The Camp Hill Estate, Kirklington
On Saturday 25 January 2020 twenty-nine members of Holmfirth Harriers took part in the North of England Cross Country Championships at a new venue in North Yorkshire, The Camp Hill Estate, Kirklington.
The Under 17 Women’s race got proceedings underway at 11am, where three Holmfirth athletes tackled the 4.7km course comprising of a small lap and a medium lap. Olivia Dyson had a great run finishing in 24th place in a time of 19.06, supported by Lydia Throssell 76th (21.11) and Mollie Scaramuzza 99th (22.32). The winner of the race was Lara Crawford of Sale Harriers Manchester (17.45), 2nd place went to Esther Rowe-Towle City of Sheffield and Dearne (17.56) and 3rd place to Alice Jones of Wharfedale Harriers (17.57).
In the Under 13 boys race Holmfirth had six boys in action racing over two small laps a distance of 3.08kms. Jamie Stewart, Declan Levay and Jack Sunderland ran well together finishing in the top third of a field. Jamie finished 51st (10.24), Declan 56th (10.25) and Jack 63rd (10.28). Harry Gilligan was the fourth team counter 152nd (11.40) and brother, Alexander 186th (16.30). The team finished 12th team out of 21 complete teams.
The Under 15 girls’ race featured the Holmfirth gold team medallists at the Yorkshire Championships. Again there were six girls in action racing over three small laps a distance of 4.6km. Imogen Wolff and Isabel Richardson ran together during the first two laps, before Imogen moved into the top ten and finished a superb 8th place in 15.23, behind race winner Grace Roberts of Vale Royal (14.47). Isabel struggled a little on the final lap but ran well for 15th place (15.38). Elena Inch had kept the girls in sight throughout the race and was rewarded with 61st place in 16.40 and Annie McLean had another good run finishing 78th (17.00) securing bronze team medals behind Vale Royal and Sale Harriers Manchester a magnificent achievement in such a big field where there were 18 complete teams. Elizabeth Gilligan finished 174th (21.10) and Lauren Hirst 176th (21.18) giving invaluable support to their teammates.
The Senior Women raced over a distance of 8kms (one medium lap and one large lap). The longer laps incorporated some challenging conditions with quite a few muddy patches, which were energy sapping. Katie Walshaw lead the Holmfirth women and finished a well-deserved 11th place (30.37), with Ruby Sykes having another good in 26th place (31.53) closely followed by Erica Byram 29th (31.58) and twin sister Laura Byram returning from injury finished 50th (33.24) giving the team 4th place behind Leeds City, Sale Harriers Manchester and Ribble Valley Harriers, an excellent result out of 39 complete teams. Jess Judd of Blackburn won the race in 28.48, triathlete Georgia Taylor-Brown (Sale Harriers) was 2nd in 29.13 and Mhairi Maclennan of Preston Harriers took the bronze medal in 29.21.
The final race of the day for senior men was a distance of 12.6km (one medium lap and two large laps) with around 600 men starting the race. Callum Johnson of Gateshead Harriers was the winner in 41.41, Joe Steward (East Cheshire Harriers) finished 2nd in 41.57 and Linton Taylor of Leeds City was 3rd in 41.58. Chris Law had a super run finishing 13th place (43.50), Lewis Byram was next home in 46th place (45.48), Kai Sunman put in another good performance finishing 69th (47.04), Joe Law ran well for 105th (48.24), Sam O’Shea 190th 51.51, followed by the older team members Steve Berridge with a good run 298th (55.51), Chris Beadle 332nd (56.46) and Damian McQueen 364th (58.25). The Senior Men finished 10th team out of 53 teams.
