For the final North East Harrier League XC fixture of the winter season, held around the picturesque surroundings of Alnwick Castle, Michael Grimes, a former Durham University student, travelled up from his home in Leeds where he is now studying for a Masters to test his current level of fitness over the country. As it turned out he more or less led the large field of runners from start to finish and went on to win in fine style by 54 secs. It was Michael’s first run in the Harrier League since 2012 and he was obviously thrilled at pulling off a fine victory in the Senior & Veteran Men’s Race. The in-form veteran runner Joasia Zakrzewski also had a very good run finishing 4th overall and recording the 2nd fastest time in the Senior & Veteran Women’s Race, whilst Erin Keeler- Clarke again ran very well, finishing 4th in the u/13 Girls Race recording the 3rd fastest time. Full results of the City Harriers showing actual times were as follows:
u/17 Boys 7km Handicap: 9th Luke Pickering 26.35, 12th Ryan Watson 27.09, 15th
Ben Horsfield 27.37, the 3 counters, finished 2nd Team with 36 points, backing up were 18th Michael Wade 28.09, 19th Jacob Stephenson 28.19, 24th Jack Prowse 32.31.
u/13 Boys 3.5km Handicap: 7th Thomas Wraith 13.06, 14th Joshua Wraith 13.33, 19th Samuel Terry 15.22, the 3 counters, finished 3rd Team, backing up were 30th Callum Wilkinson 15.45, 34th Thomas Hambleton 15.54, 49th Oliver Stephenson 15.19.
u/15 Boys 3.5km Handicap: 9th Cameron Thomas 12.26, 10th Sam Gibson 12.29, 24th Izaak Taylor 13.13, the 3 counters, finished 4th Team with 43 points, backing up was 36th Alfie Forbes 13.46.
u/17 Girls & u/20 Women 4.3km Handicap: 6th Charlotte Kenyon u/20 19.03, 13th
Bridget Bradshaw u/17 19.47, 20th Alice Hopper u/20 20.37, the 3 counters, finished 4th Team with 39 points, backing up was 34th Alexandra Ingram u/20 29.49.
u/13 Girls 3.5km Handicap: 4th Erin Keeler- Clarke 13.54 (3rd fastest), 29th Olivia
Fawcett 17.11, 45th Holly Cook 16.21 , the counters, finished 6th Team with 78 points.
u/15 Girls 3.5km Handicap: 33rd Lucy Walker 17.20, 34th Laura Hopper 19.07,
36th Jenny Grehan- Bradley 19.25, the counters, finished 8th Team with 103 points.
Senior/Veteran Men 10.5k Handicap: 1st Michael Grimes 37.43, (5th fastest time),
35th Rob Eaton 39.08, 75th Rob Everson 40.24, 133rd Jorge Benet 41.24, 135th Paul
Delaney (v/50) 46.26, 156th Steve Everett (v/55) 41.54, the 6 counters, the Team were 8th. Others to finish were 158th Peter Harrison (v/40) 44.28, 257th Dave King (v/50) 46.36, 269th Simon Pickering (v/45) 49.21, 340th Mike Kenton (v/45) 51.55, 364th Tony McNeill (v/50) 52.46, 401st Geoff Watson (v/40) 55.08, 411th Ken Bradshaw (v/55) 55.45, 444th Bob Hewitson (v/55) 58.05.
Senior/Veteran Women 7km Handicap: 4th Joasia Zakrzewski (v/40) 28.04 (2nd
fastest time), 42nd Kirstin Farquhar (v/45) 32.45, 132nd Sarah Cook (v/40) 36.10, 155th Sam Newington (v/40) 37.14, the 4 counters, the Team were 10th. Veteran Brian Brown (v/70) finished 237th in 40.46 (n/c).
u/11 Girls 1.2km : 3rd Freya Gibson 4.48, 31st Jessica Pearl 5.37, 38th Evie Pearl
5.48, 55th Esme Wraith 6.18, 60th Isabell Maddison 6.31, 61st Meera Young 6.3
u/11 Boys 1.2km: Ben Coffer 4.51, 32nd Lewis Littlewood 5.17, 38th William Terry
5.25, 39th Sam Mason 5.26, 66th William Cook 5.55.