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Fixtures here

REPORTS
Hartlepool 7th October 2007
Barnard Castle 21st October 2007
Flatts Lane Eston 4th November 2007
Thirsk - 18th November 2007
Yorkshire Championships - 6th January 2008
Whitby 13th Jan 2008
Inter-Counties Acklam Feb 2008
NYSD Richmond 2008

Inter Counties XC Championships - Nottingham

Representing Yorkshire at the annual Inter Counties event at Nottingham we had three of the younger club members, two of them,  Lewis Rodgers and Dani Braithwaite were making their debuts for Yorkshire and Megan Ellis was running in the U17 Women’s event for the second consecutive year.
Lewis was in the U20 race and he was pleased that this was the first event of the day.  With a field of over 200 athletes he had a great race to finish in 63rd place and well justified his selection.
Dani was competing in the U13 girl’s race. The start position in these races is based on the finishing position at the County Championships, and this meant that Dani was on the seventh row. Knowing the importance of a good start, after the first 400m she was in the middle of the field of 300 runners.  At mid point she had moved up to 23rd place with a larger group breathing down her neck.  The earlier exertion took its toll a little and she went back to 30th but a strong finish saw her move up to 27th place and she was also the first Yorkshire counter.
Megan Ellis had to miss the School’s event due to illness so she was unsure how she would perform.  In the end she was well pleased to finish in 132nd place and the fourth counter for the County team.

NYSD Richmond 16th March 2008

The last fixture of the 2007/08 season was held at the old racecourse, Richmond, this being a new venue high above the town.  The running surface was perfect for cross country running with the biggest hazard being the cold northerly wind.
Because many of the individual and team trophies had been decided the number of athletes taking part was down on normal.
We had three girls in the U13 race; Shannon Parkin continued her improvement finishing in 6th place, Catherine Urban finished 20th and unfortunately Nicole Hutchinson had to drop out with an injury.
Nathan Parkin had a good first lap in the U15 boy’s race but faded a little on the second lap to finish in 12th place.
The women’s team were looking to consolidate overall 2nd place.  With Angharad Owen 4th, Julie Mastrolonardo 6th, Megan Ellis 7th and Julia Jackson 14th as team counters and Joyce Hutchinson finishing in 15th place, the team were successful in their bid by finishing in 2nd place on the day.
The men’s team required only 1 point to win the title for the third year running. Lewis Rodgers, after his exertion at Nottingham finished in 6th place.  Dan Middlemas and Rob Williamson had competed in a fell race in the morning but to ensure the club had sufficient finishers they doubled up and Dan was next counter in 9th place and Dave Parkin 10th.  The other team counters were Paul Wildmore 18th, Dave Horness 41st and Alan Howard 44th.  Rob was 46th and Jimmy O’Brian 68th and running in their first race of the season Mally Peggs finished 71st and Tony Hare 72nd.  The team finished in 2nd place which gave them the championship.
We also won the U13 girl’s title for the third consecutive season and there were four individual winners; Lewis Rodgers U20, John Hunter V1, Dani Braithwaite U13 and Brenda Hare V3.  There are also numerous individual awards and all the trophies will be presented at the club’s presentation evening on Friday the 25th April at the Bunch of Grapes.

NYSD X/C STOCKTON FEB 10TH 2008

The penultimate meeting was held in spring-like conditions at Blakeston School, Stockton.
Another good performance from the U13 girls saw them win the team event and they now have sufficient points to win the league for the third consecutive year.  Dani Braithwaite led from the gun and increased her lead throughout the race.  The other girls gave her good support with Nicole Hutchinson 8th, Shannon Parkin 9th and Catherine Urban 25th.  Dani also wrapped up the individual title and now goes to the English Schools and Inter Counties with her confidence sky high.
In the U15 boys Samuel Hutchinson had his best race of the season finishing 8th place. 
In the girls U15 race Grace Rodgers and Maddy Winzer from R & Z ran shoulder to shoulder in the front of the race and it was only in the last 500metres that Maddie managed to open a gap.  Grace is now running to her full potential and will be hoping for a good position at Liverpool.
The senior women’s team were rather depleted but they still managed to finish in 3rd place.
Angharad Owen returned to form after injury finishing in 5th place and just behind was Julie Mastrolonardo.  Julia Jackson had her best race of the season finishing 16th and Joyce Hutchinson 19th.
The men once again won the team race but this time they were pushed hard by R & Z and only succeeded by 3 points.  They have a 100% record this season and now just require 1 point to guarantee them the league title for the third year running.
John Hunter sealed his V1 title and had a great run to finish in 3rd place overall.  In 4th place was 17 year old Lewis Rodgers and this fine position secured him the U20 title.  Dan Middlemas in 12th place, Dave Parkin 17th, Andy Pearson 21st and Steve Hardy 34th secured them the victory.
We now have secured 4 individual titles; Dani Braithwaite, Lewis Rodgers, John Hunter and Brenda Hare.  Julie Mastrolonardo still has an outside chance of winning the V1 category with the final race being held at Richmond racecourse, which is a new venue, on the 16th March.

Tony Hare

Intercounties @ Acklam Feb 2008 - continued from Home page

While N.Yorks use the county fixture to select their team Cleveland use this fixture as the selection race. Nathan had just squeezed into the team finishing in 13th place and only the top 8 would be selected for Liverpool. Nathan was very positive from the gun and he had a brilliant run to finish as the 8th county runner to give him a well deserved place.
Earlier sister Shannon ran in the preliminary girls’ race and finished in 10th place and the first Cleveland runner, in the same race Georgina Estill represented N. Yorks and did well to finish in 21st place.
Against strong opposition from Durham and Northumberland Grace Rodgers and Dani Braithwaite showed their class with Grace finishing 2nd and Dani 4th.
They both go to Liverpool full of confidence and looking forward to running against the best runners in the country. 

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Cross Country Whitby 13th January 2008

The Whitby fixture which we host always epitomises what our club is about.  We have a great squad of workers who, unseen to most of the runners, spend a lot of time preparing the course and setting it out.  This year the course was all marked out by 10.30 a.m., only the erection of the new tents tested the team both mentally (!) and physically, especially combined with the strong winds.
Once again our two junior races were very well supported with 36 finishers in the Years 3 & 4 race and 41 in the Years 5 & 6 race. 
We may not have the numbers of some clubs but what we lack in quantity we certainly make up in quality, which the results show.  In the younger age group Zach Estrill just got beat in the sprint finish to place 2nd with Jono Urban 3rd, his brother Michael finishing in 12th place.  The first girl was Maddie Mastrolonardo with Alice Hoggarth in 2nd place.
In the Years 5 & 6 race Shane Hicks and Charley Rodgers showed what fine prospects they both are.  Shane finished 1st with Charley 2nd and 1st girl.
We had 6 girls in the U13 race which Dani Braithwaite dominated from the start to record a decisive victory, Nicole Hutchinson returned to form with 5th place and Shannon Parkin had her first top ten placing with a 9th place.  The other team scoring member was Georgina Estill 11th.  Maria Mastrolonardo was 19th and Catherine Urban 21st.
Grace Rodgers showed what a classy runner she is with 2nd place in the U15 girls and only a sprint finish separated Samuel Hutchinson 11th and Ryan Braithwaite 12th.
The women’s team welcomed Angharad Owen back from injury and she was happy with her run finishing in 5th place, just behind was Nicola Kent 6th, Megan Ellis 10th and Joyce Hutchinson 15th.  Our other runners were Hope Rodgers 16th, Julia Jackson 23rd and Brenda Hare 31st.
The men’s field was smaller than normal but again we were too strong for the other teams.  The team scorers were John Hunter 3rd, Dan Middlemas 5th, Lewis Rodgers 6th, Andy Pearson 14th, Paul Wildmore 21st and Tom Herbert 26th.  The other L & W runners were Ian Brown 32nd, Dave Collett 34th, Steve Hardy 41st, Dave Horness 54th, Alan Bottomley 57th, Stewart Darge 66th and James O’Brian 75th.
In the team events there were victories for the U13 Girls and the Senior Men, the Senior Ladies finishing in 2nd place.
With only two fixtures left the girls have a 16 point lead and are virtually certain of repeating last year’s success.  The men have a 13 point lead after recording their 5th victory and the women trail M & C by 7 points.
In the individual totals Dani Braithwaite currently leads by 4 points as does Grace Rodgers.  Megan Ellis is 2nd U17 Girls and Angharad is currently in 6th place in the seniors. In the V1 category Julie Mastrolonardo is in 3rd place, Joyce Hutchinson 5th and Nicola Kent 6th.  In the V3 Ladies Brenda Hare is assured a victory with her 100% record.
The men are performing equally as well with Lewis Rodgers leading the U20 section; we have 3 runners in the top 10 Senior Men;  Dan Middlemas 5th, Andrew Pearson 8th and Dave Parkin 9th.  John Hunter leads the V1 category and in the V2 category Robert Howard is in 4th place and Dave Horness 5th.  With only five results to count for the individuals only Brenda is guaranteed to retain her title.  The next fixture is at Stockton on Sunday February 10th.

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Yorkshire Championships 2007 - Huddersfield.

Congratulations to Megan Ellis and Dani Braithwaite who gained selection for the county to run in the Inter-Counties at Nottingham in March.
Dani finished in 7th place in the u/13girls and our other finishers were Shannon Parkin 25th and Georgina Estill 33rd, the team finished in 5th place.
Megan finished the u/17 race very strongly to gain automatic selection in 6th place, our other junior runners were Samuel Hutchinson 38th and Nathan Parkin 49th in the u/15 boys race and Grace Rodgers 12th in the girls race.
Lewis Rodgers will have to wait to see if he is selected following his 8th place in the u/20 race, his performance certainly merited his selection.
We only had two seniors competing Julie Mastrolonardo was 42nd and Dave Parkin 76th.

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Cross Country - Thirsk - 18th November 2007

The first three fixtures in the league had been held in spring like conditions with temperatures in the teens and conditions firm underfoot, so this was quite a shock to athletes and spectators. With a temperature of 3 deg and rain falling all afternoon this new course quickly became sticky and slippery.
Undeterred by the weather the senior men turned out a very strong team in both numbers and quality. Alec Duffield led the team challenging Gary Dunn from Thirsk all the way. On two of the previous races Dunn had totally dominated winning each one easily, this time Alec was on his shoulder challenging throughout. On the 3rd lap he had opened a gap of 30m but by lap 4 Alec was within 5m and as they entered the last 400m Alec looked as though he would challenge for the lead but a tumble on one of the bends ended his challenge and he finished in 2nd place about 30m adrift. These two had opened up a considerable lead from the chasing group which included three more L&W runners. John Hunter had to work hard to hold onto 3rd place and he was closely followed by Dan Middlemass 6th and Lewis Rodgers 7th, a bit further back Stephen Mussett, having his first race of the season, finished in 15th place and Dave Parkin after another battle with Andy Pearson was 16th with Andy in 18th. This being the first time that he has not been a scoring member of the team. With a total of 49 points they had a convincing victory over Hartlepool Burn Rd.
The ladies team were again understrength, the conditions and the seemingly long course seemed to have an effect on their finishing positions. First home was Julie Mastrolonardo in 12th place, Megan Ellis after a bout of sickness was just behind in 13th, Julia Jackson in her first race of the season was 24th with Joyce Hutchinson who struggled in the conditions 28th. Hope Rodgers after playing hockey in the morning finished 31st with Brenda Hare 33rd. The team had a score of 77 points which put them in 3rd place.
In the U11 race Shain Hicks led from gun to tape and there were good runs by both Michael and Johno Urban.
We had a team of five for the U13 girls but Dani Braithwaite who had previously left her breakfast beside the A19 looked very pale as she stood on the start line.  Nicole Hutchinson had also been suffering injury during the week but the team are building good camaraderie.  Dani lost her 100% record to finish in second place; Nicole 8th, Georgina Estill 9th and Shannon Parkin 11th were the team scorers with Catherine Urban in 20th place.  With a score of 30 points they were convincing winners.
Grace Rodgers was our only girl in the U15 but she continued to improve her position this time finishing in second place.
In the boys race Samuel Hutchinson was 12th and Nathan Parkin continued to improve finishing in 18th place.
I haven’t seen the accumulative team and individual positions yet but by my reckoning the U13 girls now lead by 8 points from R & Z.  The women are now in 2nd place, 3 points behind M & C., but the men have a healthy lead of 10points over R&Z.
There is now a break until New Year when the next fixture will be at Whitby on the 13th Jan.
On Sat 5th Jan the Yorkshire counties take place at Huddersfield and as mentioned previously you must enter as individuals.  Forms are on the web site and the club will pay the entry fee to all those who run.
The Northern X/C takes place on Jan 26th at Leeds, the closing date for this is the 17th Dec , I have the forms which have to be sent in by the club, entry fees are £3-00 juniors and £3-50 seniors and U20. I will send off the forms so if you want to run let me know together with the entry fees which again will be refunded to those who run.

Tony Hare  

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Cross Country Flatts lane Eston 4th November 2007

This was a complete new venue for the NYSD league and a very brave decision by New Marske to move away from the traditional school base to a country park. I would think it will have a mixed response from those taking part as parts of it looked very tough and there seemed to be a large portion on stony paths especially for the younger age groups.
On the whole we had a very successful day with two individual victories and team success in the u/13 girls and the senior men. Unfortunately the women’s team were much depleted through sickness but the three who ran responded brilliantly and were able to secure 5th place.
The first race for the U11 was very well attended with over 40 taking part and our own TV star Shane Hicks had a lead of over 20 secs as he finished the 1km race.  In the chasing group Charley Rodgers had a very good run to finish in 5th place overall, 2nd girl.  A bit further back Johno and Michael Urban had their own family battle with Michael finishing 32nd and Johno 38th.
We had two runners in the U13 boys with Jack Bowman making his debut and he did very well to finish in 16th place with Jack Cooper just behind in 18th.  This was a very difficult course for his first run but Jack Bowman, who has just turned 11,  showed a lot of potential.
We had a very strong team in the U13 girls with 6 runners and Danni Braithwaite, after a very traumatic week, showed that she is developing into a class athlete with a very decisive victory.  With Nicole Hutchinson 7th, Georgina Estill 14th and Shannon Parkin 18th the team had a score of 40 points which was sufficient to put them into 1st place.  The two non-scoring runners were Catherine Urban 21st and Megan Trowsdale 26th.
Samuel Hutchinson and Grace Rodgers were our only U15 runners and both had competed the previous day for their schools; Samuel finished 15th and Grace, again looking very confident, finishing in 3rd place.
Our club colours were very sparse as the women’s race started; the race distance must have approached the max permissible as the winning time was in excess of 20 minutes.  This suited our three runners.  Nicola Kent, in her first race of the season finished 7th, Joyce Hutchinson 16th and Brenda Hare 28th.  All three did very well to give a finish position of 5th team which was far better than we expected before the race started.
By contrast the men had a very large contingent of runners at the start and with three runners in the first 10 they were always favourites to win for the third consecutive time.  John Hunter led the team home in 5th place; he was closely followed by Dan Middlemas 7th, and Lewis Rodgers, who gets stronger in every race, 8th.  Dave Parkin and Andy Pearson were having their own private battle with Dave just getting the better to finish 17th, Andy 18th.  Paul Wildmore looked very strong on the hills to be 6th counter in 21st place and the hilly course also suited Steve Hardy who was 24th.  Other club positions were Rob Williamson 33rd, Alan Howard 52nd, Ian Rodgers 55th, Dave Horness 66th, Alan Bottomley 73rd, Stuart Darge 76th, Gary Trillo 82nd and Jimmy O’Brian 83rd.
With a total of 74 points the nearest challengers were Richmond and Zetland with 104.  With three victories the men’s team now have a 6 point lead over R & Z but they cannot rest on their laurels as R & Z look capable of mounting a serious challenge to the club retaining the league title for the 3rd year running.
By my reckoning we also have a 5 point lead over New Marske in the U13 girls, the women are now joint top with Middlesbrough and Cleveland on 23 points with R & Z two points further back.
I would like to receive some feedback from the athletes on the course as I am sure there will some discussion at the next planning meeting.
The next fixture is at Thirsk on the 18th November; please note that this course has also changed; it will now be held at the swimming baths and not the racecourse.
Forms are now available for Yorkshire X/C Champs to be held at Huddersfield on the 5th January 2008, we have decided the entries will be completed by the individual runner and the entry fee will be refunded to those who take part.

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Barnard Castle Cross Country 21st October 2007

The club had a very successful day at the 2nd fixture of the NYSD league held on a very good course, well organised and in brilliant sunshine.
We had team victories in both the senior men and the ladies race with a very young u/13 girl’s team finishing in 3rd place.
Jack Cooper had his first race of the season in the u/13 boys and after a good start he faded a little to finish in 17th place.
Due to the holidays the u/13 girls were missing Dani and Nicole but Maria Mastrolonardo, Georgina Estill and Megan Trowsdale all made their debuts in the league. Shannon Parkin was first finisher for the team in 12th place, closely followed by Georgina 14th, Maria 17th and Catherine Urban 21st with Megan finishing in 25th place. The team finished in 3rd place and now hold a 2 point lead over R&Z.
In the u/15 girls race Grace Rodgers was our sole representative but she had a brilliant race to finish in 2nd place and she is now showing the form and determination that gained her selection for Yorkshire in the inter counties.
The ladies were boosted by Catherine Hare after her summer spent cycle racing around Europe on the ladies pro circuit. The race was very competitive with Catherine finishing in 4th place; she had good backing from Angharad Owen 10th, Julie Mastrolonardo 11th and Megan Ellis 13th. Brenda Hare was the other club runner in 32nd and again first V3.
The men’s race was again dominated by Gary Dunn from Thirsk who had another decisive victory. In 3rd place was John Hunter and he was closely followed by Lewis Rodgers again having a great run to finish in 6th and first u/20. The rest of the team packed really well with Andrew Pearson 12th, Dave Parkin 14th, Tom Herbert 23rd and Rob Williamson 24th.
Not scoring for the team but having a brilliant run was Alan Howard who is nearing the V3 category but still managed to finish  32nd, Paul Wildmore after a recent marathon 31st, Ian Rodgers 55th, Chris Ellis 65th, Dave Horness 72nd, Stewart Darge 78th and Jimmy O’Brian 83rd were the other finishers.
In the team events we now lead in the u/13girls by 2 points, the senior ladies by 3 and the men’s event by 4.
The next fixture will be held at Flatts lane Eston on Sun 4th Nov and I understand the course will be as tough as Hartlepool, full details are on the New Marske web site and any further information can be obtained from me.
There is a race for u/11 and registration for this takes place at 12noon, the addition of these races will prove to be a good addition the programme, at Barnard Castle we had 3 runners Johno Urban, Madie and Isobel Mastrolonardo  who all performed very well.

In addition to Angharad I notice that Alec has also been selected for the x/c event in Holland, the club are very proud of these young runners who have both been with the club from a very young age.

Tony Hare    

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Cross Country News

The AGM of the NYSD league was held on Wed 17th Oct and the attendance was abysmal, out of 15 clubs only 7 were represented and there is a desperate need for officials. The league need a vice president, a treasurer and a cross country secretary next year, have we any members who are willing to take on these roles.

North East vets are holding the X/C championships at Acklam on Sat 19th Jan 2008, you do not have to be a member of NE vets and the qualifying age is 35 both M and F.

Angharad Owen has been selected to represent the N of E in an international X/C event in Holland on the 11th Nov, congratulation to her.

Tony.

Cross Country Hartlepool Sunday 7th October 2007

The first X/C of the 2007/2008 season was held at Summerhill, Hartlepool where the underfoot conditions were very dry and there was a nice cooling drizzle throughout the afternoon.
In the U13 girls’ race we had double success with Dani Braithwaite recording her first league win and the team had a convincing victory.  Nicole Hutchinson recorded her highest finishing position with 5th place and Shannon Parkin in her first race was 10th.  The fourth counter was Catherine Urban in 17th place.
We fielded three runners in the U15 boys’ race with Samuel Hutchinson in 14th place, Ryan Braithwaite 15th and Nathan Parkin in his first race 21st.
Grace Rodgers was our sole runner in the U15 girls’ race; moving up to this new age group Grace had a very confident run to finish in 4th spot.
Due to other commitments the women did not have their usual number of competitors but those who ran did very well and just missed out on a team victory finishing with 44 points to Middlesbrough and Cleveland 41 points.  Angharad Owen 5th, Julie Mastrolonardo 10th, Megan Ellis 11th and Joyce Hutchinson 18th made up the scorers, and Brenda Hare was 35th and first V3. 
The men’s team had a successful day winning by a large margin.  Alec Duffield was 3rd, Dan Middlemas 7th, Lewis Rodgers, in his first senior event, had a great race to finish 10th.  The other counters were 13th Andrew Pearson, 17th Dave Parkin, making a very welcome return to cross country, and 21st Tom Herbert.  Other finishers were 32nd Steve Hardy, 56th Ian Rodgers, 60th Chris Ellis and 80th Dave Horness.
The next fixture is at Barnard Castle on Sunday 21st October and I have just been informed that there is also a race for the U11s, start time 12.20.

Tony

2007 - 2008 NYSD Fixtures

CROSS COUNTRY FIXTURES

07-10-07                     NYSD                                 Hartlepool
21-10-07                     NYSD                                 Barnard Castle
04-11-07                     NYSD                                 Flatts Lane Country Park
18-11-07                     NYSD                                    Thirsk
13-01-08                     NYSD                                     Whitby
26-01-08                     Northern counties           Roundhay Park Leeds
10-02-08                     NYSD                                     Stockton
23-02-08                     Nationals                                Alton Towers
16-03-08                     NYSD                                     Richmond

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VENUES:
Summerhill Leisure Centre, Hartlepool
Cross Country Relays, Caedmon, Whitby
Laurence Jackson, Guisborough
Thirsk (new venue – not the racecourse, confirm later)
Caedmon School, Whitby (date needs confirming)
Blakeston School, Stockton
Richmond School, Richmond    

(If you want to see the previous 2 years XC pages please click on one of the archive links in the left hand column).

Dani Braithwaite, Lewis Rodgers and Megan Ellis - Nottingham 2008

Start of the women's race Barnard Castle Oct 2007


Start of the XC Relays Whitby 29th Oct 06

Nicola Kent leads the start of the
Womens race at Hartlepool Oct 06

Samuel Hutchinson looking strong on
the finishing hill. Hartlepool 06

Beautiful conditions at Richmond