Young Athletes League - Chester le Street 1st August 2004

On Sunday 1st, the younger athletes from Richmond and Zetland Harriers completed their T&F League season with fixture 5 of the YAL at the Riverside Stadium, Chester-le-Street. The match results are still “in the pipeline” but relegation to Division 2 became a certainty when there weren’t enough athletes for relay teams - despite fine individual performances all round and great support from Management and Officials.

Darlington Road Races 8th August 2004

There were only two Harriers in the Sherwood’s sponsored Darlington Road Races on Sunday 8th and both had mixed fortunes. Phil Fitzpatrick ran in the Junior 3.5K race: last year he won the race and set a course record of 11:50; this year, he shaved 10seconds off his time but finished 2nd to a much-improved Khalil Thompson of Shildon. Mike Brooks ran in the Senior 10K race and only just squeezed inside the 40 minute mark, finishing 4th M55, in 68th place overall from 827 finishers, with a time of 39:52 - 10 places and 80 seconds worse than his performance in the monsoon of 2003. The quality at the sharp end, particularly from veteran runners, was shown when Steve White of Elswick, who trains with the Harriers at Catterick when caravanning in The Dales, was only 3rd M55 - despite running 37:47 and finishing in 36th place overall.

NYSD Track and Field Darlington - 10th August 2004

The sixth and last of this year’s NYSD T&F League fixtures was on Tuesday 10th and sixteen Harriers turned-up at Eastbourne Sports Complex, Darlington on an evening “fit for the ducks!” Despite the rain and the puddles on the track, the Club had six winners: two girls, Brogan Fraser and Sophie Broadway, won their sprints; another two, Jo Adams and Louise Jackson won their 800m races; Scott Wardman won his 800m race and Fiona Hughes won the shot. There was also a great debut from Tom Bunn - 2nd in his 200m by just 0.6 second and then 5th in the 800m, 11 seconds behind a very impressive Chris Gaffney of Newton Aycliffe, whose front-running performance earned him the Athlete-of-the-Match Award.

Richmond's NYSD Team

RZH results: U13G - Lily Cuthbert 800m 3:00.7; Brogan Fraser 200m 30.0 & long jump 3m02; U13B - Tom Bunn 200m 29.7 & 800m 2:40.5; Tom Osborn 200m 23.3, 800m 2:39.3 & high jump 1m10; U15G - Jo Adams 800m 2:33.5; Rosie Adams 800m 2:40.3; Sophie Broadway 200m 27.6; Leanne Shaw 200m 29.8 & long jump 4m12; U17M - Sean Osborn 200m 24.7; Simon Robson 800m 2:10.5; J/S/VW - Fiona Hughes SW 200m 32.8, long jump 3m44 & shot 4m79; Louise Jackson SW 800m 2:23.5; J/S/VM - Ken Harker SM 800m 2:03.5; Chris Peacock VM 800m 2:14.3; Edd Richards JM 800m 2:06.5 and Scott Wardman SM 2:00.2.

On the night, the Females won the fixture with 74 points, ahead of Billingham Marsh House, Darlington and M&C, and leapfrogged M&C to finish runners-up to Billingham. The Males could only muster 40 points and finished 4th on the night and 4th overall, behind BMH, M&C and Darlington, and the final figures gave BMH all three Trophies.

Aukland Castle 10K - 15th August 2004

Despite only 643 finishers, the Auckland Castle 10K Road Race on Sunday 15th was an even-better-quality race as it included both the AAAs Championship and an Inter-Counties race and had a budget that included for several big names from around the world, as well as from up and down the UK. The crowds who came out to watch were thrilled as the race unfolded with three Kenyans and an Ethiopian in contention until the 7K mark when 18-year old Ernest Kimeli of Kenya made his move and went on to win in 28:56, the fastest time in Britain this year. A little way behind, Army triathlete Richard Hunt made his debut for the Harriers, finishing in 34:38 for 59th place, closely followed by Rachel Ross Russell (running for Notts AC but training with the Harriers since her move to Northallerton), just outside her PB in 36:52, 8th female and 81st overall. Ed Devlin made a rare appearance, his first foray on the roads locally for more than a year and, finishing 113th in 38:52, was more than a minute faster than his last outing - relegating Mike Brooks to third man home, even though his 39:08 for 118th place was 44 seconds faster than at Darlington. Sarah Gregory made the top half but was not happy with either her time of 47:36 or her 318th place - but comments that she will swap running for hammer throwing are “wide of the mark”.