Schools Cross Country Cup Final - Shropshire 4th December 2004

When asked what Oswestry, Liverpool and Thirsk have in common, not a lot of people might answer Richmond and Zetland Harriers, but the Club had runners in cross-country competition across the country.

The English Schools' Athletic Association was established in 1925 and is dedicated to promoting the enjoyment of athletics in schools, to enhancing the moral and physical welfare of children by providing the right environment where hidden talent can be discovered and visible talent can be encouraged - just ask Paula Radcliffe! It achieves its aim by organising some of this country's premier events, like the Schools Cross Country Cup - a competition for school teams. All schools in England may enter a team in any or all age groups and the competition starts with local district events between ten to twenty schools. The leading teams in each district then compete in regional finals and the top three teams from each region then compete in the Cup Final. The Final was hosted this year by Oswestry School and The Marches School in Shropshire on Saturday 4th, with a challenging course set between the two schools. The Intermediate Boys from Northallerton College won their first round fixture and were third in the regional final and, led by Josh Miers, qualified to make the trip. The weather was quite pleasant for December with just a very slight occasional drizzle, around 9 degrees centigrade, with very little wind. Josh had a fair race and finished 81 seconds behind the winner in 29th place, first counter for the school who were 22nd team.

Reebok Cross Challenge Series, Sefton Park, Liverpool - 4th December 2004

The fourth race in the Reebok Cross Challenge Series, at Sefton Park, Liverpool, was also on Saturday 4th and Edd Richards chose to compete against some of the best Under 20 Men in the country. The 5K course was described by the City Council as “picturesque”; Edd views on the course (and cross-country running in general) were a little different. He was rewarded with a 30th place finish, just a little more than 2 minutes behind the winner, Kelvin Hardy of Ipswich.

Veterans Dave Robertson and Tom Doughty of Sunderland H&AC finished first and second in the Elswick Harriers/Norman Woodcock Memorial 6 mile Road Race at High Gosforth Park, Newcastle-upon-Tyne on the same day, and Sue Milburn, running for Chester-le-Street, took the Women’s prize.

NYSD Cross Country Thirsk - 5th December 2004

On Sunday 5th, 35 Harriers competed in the third NYSD X-C fixture at Thirsk Racecourse and did the Club proud - they had teams in six out of seven events, won both Women’s and Men’s races and have closed the points gap in the chase for the President’s Trophy. Number one honours individually go to Rachel Ross Russell who scored a triple first in the Women’s race, beating former champion Bernadette Taylor, first Vet and leading the team home. Close on her heels was Jessie Roberts with a double first; first team member plus first Under 17 Woman and, with three wins out of three, she leads her individual category. The third success on the day went to Mike Brooks who was first M50, led the unofficial M50 team to victory and heads his individual category with again, three wins out of three. But the results show a great team effort on the day when everybody played their part: three teams had only three runners and another only four so their last places were just as important as their firsts when calculating points - an early Christmas present, well done team!

RZH results: Under 13 Boys - 11th Rory Wadsworth; Under 13 Girls - 17th Jade Wrest, 18th Naomi Moks & 24th Hannah Terry, 6th team; Under 15 Boys - 3rd Josh Miers, 4th Doug Roberts & 19th Adam Scott, 3rd team; Under 15 Girls - 18th Rosie Adams, 25th Katie Roberts, 32nd Jane Thornton & 34th Jo Adams, 6th team; Under 17 Men - 9th Chris Archer, 12th James Brownfield-Pope & 13th Chris Andrade, 3rd team; Under 17/Under 20/Senior & Veteran Women - 1st (& 1st W35) Rachel Ross Russell, 7th (& 1st U17) Jessie Roberts, 9th Philippa Abrahams, 18th Fiona Hughes, 30th (& 4th U20) Erica Moks & 52nd Jenny Fenwick, 1st team; Under 20/Senior & Veteran Men - 3rd Rich Hunt, 5th Ken Harker, 11th (& 2nd U20) Nick Zissler, 13th (& 2nd M40) Jon Orange, 14th Scott Wardman, 27th Ian Scott, 41st Paul Roberts, 48th Shaun Purkiss, 56th Taff Rogers, 61st (& 1st M50) Mike Brooks, 68th Tony Hewson, 70th Chris Lamb, 72nd (& 2nd M50) Colin Sewell, 92nd Paul Zissler & 127th Neil Piper, 1st team.