English Schools X-C Championships Mote Park - Maidstone - Kent 13th March 2004

Looking at the photographs in Athletics Weekly, there were no T-shirts under vests, there were shadows and there were clean legs at the finish - a sure sign that the weather was good in Maidstone and the parkland course held-up under the hundreds of pairs of spikes. Working upwards from the younger age groups: Douglas Roberts was one of 320 competing in the Junior Boy’s race over 4.2K, he was 6th counter in 239th place and team finished 21st; there were 330 runners in the Junior Girl’s race over 3.2K and the North Yorkshire team finished 10th; there were 325 runners in the Intermediate Boy’s race and Philip Fitzpatrick finished the 5.2K course as 5th counter in 161st place and the NY team finished 27th Jessie Roberts and Leah Jackson both ran for North Yorkshire in the Intermediate Girls, placing 3rd counter in 124th place and 7th counter in 299th place respectively and the team was also 27th; Nick Zissler competed in the Senior Boy’s race over 6.7K and was 4th counter in 110th place for the Co Durham team that finished 17th.

Dentdale Run 13th March 2004

The Dentdale Run from Dent Village also enjoyed good weather, better than last year when the heavy rain conspired to turn part of the route into a watercourse. Numbers were down on previous years, due to the organisers failing to notify the running magazines of the date, but 276 finishers from all over the country speaks volumes for race popularity and loyalty. Steve Littler of Wesham Road Runners won for the second year running in 1:18:52 and Bridget Coomber of Denby Dale Travellers was first woman in a time of 1:33:48. Colin Sewell was first Harrier home in 86th place clocking 1:48:52, exactly 30 minutes behind the winner and almost 7 minutes slower than last year - a time that cemented his decision not to accept the golden noose (a charity place) to compete in the London Marathon. Neil Piper’s time was also well down on his best but his 227th place in 2:11:07 was still 49 places and more than 35 minutes ahead of the last man.

Redcar Half Marathon 14th March 2004

Sunday’s Redcar Half Marathon included the N E Counties Championships and entries were taken on the day, which all helped boost the number on start line close to the thousand mark. The day was fine and dry but the wind off the North Sea was enormous. In the absence of Stephen Hepples, ex-Loftus runner, Terry Wall of Morpeth Harriers was a clear favourite and ran away from the field to “take the money” with a creditable time of 1:09:12. Ken Harker the first of five runners from RZH, is more at home on the track over 800m and 1500m; he made an unusual decision to run but found it heavy-going and opted to settle-in for “a long run with company”, finishing 41st in 1:22:48. The remaining four runners were all using the race to test their London Marathon preparations and were all happy with their efforts. Mike Brooks toughed-it-out to finish 64th overall (5th MVO50 & 2nd MVO55) in 1:25:18; Tony Hewson looked at the clock and sprinted to the line to finish in 1:30 exactly and his 117th position gave the Club 222 points to place 16th team. Sarah Gregory was looking to improve on her 1:37:37 PB but the wind blew her chances away so she ignored the pace notes on her wrist and ran a comfortable 1:43:03 for 337th overall and 13th Senior Woman. The last Harrier (but never least) was Grete Buck who finished 3rd LVO60 in 670th place in 2:03:09, 152 places and more than 46 minutes in front of the last finisher and more importantly, six and a half minutes better than the Brass Monkey result - which, with another five weeks before the big day, is enough training time left to think about a sub 4 marathon clocking!