 8:50. Holmfirth finished in 3rd place.

The club B team were led out by Emma Parkinson, who had a good run to finish 4th on leg 1 with the 9th fastest time of 9:08. Emma Dutton (10:42) Jess Freeman (10:10) and Mary Jenkinson (10:51) finished in a creditable 7th place.

In the senior men's race, the increased strength of the Harrier's senior team meant that we fielded 3 full teams of four athletes.

On the opening leg Kyle Craib was the first harrier home in 3rd place in 16:16 - the 3rd fastest time of the day. Kyle was in the C team, as he didn't have Yorkshire eligibility, living in North Notts. Gareth Sampson was next (A team 5th 16:37) and Arron Larkin was 7th for the B team (16:58).

Wakefield's A team had a sizeable lead after leg 1, with James Saxton's fastest time of 15:55 - the only sub 16 minute time. After leg 2 Wakefield had still a lead of almost a minute, but Sam Clegg had moved the A team up two places to third, with a time of 16:49. Chris Adams (17:25) came in 4th for the C team, with Joe Massingham moving the B team up 2 places to 5th.

On the critical 3rd leg Elliot Smales continued to gain time on Wakefield on the first lap with Holmfirth now leading. After the second lap Elliot came in just 17 seconds behind the leading team Holmfirth, to leave Aidan Johnson to hopefully clinch the victory. New member Jonny Johnson (17:05) brought the C team up to 3rd & Phil Hoole (17:33) kept the B team in 5th.

It was all to play for on leg 4, and Aidan did not disappoint the club supporters, he took the lead on his first lap and extended the lead to finish 32 seconds in front of Holmfirth, with Wakefield taking 3rd place. Richard Harris (17:25) brought the B team home in 4th - after winning the bronze medal in the Yorkshire Veterans Cross country championships the day before! Team manager Nigel Brookes anchored the C team to 5th place with a time of 20:35.

It is an indication of how strong the club now is at senior level with 5 of the women's team being in the top 10 fastest times, and 8 of the mens team's in the top 20 mens fastest times.

This is the first time the club has won both senior titles, and gives the club a confidence boost for this coming weeks Northern relay Championships at Manchester where the teams are of 6 athletes in the men's race.

For the first match of the season the Harriers were at Middlesbrough. After watching the Tour de Yorkshire cyclists head past the match got going. Despite fielding an Under 20 squad team seriously depleted by holidays, Rotherham's Under 17 athletes turned in a number of excellent performances to enable the team to finish in a creditable fourth place.

Despite cold and windy conditions a number of athletes set personal best performances.

In the Under 20's, Leo Rowley won the shot and set a Discus PB to finish 3rd whilst Holly Rodgers won the hammer and high jump.

In the U17's, Ahmed Lahreche won the 200m (in a UKA grade 1 standard time) and came second in the 200m, Declan Walker-Smith and Jack Stokes won the 3000m A & B races respectively whilst Elliott Morley, in his first ever outing for the Harriers, won the 300m Hurdles. For the girls, on the track Ellie Booker won the 200m (also in a Grade 1 standard time) and came second in the 100m, whilst Billie Jo Harris came second in the 100m and 200m running against Under 20 opposition. Continuing the string of wins, Amy Gellion won the 300m (also in a grade 1 time) and Cyane Robinson won the 800m. In the field, Emma Dakin won the Shot Putt and Discus with a second place in the Javelin with Charlotte Kerr second in the high jump (as well as coming second in the 80m Hurdles in a new personal best) and Olivia Parkes second in the Long Jump.

To finish off a good day, the U17 girls won both the 4x100 and 4x300 relays, the boys came second in their 4x100 and 4x400 and an U17 squad of girls were came 3rd in the U20 4X100m, only 0.3 seconds behind the winning team.

With the athletes who were unavailable this time in the team for the remaining fixtures, the club team should be competitive.

Match Result

1 Middlesbrough AC & Mandale 716

2 Hallamshire Harriers 591

3 Chesterfield & District AC 523

4 Rotherham H. & AC 423

5 Spenborough & District AC 357

6 Bingley Harriers & AC 232

7 Grimsby Harriers AC 42

Herringthorpe stadium played host to the third round of the Youth Development League Upper age group (U17 &U20) athletes on Sunday. A very strong Kington upon Hull AC squad had dominated the previous two matches with Rotherham Harriers, Spenborough AC and Bingley Harriers fighting out the minor places. Grimsby Harriers have had a torrid season so far and were firmly anchored to the bottom of the league.

At the outset it was clear that Kingston were set to win the match and guarantee their promotion place for next season but the competition for second place was likely to be closer as Bingley had assembled a good team and Rotherham were hampered by the absence of several key athletes who were competing in the English Schools Combined events qualifying event at Doncaster's Keepmoat stadium; severely weakening the U20 Women's team. As most teams find it difficult to field athletes in this age group it was no surprise that there were no competitors in the U20W track events from 800m to 3000m and very few competitors in any age group in the specialist Hurdles, High Jump and Triple Jump events.

Leo Rowley (U17M) was not one to let the low key atmosphere get to him and he was in great form as he produced a terrific throw of 16.24m in the Shot Putt to improve his pb by 50cm and cement his third place in the UK rankings for this event. He was also on form in the Discus with his second best ever throw of 40.30m, an event in which he is also ranked in the UK top 30. A second place in the Hammer completed a great afternoon for the Harrier's throwing event star..

In the U20 M Devon Stead was a winner in the 2000m s/c as he once more recorded a time below seven minutes even though he had to run his own race as he lapped the opposition runners. Ryan Beale was another easy winner in the 3000m A race and Ollie Potter was a winner in the 800m B. Other results Ryan Beale 800m A 2nd, Javelin A 2nd; Alex Andrews 100m A 3rd, 200m A 3rd; Daniel Bradford 1500m A 3rd, Shot B 3rd; Joe Massingham Shot A 2nd; James Johnson L J A 3rd; Alex Kitson L J B 2nd.

In the U20W Amber O'Malley was a winner in the Hammer B event. Other results Elizabeth Coupe Hammer A 3rd, Discus B 2nd, Shot B 2nd, Javelin B 2nd; Amber O'Malley Javelin A 2nd, Discus A 3rd, Shot A 3rd.

Kane Smith was in excellent form for the U17M on the track as he recorded impressive performances in wining the middle distance double of 800m and 1500m, Joe Massingham and Declan Walker-Smith made it a home double in both races with victories in the 800m B and 1500m B races respectively. Bradley Ellison was a winner in the 100m B. Other results Derius Greenaway 100m A 2nd, 200m A 2nd; James Johnson 3000m A 2nd; Bradley Ellison 200m B 2nd, L J 2nd; Kane Smith Jav 2nd; Joe Massingham 400m B 3rd; Alex Kitson 400m A 4th.

The U17W 4 x 100m squad were winners; other results Sophie Oak 100m A 2nd, 200m A 2nd; Georgia Bradford 800m A 2nd, 100m B 3rd, Shot 3rd; Sophie Kebell 300m A 2nd, 200m B 2nd; Darcey Joseph Jav 2nd, Discus 2nd, L J 4th; Louise Oak 300m B 2nd, Hammer 3rd.

The final match result 1st Kingston AC 509pts, 2nd Bingley Harriers 397pts, 3rd Rotherham Harriers 325 pts, 4th Spenborough AC 237 pts, 5th Grimsby Harriers 31 pts.

League standings:

1st Kinston u Hull AC 15pts, 2nd Rotherham HAC 11pts, 3rd Bingley 9pts, 4th Spenborough AC 7 pts, 5th Grimsby Harriers 3 pts.

Sheffield's Graves Park provided the backdrop for the second fixture in the South Yorkshire Cross country League for the2013/4 season on Sunday with Rotherham Harriers hoping to consolidate their leading position in the senior events and improve on their third position in the juniors. The Harriers were represented by 48 athletes as 500 runners from 19 clubs fought out the places in races from Under 11 age groups to Vet Men Over 65. A very strong squad of senior men provided the club's two winners as Richard Harris (34:03) was victorious in the Over 40 category and Rob Tintinger (27:41) in the Over 65 race. Steph Burns (26:11) was unable to repeat her win in the Ladies Race as she was beaten into third place by guest runner and GB international Laura Weightman who took the honours ahead of former England international Julia Jagger.

Grace Harris (13:42) and Declan Mullane (6:44) both improved on their third place finishes last time out to take 2nd places in the U13 Girls and U11 Boys respectively with Ryan Beale running a strong race to take another 2nd place finish in the Under 17 Men''s race. Matthew Stevens (15:38) was 3rd in the U13 boys and Kane Smith (16:14) repeated this feat in the U15 Boys. Mary Jenkinson (28:06) continued to show impressive progress as she took a personal best 6th place overall in the senior Women's race to be 2nd U20 woman home and Jess Mangham (29:23)was another athlete in fine form as she placed 11th overall in the same race to be 3rd U20 woman to finish. Janet Hindley (30:38) and Phillipa James (31:36) were 2nd and 3rd home in the Vet 45 ladies category to complete a pleasing total of 12 podium places for the Harriers.

Particularly pleasing was the strong turnout in the younger age groups with 9 under 11 girls representing the club and the U13 Girls and Boys packing well in the top places to score well for the team.

Full Harriers' results were :-

U 11 Girls - Nyah Barlow (7:36) 6th; Leah Hayward (7:39) 7th; Abby Stroughair (7:58) 14th; Eva Butler (9:08) 34th; Kate Towlerton (9:08) 35th; Georgina Bowman (9:13) 36th;Erin Brady (9:42) 44th; Marni Harris (10:14) 46th; Jessica Pink (10:37) 48th.

U11 Boys - Declan Mullane (6:44) 2nd; Alex Coates (7:00) 7th; Fenn Russell (7:47) 23rd.

U13 Girls - Grace Harris (13:42 ) 2nd; Mya Taylor (13:48) 4th; Annabel Johnson (14:25) 5th; Keiva Rennocks (15:01) 9th; Bronte Rennocks (15:27) 11th.

U13 Boys - Matthew Stevens (15:38) 3rd; Bailey Stead (15:54) 6th; Jack Stokes (16:37) 8th; Howard Kniveton (18:20) 19th.

U15 girls - Louise Oak (16:17) 17th; Ella Guy (17:09) 19th.

U15 Boys - Kane Smith (16:14) 3rd; Declan Walker-Smith (16:33) 6th.

U17 Men - Ryan Beale (23:38) 2nd; Daniel Bradford (25:14) 7th; Adam Green (27:10) 11th.

Senior and Junior Ladies - Steph Burns (26:11) 3rd; Mary Jenkinson (28:06) 6th; Jess Mangham (29:23) 11th; Emma Parkinson (29:40) 14th and 4th U20; Emma Dutton (30:13)20th and 6th U20; Janet Hindley (30:38) 22nd; Philippa James (31:36) 30th.

Senior and Junior Men - Richard Harris (34:03) 5th and 1st O40; Aidan Johnson (35:06) 9th; Kyle Craib (35:16) 12th; Elliot Smales (37:21) 27th; Connor Ryan (38:51)45th; Ricky Sharpe (40:42) 71st; Howard Darwin (41:13) 79th; Nick Wright (42:58) 98th; Matthew Jones (44:05) 110th; John Spencer (47:25) 141st; Martin Chivers (48:25) 147th; Stephen Cotter (49:01) 153rd.

Veteran Men Over 65 - Rob Tintinger (27:41) 1st.

This year's English Cross Country relay championships were held on a fast but muddy course at Mansfield's Berry Hill Park last weekend, returning to this popular venue for the 25th time.

This is the premier relay event on the Cross Country calendar and attracted an entry of over 3000 runners with all the top teams in England represented. For the first time Rotherham Harriers had entries in every age group and fielded two full teams in both senior men's and lady's events. The growing number of club athletes competing was rewarded with the club's best ever result as the Senior Ladies took a stunning fifth place in a star studded field. With the Junior Ladies placing 10th and two other teams in the top 20 this was the best set of results in this prestigious event in the club's history.

The senior women's A and B teams lined up in a highly competitive field that included almost all of the GB cross country team members and Rotherham's team of girls, all born and bred in the town, set a new Harrier's record with the A team claiming the club's highest ever place. On the first leg Steph Burns (10:36) gave her usual 100% to fight through the crowded start and hand over in 17th place after her 3k leg. Sam Johnson (10:47) likes nothing better than battling with the big names and once again set about the task with a will. Working hard all the way through the woods and then attacking on the hill Sam brought the team up to 11th place with a 10th place finish being the clubs previous best. Laura Spence working in London showed her loyalty to the club by once again making the long trek to put on the black vest and was given the anchor leg by team manager Nigel Brookes. With other runners in her sights Laura had the look of someone who meant business and stormed through the field with one of the best displays ever seen by a Harrier at this event. With her team mates shouting her on Laura crossed the line in the team's fastest time of the day clocking 10:32 for a superb 5th place finish.

Thirty two teams put their foot on the line for the under 20s age group race and the experienced Natasha Hatswell got the team off to a flyer with what she believes is her best performance in a black vest ever. Leaving a whole host of top quality runners behind her Hatswell completed the wet and tricky 2.5km course in 8:58, handing over in 8th place and recording the 11th fastest time of the day. Leg 2 was attacked with gusto by the ever improving Mary Jenkinson and giving her all she held onto 8th place with a time of 9:45 to complete a superb series of relay performances for the team this year. The final leg was entrusted to Jess Mangham and despite dropping 2 places in what was an ultra competitive last leg Jess battled through the Mansfield mud to bring the team home in a very creditable 10th place clocking 10:11

The Under 15 Boys have had a very successful season and this continued as the boys raced into 14th place, losing out for South Yorkshire bragging rights by just 0.05s to local rivals City of Sheffield AC. Kane Smith (6:49) got the team off to a great start as he recorded their fastest time of the day to establish them in 20th place after the usual extremely competitive first leg. Declan Walker-Smith(7:19) slipped back a few places and handed over to Joe Masingham in 28th place for the last leg. Showing real fighting spirit Joe (6:52) carved his way through the field into 14th place at the finish, just failing to overhaul the Sheffield runner at the line by a couple of centimetres.

Not to be outdone the Under 13 Girls A team were also gunning for a top 20 place and they were given an excellent send off by Mya Taylor (7:59) on leg 1as she took them into 28thnplace. Grace Harris (8:13) got the team up into the top 20 and Annabel Johnson (8:06) set off in 19th place on the last leg. Showing her experience even at this tender age Annabel chased down three more runners to finish in a highly creditable 16th place.

The Senior Men's race is always ultra-competitive and with just under 200 teams of 4 athletes entered this was definitely so this year. Two Harrier's teams lined up with the A team seeking to finish in the top 50 as a realistic target. Kyle Craib (17:07) took responsibility for the first leg and ran the team's joint fastest time as he fought his way through a very talented field to hand over in 61st place. On leg 2 Aidan Johnson (17:44) consolidated the team's position and sent Richard Harris off in 60th place. Richard (17:07) equalled Kyle's first leg time and took the team into the top 50 as he handed over in 47th to last leg runner Chris Adams. Chris (17:52) has great experience over the country having been selected to represent England at Over 40 international level and he steadily worked his way through the field to complete a good day's work for the team as they showed the benefit of consistent relay running and claimed a highly satisfactory 40th position at the finish.

The Junior Men found themselves in a high quality field of 79 teams and aimed to finish in the top half against some very strong teams. Luke Cotter has been having a great season and he set the tone for the team with a blistering time of 9:04 as he took an excellent 16th place against some of England's best Junior Men. Elliot Smales is a rising star of triathlon who has been working hard on his running this year, and his time of 9:59 saw him hand over in 22nd place after leg 2. On the anchor leg Nick Myers (10:34) was coming back to racing after a 3 month lay-off and fought hard all the way to the line to stay in the top 30 with a very satisfactory 29th place finish a just reward for the team's efforts throughout the race.

The Under 17 Men had Adam Green on leg one and his time of 10:06 was good enough for 45th place as he handed over to Daniel Bradford (10:53) on leg two. Daniel slipped a few places but sent off Ryan Beale in 52nd place for the last leg. Ryan (9:55) was the fastest member of the team on the day and he passed runner after runner on the course as he pulled the team up into 35th place at the finish.

The Under 13 Boys started out with Bailey Stead (7:52) on the cavalry charge which characterises the younger boys races on the first leg and he handed over in 56th place to Matt Stevens. Matt (7:29) was in sparkling form and had taken back 27 places at the end of the second leg as he handed over to Jack Stokes to bring the team home. Jack (8:19) was not able to hold onto all the gains but he ran steadily to the finish and brought the team home in 39th place.

In the Under 17 Ladies race Charlotte Dodds (10:18) was first up for the team and ran the team's best time by some considerable margin as she handed over in 48th place. Maisie Elliot (11:59) ran hard all the way to keep the team on course for a top 50 finish as she handed over to Ruby Torry in 54th place for the last leg. Ruby (11:25) was able to gain 6 places and bring the baton home in 48th place.

The club's B teams all had good results with the Under 13 Girl's setting the tone in the first race. Keiva Rennocks (8:28) got the team off to a good start and handed over in 59th place to her sister Bronte Rennocks (9:02) who gained one place to hand over to Charlotte Kerr (9:35) in 58th place for the last leg. Charlotte finished in an encouraging 63rd place as the B team demonstrated the club's strength in depth in this age group.

The Senior Ladies B team had Colette Bunker (12:34) on leg one and she handed over in 71st place to veteran Janet Hindley (12:55) who pulled back 14 places and sent off Natalie Raynor (13:45) for the last leg in 57th place; Natalie held on to a very good 62nd place at the finish.

The Senior Men's B team comprised three veterans and club stalwart Phil Hoole who would normally be a shoe in for the A team but who had not run a race since July and was feeling his way back into racing after such a long lay-off.

Veteran Over 50 international John Comrie (19:22) took on the first leg duties and had to fight hard against a class field of senior men mostly much younger than himself to hand over in 130th place to Phil on leg two. Although a minute slower than he can be when fully fit Phil (17:35) was still able to overtake 38 runners and take the team into the top 100 as he handed over to Edward Hardy in 92nd place. Edward (20:01) gave back 6 places but sent off Women's team manager Nigel Brookes on the last leg in 98th place. Making light of his almost 50 years Nigel slipped back only 7 places as the team finished just out of the top half of the field in 105th place.

With the end of the summer athletics season attention turns to indoor competition and, in this area that means the South Yorkshire Indoor grand Prix Series for athletes from 8 to 15 years old, held in the world class facilities of the EIS in Sheffield.

Now in its fifth year this competition has gone from strength to strength and this year attracted athletes from as far afield as the Scottish borders and Berkshire in the South of England. Every year the numbers seem to grow and fields of almost 60 athletes in some events stretch the facilities and the organisers to the full.

Thirty five young Harriers pitted their skills against some of the best junior athletes competing and Grace Harris took the honours for the cub as she took the prize for the Girls 11-13 800m and provided the club with its only winner of the day.

Nyah Barlow came close to emulating her as she was touched off by only 14 hundredths of a second in the Girls 8-11 600m and Annabel Johnson underlined the strength of the Harriers middle distance athletes as she took second place in the Girls 13-15 800m in an excellent time of 2.37. Olivia Wood was the third Rotherham Harrier to take a score a second place finish as she was runner up in the Girls 11-13 Shot Putt.

Rhys Butterworth showed excellent form for the club with 3rd place finishes in the Boys 8-11 60m and 150m and he capped off a very successful day with 8th place in the Long Jump. Ryan Viggars gained a place on the podium with 3rd place in the Boys 11-13 Long Jump and also ran into 4th place in the 60m and 7th in the 200m. Bradley Ellison was another athlete in good all round form with 3rd place in the Boys 13-15 60m , 5th place in the Long Jump and 7th place in the 200m. Bronte Rennocks completed the clubs medal tally with a 3rd place in the Girls 11-13 200m, completing another good series with 4th in the Shot Put and 12th in the Long Jump.

A total of 1 gold medal place, 3 silver and 5 bronze was an excellent return for the club in such a competitive arena.

With all performances scoring points towards the final grand prix positions and each athlete able to compete in a maximum of 3 events many of the young Harriers took the opportunity to try out unfamiliar events and this can only benefit the club in the coming season as new talents are unearthed.

Other Harriers results were:-

Girls 8-11 :-

Nyah Barlow Shot (4th), L J (12th); Katie Viggars 150m (8th), 60m (9th)L J (17th); Abigail Kerr Shot (7th), 150m (19th), L J (2nd); Oluchi Idaboh 150m (9th), shot (9th), 60m (20th); Katie Hough 150m (11th), 60m (25th), LJ (25th); Marni Harris 150m (12th), 60m (21st), L J (29th).

Boys 11-13:-

Alex McEwan Shot (7th), 800m (10th), L J (32nd); Ben Frost 60m (10th), 200m (13th), L J (31st); Ross Birks Shot (15th), 60m (30th), L J (33rd).

Girls 11-13:-

Keiva Rennocks 800m (5th), L J (5th), Shot (6th); Melissa Coxon Shot (7th),60m (13th), 200m (7th); Olivia Wood 60m (8th), L J (22nd); Abby Stroughair 800m (12th), shot (14th), L J (45th); Leah Hayward 800m (16th), 200m (26th), L J (50th); Ciara Mullane 800m (20th), 60m (24th), L J (28th); Jessica Pink Shot (22nd), 200m (31st), L J (48th).

Boys 13-15:-

Dalitso Daka 60m (5th), 200m (9th); Elliott Warhurst Shot (7th), L J (10th), 60m (15th).

Girls 13-15:-

Sarah Zintchem 200m (5th), 60m (6th), 800m (13th); Ellie Booker 60m (5th), 200m (11th), L J (26th); Louise Oak 800m (5th), 200m (37th); Phillipa Hartley 200m (13th), L J (39th), Annabel Johnson 200m (26th), L J (43rd); Sophie Oak 60m (26th), 200m (31st), L J (52nd); Cyane Robinson 60m (28th), 200m (30th), L J (35th); Mia Harris 200m (28th), 60m (31st), L J (40th); Kelsey Noble L J (31st), 200m (32nd); Ellie Guy 60m (32nd), L J (38th); Georgina Bradford 60m (34th), 200m (36th), L J (41st); Charlotte Kerr L J (36th), 60m (42nd), 200m (42nd).

Alan Coupe 30/10/13

The Sheffield weather was on its best behaviour as Graves Park, Sheffield hosted the North of England Cross Country Championships and the South Yorkshire Relay championships on Saturday. The runners found themselves on a firm and dry course, unusual conditions for cross country enthusiasts but a welcome change.

Rotherham Harriers had 20 teams running, an excellent turnout, and came away with one North of England title, 3 South Yorkshire championship gold medals, 1silver medal and 3 bronze medals.

The star team was, once again the senior ladies team who came into the race defending champions and firm favourites for a medal. They did not disappoint as they raced away from a high class field to collect the South Yorkshire and North of England medals in fine form. Young Natasha Hatswell took responsibility for the first leg and held her own against the top athletes in the other teams with a time of 12:07 to hand over in a close 4th place to Steph Burns. Steph ran a blistering leg (11:53) to propel the Harriers into first place and hand over to Sam Johnson. Sam was almost as quick and there was never any doubt about the result as her 12:01 brought the team home in first place by 24 seconds from a fast finishing Holmfirth team and well over a minute clear of Stockport Harriers AC. The strength of the team can be seen by the fact that all three runners achieved times in the top 8 recorded all day by the 65 athletes competing.

The senior men's team were determined not to be outshone by the ladies and recorded their best ever finish as they swept to victory in the South Yorkshire championships and took an agonising 4th place in the North of England race only 3 seconds behind Liverpool Harriers in Bronze medal position. Kyle Craib's first leg (10:37) was good enough for 12th place but young Luke Cotter (10:25) was the fastest Harriers athlete of the day as he cut through the field to put them into 6th place at the end of leg 2. Aidan Johnson's 10:44 was enough to maintain their position and give Richard Harris a chance of a first ever North of England medal. Richard ran the team's second fastest time (10:34) and passed the Sunderland AC athlete in front of him but just failed to pull back 16 seconds on the Liverpool last leg runner and the team thought they had finished 5th. The disqualification of Sale Harriers moved them up to 4th tantalisingly close to that first medal.

The other winning team was the Under 15 Boy's squad who clinched the South Yorkshire championship by over 30 seconds from Hallamshire Harriers with a 5th place finish in the North of England Race. Joseph Massingham's first leg of 7:01 was good enough for 6th place and Kane Smith (7:15) pulled the team up into 3rd place with a chance of a medal. In a fiercely contested finish Declan Walker-Smith (7:32) was overhauled by Sale Harriers and Pendle AC and pushed down to 5th but stayed well clear of all the South Yorkshire rivals to bring home the gold medals for the team.

The U13 Girls were South Yorkshire silver medallists as they worked their way through the field to finish 4th overall but some way behind the first 3 teams - with Hallamshire taking the local honours with 3rd place in the North of England Championships. Mya Taylor set the team off with their fastest leg (6:01) and handed over to Annabel Johnson in 9th place. Annabel's 6:18 took the team up 3 places to 6th and Grace Harris ran a strong last leg (6:05) to clinch the silver medals.

The U11 boys brought home the first medal of the day as they took the bronze medal for 3rd best South Yorkshire team with 7th place overall. Ryan Viggars (5:16) put the team into 3rd place on leg one and Declan Mullane (5:37) held onto the place. With the teams very closely bunched Oliver Johnson (5:59) was unable to prevent several teams running their strongest athletes on the last leg passing him but held on to take the bronze medal.

The second bronze medal of the day went to the U17 women's team with Charlotte Dodds (9:24) running the team's fastest leg for 15th place. Maisie Elliott(10:17) kept the team in 15th and Ruby Torry (10:41) improved to 14th place overall but, crucially, held onto 3rd place in the South Yorkshire Championships for a welcome medal.

The final medal winning team was the Senior Ladies 'B' team who demonstrated the strength available to manager Nigel Brookes with a stunning 8th place overall in the North and the bronze medals for 3rd South Yorkshire team to finish. Mary Jenkinson (12:50) was 10th after leg 1, Emma Dutton (13:30) handed over to Jess Freeman in 11th and Jess (13:8) brought the team home in 8th and a second podium place for the Ladies squad in the same championships.

The U11 Girls were very unfortunate not to win a medal as the A team unexpectedly found themselves short of a last leg runner and were disqualified despite finishing 3rd South Yorkshire team when first leg runner (Abbey Stroughair) volunteered to run again. The B team were also on contention for a medal but were pipped for the bronze by 1 second as Leah Hayward (despite running the fastest leg by any Harriers athlete in the race) was just a few yards short of overhauling the Hallamshire B team last leg runner. A team (Abbey Stroughair 6:03 and 6:53, Ciara Mullane 6:06) B team ( Erin Avill 6:21, Marni Harris 7:21, Leah Hayward 6:00)

Spare a thought for the veteran Mens O60 team who were unable to field a last leg runner.After Rob Tintinger (12:51) and Malc Palfreyman (14:35) had recorded the 1st and 3rd fastest legs on the day they were leading the race by well over a minute after the first two legs and had to watch in frustration as the medals were decided. The under 17 men fielded another competitive side but were beaten into a close 4th place in the South Yorkshire championships with 11th place overall. Devon Stead (7:29) was 9th, Daniel Bradford (7:54) slipped to 14th and Ryan Beale (7:52) pulled back to 11th.

The U 13 Boys team were also a close 4th in South Yorkshire with 14th place overall. Matthew Stevens (5:49 was 13th, Bailey Stead (6:18) took the team into 11th and Darnell Joseph (6:37) brought them home just out of the medals.

The veteran ladies (O35) were able to field a full team and they took 6th place overall and 3rd South Yorkshire team. Sharon Marshall (16:06) , Philippa James (14:50) and Gill Taylor (17:09) making up the team.

The U 15 Boys B team (Alex Kitson 8:10, Joseph McNulty 8:29 and James Johnson 8:33) were 25th overall and 5th South Yorkshire team. The U 11 boys B team (Alex Bonnington 6:39, Nathan Pogmore 6:27, Miles James 8:04) were 13th overall and 6th South Yorkshire team.

The U 13 Girls fielded three teams with theA team claiming silver but the B and C teams fighting it out all the way for bragging rights. In the finish the B team just prevailed over a spirited C team by 3 seconds with the teams in 5th and 6th places respectively in the South Yorkshire championship. B team - (Olivia Parkes 6:41, Mia Harris 6:53, Phillipa Hartley 6:48) C Team - ( Keiva Rennocks 6:40,Bronte Rennocks 6:47, Cyane Robinson 6:58).

The U13 Boys B team (Jack Stokes 6:16, Ashley Pogmore 6:32, Howard Kniveton 6:46) were 20th overall and 6th South Yorkshire team. The U15 Girls A team ( Louise Oak 9:10, Sophie Oak 10:03, Kelsey Noble 11:03) were 7th South Yorkshire team and the B Team (Georgia Bradford 10:10, Ellie Guy 9:50, Darcey Joseph 12:04) were 8th South Yorkshire team.

An incomplete senior Ladies C team (Natalie Raynor 13:37, Collette Bunker 14:21) were in 17th place overall after 2 legs and the Senior Men's B team ( Elliot Smales 11:08, Oliver Watson 11:57; Nigel Brookes 12:48, John Maxfield 12:22) was non-scoring as John was an undeclared runner.

This was the best performances by the club at the Northern championships ever with the senior ladies champions and the senior men just missing a medal. With the number of younger athletes taking part it augurs well for the future of the club in the cross country competitions for which Harriers are justly well known.

Rotherham Harrier, Elliot Smales travelled to Nancy in France to compete in the Duathlon 2012 World age group championship on 23rd September, which coincided with his eighteenth birthday. He had qualified for the event by winning his age group (17 - 19 years old) back in the 10th?March 2012 at the Dambuster duathlon at Rutland water.

The U19 event was made up of a 4 x 2.5km lap run (10 km), 5 x 8 km lap bike (40 km) and a 2 x 2.5km lap run (5 km).

Elliot?s age group consisted of athletes who had travelled from as far away as New Zealand and South Africa to compete making it a stiff test for all competitors. On the first part of the race Elliot settled in quickly to his running and worked hard in the second half of the 10 km to post a time of 36:22 which put him in 3rd?place in his age group. A speedy transition meant Elliot was quick on to the wheel of the 2ndplace athlete and his biking strength helped him move up in to 2nd?position and cut the deficit to the age group leader from 2:50 to 14 seconds. His bike split time of 1:01:58 proving to be by far quickest time in his age group. Elliot ran hard on the 5 km run but his efforts on the bike had taken a toll and he slipped back from 2nd?to 3rd?chasing hard to the line to record a total time of 2:00:01 less than 52 seconds behind the winner and 25 seconds behind second place.

Elliot was extremely pleased to medal in this prestigious event and will be working hard on his running through the winter down at Rotherham Harriers AC as well as honing his swimming and biking skills ready for the next triathlon season.

The Northern Cross Country relays were held at Graves Park on Saturday, in weather that was definitely not expected for a cross country event. The event was also the South Yorkshire cross country and Yorkshire Veterans championship, and Rotherham teams performed well in all the championships.

Indeed it is heartening to see that the club teams and individual athletes can hold their own against the best in the North (clubs whose catchment population is 4 or 5 times that of Rotherhams 240 thousand or so).

The U13 boys team came home in 12th place, and there were medals for the u11 girls A team, who finished 2nd, and 1st SY ( Annabel Johnson, Mia Harris, Olivia Boulton), pictured the Lord Mayor of Sheffield (Cllr Dr Sylvia Dunkley) presents the boys U11 with their 3rd place medals Northern medals and 1st pace SY medals (from L Harrison Kitson, Kaya Walker (3rd fastest time overall) and Darnell Joseph.)

The junior/senior womens A team home in 4th place, just ahead of local rivals Hallamshire Harriers.