West Yorkshire XC league – race 3 report

Posted: November 27, 2021

Last Sunday (21^st November) the Harriers were out in force at the third race in the West Yorkshire Cross Country League, hosted by Wakefield AC at Thornes Park. It was a very chilly day, but the course was probably the driest it’s been for many years, making for some fast running.

The U11s dominated and their efforts paid off, with the teams winning both the boys’ and girls’ races for the first time in the series. First off were the U11 boys, with Henry McFarlane leading the team home in an impressive 7^th place. He was supported by Alex Haigh in 10^th and Bobby Morris in 11^th for the team to beat Keighley & Craven by just two points. Isaac Morris finished in 20^th and Ewan Plumb in 29^th.

Next up, the U11 girls won the team event to add to their win in race 1. It was a very close call, finishing just one point ahead of Bingley, showing that every place counts! Annabelle McFarlane had another great run in 5^th with support from Bethan Morris in 18^th and Jessica Hill in 19^th.

The amber vests were very well represented with another three runners; Saskia Wright 22^nd, Lily Mae Hamilton 38^th and Heather Eastwood 39^th

Unfortunately there were no club representatives in either the U13 Girls’ races. However in the U13 boys, Alex Burke finished an excellent 4^th place, matching his performance in the previous race, and with support from Ollie Joyce in 31^st and Joey McLaughlan in 34^ththe boys were 5^th team.

Emily Wood ran well in 31st in the U13 Girls race and Sophie Mayes was close behind in 37th. In the U15 Boys we were just short of completing a team, but a strong performance from Jack Sunderland in 17^th, with Harry Gilligan 31^st, in a busy field of 42 runners.

There were two outstanding performances in the U17 races with Joe Minchella 6^th in the men and Annie Mclean 5^th in the girls. Unfortunately neither were supported for a team.

Next up was the Senior and Under 20 women, racing over a 5750m, 3-lap course. The race was dominated at the front by Katy Wood of City of York who won by a huge 49 second margin. The pack behind battled between them and Lucy Byram had a fantastic race and sprinted it out at the end to secure 2^nd place, with the same time of 20:47 awarded to the 3^rd place athlete. Julia Jagger, who is running very well of late, put in a strong performance to finish 5^th & 1^st V35 (20:57). They were backed up by Helen Haigh in 15^th & 1^st V45 (22:12) and a really strong performance from Helena Croft in 16^th (22:21) to give the team their first win of the series ahead of York Knavesmire. Claire Leaver-Hewitt ran well in 18^th & 1^st V40 (22:38) with Olivia Dyson 34^th (23:57).

With a few injuries the Holmfirth men were somewhat depleted and were unable to finish a team in the 10km race, but good performances from Damian McQueen in 70^th (38:52), Adam Sunderland 96^th (41:50), David Williams 110^th & 2^nd V60 (42:50), Kevin Yewlett 128^th & 1^st V65 (47:18) and Jason Haigh 130^th (47:41).

The final race of the series takes place at Oulton Park in Leeds on Sunday 12^th December.

Photos of the event can be found here;