National Cross Country Championships 22nd February 2003

If the Inter-Counties is considered the best Cross-Country Championships in the UK then the Nationals are a very close second. They are certainly the biggest, attracting the best of the English Clubs plus guests from the Celtic nations and abroad, in nine quality races. This year’s fixture was staged at Parliament Hill Fields and eleven members of Richmond and Zetland Harriers made the journey.

Andrea Woodvine was first to compete, in the combined under 17/under 20 (Junior) Ladies race and was the best-placed Harrier on the day, finishing in 15th place. Andrea’s time of 22:12 for the muddy 6K course was only a shade over two minutes behind winner Louise Damen and runner-up Aine Hoban, both selected for the World X-C Championships, and is testimony to her hard work in training at Nottingham University.

Nick Zissler continued on his long road to competitive fitness with a run-out in the under 17 Boys race. With competition from two of his local rivals, Lewis Moses of Newton Aycliffe and Matthew Lomax of Shildon, this was always a case of getting round the 6K course without aggravating last year’s knee injury. Nick finished in 96th place, three and a half minutes behind the winner, and in one piece.

Jessie Roberts lined-up in the under 15 Girls race alongside several girls she knew from the NYSD League, from Nestle Rowntree, from Scarborough and Shildon and then showed them a clean pair of heels - proverbially not literally as the going was getting muddier with each race. Jessie and Emma Macalister-Hall of Rowntrees were together in the middle twenties at the ditch, approximately half way around their 4K course, but Jessie had another gear and moved through the field to finish 16th - just 69 seconds behind the winner and fulfilling her promise to make the top twenty.

Douglas Roberts was the fourth Harrier to toe the line in the first-ever under 13 Boys race at the Nationals as the organisers accepted the wishes of Clubs and brought the fixture into line with the County and Regional Championships. This was the biggest field he had ever faced but he needed no more motivation than the twin incentives of matching his elder sister’s performance and putting down a future marker for younger brother Fergus. Douglas just missed his first mark, finishing 40th and 76 seconds down on the winner but has given Fergus a real target when he is old enough to compete.

Jon Orange - Senior Men's Race

Louise Jackson was similarly unfazed by the field in the Senior Ladies race, 400 runners which included Hayley Yelling of Windsor, undefeated all winter and runaway winner on the day. Louise was in the thick of the kamikaze charge up the starting hill alongside her friend and rival Maxine Czarnecka of Scarborough but both girls are first-year Seniors and paid for their impetuous starts. 8K is a long way on a course churned-up by seven previous races and they slowed a little on the second lap; Louise finished 58th and Maxine another 30 places back. A little further down the field was Kirsty Dodds, ex Richmond schoolgirl now living in London and competing for Ealing & Southall, finishing in 134th place.

Mike Brooks - Senior Men's Race

The last race of the day saw 1300 Senior Men in lines up to nine deep in pens stretching all along the length of a football field. Although this number was down on previous years and there were several big names missing, nothing could detract from the spectacle of watching this myriad of Club colours nor the rush of competing in such a race. The Harriers had a team of six and Jon Orange responded to the team leader’s role and his new sponsorship from Peacocks of Richmond with a superb 75th place finish. Jon’s time of 45:43 for 12K was less than four minutes behind the eventual winner Matt Smith of Tipton and although he joined the Veteran ranks last December and was giving away twelve years, he showed his marathon aims are on target. Behind him, Ken Harker also had a great race - he’s an 800m/1500m track runner not a mudlark, so 218th place in 49:16 was fair moving. Shaun Purkiss was third counter for the Club in 453rd place, Paul Roberts 585th, Mike Brooks 783rd and Jim Robinson 830th. Leeds City AC won the team race, their 6 in 41 scoring 181 points, ahead of Morpeth Harriers 206 points from 6 in 64: RZH scored 2944 points for 51st place out of more than 100 Clubs who finished complete teams.