Skipton Open Cross Country 5th October 2002

Skipton Harriers hosted their annual Open X-C Meeting at Aireville School on Saturday 5th and six younger runners from Richmond and Zetland Harriers competed. Jessie Roberts came home 1st in the under 15 girls race and Sophie Broadway was 12th. Scarlett Gray was 3rd in the under 13 girls race and the team (Jessica Gray 11th & Leanne Shaw 20th) claimed third team prize. Rebecca Shaw ran in the under 11 girls race and Douglas Roberts was 6th in the under 13 boys race.

Great North Run and Junior Great North Run 5th October 2002

Another thirteen Harriers chose to compete in the Junior Great North Run on the same day. The course has relocated this year from the Gateshead International Stadium to the Newcastle and Gateshead Quaysides and, following-on from the Elite mile races, there was a genuine big race atmosphere. Philip Fitzpatrick was first home for the Club in 25th place with a time of 18:05, followed by James Raper 45th in 18:42 with bloodied knees from a tumble at full speed. The thousands of enthusiastic young runners (and even more enthusiastic parents) then obscured the finish line and times became guesswork. Carl Outhwaite and Sadie Potter finished ahead of the trio Jo and Rosie Adams and Katie Roberts who were timed about 27 minutes then Josh Miers, Nick Outhwaite, Becka Ayre and Raegan Shaw all came in, just ahead of Charley and Rosey Purkiss.

The “big one” - the Great North Run, not Brendan Foster - was on Sunday 6th and Paul Kosgei of Kenya finished in a UK all-comers record time of 59:58 with Sonia O’Sullivan winning the Ladies race in 67:19 just 12 seconds behind Paula Radcliffe’s record set last year. A little way behind the Elite event were eight runners from RZH. Club Coach Peter Robinson was coaxed round by Louise Jackson in an impressive 1:37, showing his doctors the results of their knee surgery. Andy Whiteley and Darren Cox were top two their gang-of-three, both finishing inside 1:42. Owena Gurung and Gerry Atkinson ran the first 4 miles together before Owena speeded-up to finish in 1:45 with Gerry happy to finish 2 minutes inside the 2 hour mark in his 59th year. The Reverends Ann Chapman and Bill Simms also ran most of the race together but were eventually separated by the thousands on the John Reid Road. Ann finished in 2:07 and Bill in 2:12, suggesting that Ann’s prowess as a schools hurdler, not being *!?*teen years younger, had given her the edge. This result meant that Bill retained the Shaun Bennett Trophy for being the last Harrier over the line, as Duncan Fothergill, the third of Andy’s gang who clocked 2:15, hasn’t paid his Subs!