Well what a finish to the XC season!
Snow tried to halt proceedings once again but to no avail, as the rescheduled fixture was a great success for the harrier league and Blaydon Harriers with a double promotion for the seniors!!
40 Blaydon bees donned their #blackandamber stripes. 25 Seniors and 15 Juniors.
Robert Atkinson, Luke Page making his debut, and Tom Wallace for the U11B. Hazel Richardson and Ellie Fellows for the U11G. Both girls finishing in the top 10. Tom Burnett, Joseph Lonergan, James Leath and Alex Wallace for the U13B. Will Collinson was missing due to the date clashing with English schools XC Champs. Although Will was missing at Alnwick he finished an exceptional 5th in the U13B individual league table out of over 120 runners in the age group. Joseph, Alex and James also finishing in the top 50. They all made five appearances for the season, with the exception of Alex who ran all six. Excellent commitment and as a team they secured Blaydon 6th position out of 56 clubs in their category.
No U13 girls ran at Alnwick but Blaydon did finish in the 1st half of the table for the season coming in 20th in the league table for this category with Grace Johnson competing in 4 of the 6 fixtures.
Callum Trainer finished 9th for U15B followed by Luke Todd. The U15B finished 17th in the league table.
Jessica Levy and Emma Burnett had good performances in the U15G race. The girls finished 5th in the league table, Jess ran at all 6 fixtures with Emma only missing one.
Luke Shears finished 3rd in the U17M and Daniel Buffham also ran. These two young men ran in all 6 fixtures and came 5th (Daniel) and 6th (Luke) consecutively in the individual standings with only a few points between them out of almost 60 runners in their category. U17M also finished 3rd in the league, joint on points with Durham City Harriers in 2nd. Beth Fraser came 11th in the U17W league table.
The senior men were promoted to Division 2!! They proved a force to be reckoned with as they have done consistently all season only dropping one point at the first fixture. They have remained on top since with first place at all the following five fixtures. Strength in numbers showed too with the B team often in the first 3 places at a few fixtures.
The A Team at Alnwick were Isaac Dunn 20th, Nicholas Stevenson 23rd and David Garner 34th all from the Medium Pack. It’s a close call but all three may have been promoted to the fast pack. Fourth past the finish for the A team was Matty Alderson from the fast pack then James Dias from medium and Ian Brooks finishing the team. First out of 34 clubs on the day. The Senior Men's B team came in 3rd place on the day. A cracking effort lead in by Alex Muir from the fast pack, followed by James Ramshaw from medium, Daniel Matfin and Lee Pattison holding up the middle with Jonathan Stephens next from the fast pack and Phil Jobson securing the bronze position. Simon Evans, Stuart Moor and Eric Lewis also ran to complete the 15 strong turnout for the men. Individually the senior men had all proved key players for the season. Matty was 20th overall in the individual grand prix followed by Isaac in 33rd. James D and James R, 41st & 45th who both ran in all six fixtures. Phil, Alex and Jonathan also finishing in the top 150 runners in a league of over 500 runners.
The ladies senior league table wasn’t so cut and dried as the men's. The latter half of the season put us in promotion contention and so we made every effort to rally the troops. The ladies secured promotion in 2nd place for the season behind Saltwell Harriers with a comfortable gap, after the Alnwick fixture, between us and Ponteland Runners in 3rd place. A fantastic achievement considering the 35 teams in contention. The team at Alnwick was led by Elaine Small, only her second outing in XC and coming in 2nd in individual division standings, a fantastic run. The A team also saw Joanne Ramshaw from the medium pack, completing her 5th XC for the season and Izzy Jackson following closely who ran at all 6 fixtures. Jennifer Mcdonald made her debut finishing the A team. They gave impressive performances to get us in Division 2 with the lads! The lasses finished in 2nd on the day. The womens B team were Deborah Collins, Nicola Perry, Shereen Douglas and Stephanie Ashall followed by Doreen Craig and Tracy Bowers. Doreen has ran in all 6 fixtures and supplied the post-race snacks and hot chocolate to everyone's delight! Individually in the female senior grand prix Joanne Ramshaw pipped Izzy Jackson into 25th spot, Izzy in 26th with only a few points between them. Rachel Grant came a close 3rd in 38th position. In the Ladies Vets category, Claire Collinson set the bar high, she came 25th overall in the individual standings frustratingly missing out on a result from Alnwick due to commitments at English Schools. Deborah Collins, Jo Edwards, Doreen Craig and Tracy Bowers all finished in the top 25% of the individual grand prix with Nicola Perry finishing strong after coming in for the last 3 fixtures with consistent performances.
Due to the English Schools and the rescheduled date we’d like to thank everyone who competed on Saturday last minute and throughout the season and made the double promotion possible. Also thanks to everyone who helped out on Saturday in John's absence including Isaac for taking the tent and Ian and Jules for taking Photos.
Division 2 here we come!!!! UP THE BEES
