Race Report by James Fishburn
On Sunday the old race course at Richmond hosted the final cross-country event in the NYSD series. BMHH were well represented across a number of junior races and the senior men’s race.
In contrast to unseasonably sunny and warm weather in Billingham, Richmond was windy, cold and overcast. Coupling the weather with a course that consisted of half lap of climbing and half a lap of descending this made for a difficult pure cross-country event.
Liam Aldridge again provided the stand out performance in senior men’s race finishing 4th overall. This should be enough to seal 3rd place overall in the series – a fantastic achievement considering the level of competition at all of the events. Liam has come a long way from rocking up at the old club 3 years ago in his massive bobble hat – well done on a tremendous performance across the season.
The rest of the BMHH men worked hard to back up Liam’s performance finishing 4th placed team. Darren Smith finished strongly in 23rd overall, one of his best performances in the BMHH vest, he was followed by James Fishburn in 24th trying to cling on to his coat tails. Chris Jefferies continued his 2019 return to form as 4th counter for the team finishing in 34th. Andy Love has suffered with illness over the last couple of weeks, but he started the long journey back to fitness with a 45th place finish. The counters were rounded off by Gary Dack who celebrated his oldest son’s wedding on Friday with a 48th place finish.
The other finishers in the men’s senior race were Mark Bown 58th, Michael Scott in 91st, Calvin Nicholson in 95th and Mark Scott in 105th. This was a superb showing in the final event of the season where we have seen sparse numbers in the past as enthusiasm in cross country slows – it feels like we have built up a passion for the events again this year.
The under 15 boys team had a superb showing with Rohan Teasdale finishing 4th in their race followed in by Ben Hodgson in 5th and Nathan Nicholson in 6th. This was enough to secure second placed team only beaten by an exceptionally strong Richmond team on home turf.
Fraser Allan finished an impressive 3rd in the under 13 boys followed in by Kian Wallinger in 12th. In the under 13 girls Emily Hodgson came home in 20th. Amy Dixon finished 18th in the under 11 girls. In the under 11’s boys James Allan finished 12th and James Dixon finished 18th. I apologise if I have missed anyone out of the report and for my senior men bias, it’s easier to focus on what you know. Good luck to everyone who has registered for next week’s National Cross-Country Championships at Harewood House Leeds and I hope that people can make it to the NYSD Road Relays at South Park Darlington on 10th March where the season’s awards for NYSD XC will be presented.
Photos by Karen Harland – https://bit.ly/2GVJ9vB
Photos by David Aspin – https://bit.ly/2BFnMec
Click HERE for Full Race Results
