RELAY GOOD RICHMOND 20/2/18
Relay Good Richmond
This week was the final week of cross countries for the season which was held at the home and revered venue of the Old Racecourse at Richmond added to that the were the Signals relays for the North East held at Hetton le Hole which Richmond had a guest invite and a few parkruns throughout the local area.
The Signals relays are the premier relay races for the North East area with teams of the standing, history and size of Morpeth Harriers, Jarrow and Hebburn, New Marske, Gateshead and Sunderland. It is always going to be an ask for Richmond and Zetland to compete with these mega clubs compared to what in real terms is a relatively small but richly talented club at all levels. Richmond travelled with three high quality teams - 2 mens, a veteran 40 team and the other a senior but very young team and of course our ladies team. The course constitutes 2 laps of the lake at Hetton producing a course of 2.2 miles.
The ladies were first off and were led off by the ever dependable but rapid Jo Adams on leg one. Jo brought the ladies back in 1st position (12:43) to hand over to Shona Fletcher on leg 2, Shona (12:42) handed to Donna Riddler still in 1st position. Donna had to contend with 2 of Jarrow and Morpeth's quicker runners but was able to hold onto 2nd spot (14:12) to hand onto the last leg run by Rosie Adams who had the pressure of being attacked by teams trying to take a podium position. Rosie (14:10) again had a valiant run but was unfortunately just passed by Morpeth to bring the team home in a fantastic 3rd place overall.
The senior men's team and the Vet 40 both ran over the same distance with the men's team finishing in a very respectful 9th overall. Rob Scott (11:22) led the line handing over to Reece Dalton in 9th, Reece attacked the course picking up a place in 8th (11:19) and passed over to Scott Wardman who again picked up another place (12:03) handing to Luke Hack in 7th. Luke also had a good run to take another place into 6th (12:07) and he handed onto Josh Lincoln who handed over the baton for the last leg in 8th (12:29), which was brought home by a very good run from the relay rookie Ian Christon (13:09).
The veterans 40 team ran with the senior team. Another outstanding result was produced by this squad of athletes to finish in 2nd in the Veteran 40 category. Carl Jones blasted of on the first leg (11:41), he was followed by the ever dependable Tony Lambert on the 2nd leg (12:15), a quick run on leg 3, gave on leg 4 Dave Hack a great position (12:36), mr consistency Ken Harker took over on leg 5 (13:04) and the last leg was completed by Nick Mason returning to Richmond colours (13:50).
Ollie Middleton was again our first runner out on the cross country course in the U11 boys and another assured run placed him in 14th position. Olivia Briggs also had a good run in the same age group again finishing in 14th place. In the U13 boys race there were very good runs from Tom O’Mahoney in 2nd, followed by Joe Reeve in 3rd and Josh Hammett in 4th, giving them the boys team win. Alana Teasdale was the 1st Richmond runner home in 5th and she was followed by Shannon Robinson in 12th and Maisy Squires in 14th giving the girls 3rd in the U13 team. The U15 boys race was again won by another impressive run from Kyle Rabjohn, he was then followed by excellent performances from Daniel Francis in 4th, Charlie Stephenson in 5th and George McCowie in 14th giving them the team win for this age group. Emily Francis was our only representative in the U15 girls and finished in a decent 7th. The U17 boys had Jake Stephenson return to form and take the win, with Matthew Lambert again performing well in 4th and Sam Kettlewell in a decent 8th and another team win.
Jo Adams stormed to a comfortable win in the senior ladies race and she was followed home with another good performance by sister Rosie in 6th (2nd senior), Rebecca Simpson was 10th and the 2nd V40, Chloe Dalton ran well for 14th and the 2nd U17, she had Laura Kirkham hot on her heels in 15th and the 3rd U20 runner, the ever consistent Jacqueline Keavney was 18th and the 2nd V50, Stephanie Stephenson was 21st and the 3rd V45 runner, the returning Sarah Gregory was 31st and the 4th V45, Pauline Whittaker was 39th and the 4th V50 and Nicki Buckett was 57th and the 12th V45. These results gave the ladies a very good 2nd in the team race.
Home advantage also played a part in the senior men's race with Rob Scott taking the win just ahead of Reece Dalton in 2nd and the 1st U20, Carl Jones in an excellent 5th and the top V40, no far away was Tony Lambert in 8th and the 1st V45, Luke Hack liked the course in 12th and the 3rd U20, Ken Harker put in a good shift in 21st and the 3rd V45, Harry Robson was just behind in 22nd and the 4th U20, Julian Simpson was 47th, Mark Crawford returned south for the winter run in 48th, Anthony Jefford was 77th, Shaun Purkiss was 88th and Ryan Greer in 131st. These superb results gave the mens team a very comfortable win overall.
At Catterick parkrun Ryan Greer was 37th (24:18) and Karen Greer in 101st (30:32). Ian Hepworth was the first Richmond Harrier in 91st (25:10) and Nicki Buckett was the 2nd in 141st (27:07) at Darlington parkrun.
Further information on the club and training nights can be found on the website www.richmondzetlandharriers.co.uk
1181 – Oliie Middleton and Olivia Briggs at the start of the U11 race (Richmond Cross Country)