NEHL Thornley Hall Farm, 8 January 2022
The annual cross country fixture at Thornley Hall Farm is always a challenging one and is renowned for being one of the toughest. This year the conditions were particularly challenging with ankle deep mud, frozen sections, the usual hills and a few obstacles thrown in.
Thomas Jude (09:52) and Liam Greener (10:22) competed for Blaydon in the U11B race.
Jamie Lonergan finished in first place in the U13B race with a fantastic time of 14:53. His team mates Finn Graham, Evan Conway and Aaron Jobson completing the course in 16:14, 16:20 and 16:58 respectively, earning 29 points and a second place finish for the team.
Ellie Morley had a great run for the U13G finishing in 20:45 in the tough conditions.
James Gray finished in 9th position for Blaydon in the U15B in 15:03, followed by Robert Atkinson in 15:58 and Tom Wallace in 26:58. The team finishing sixth on the day.
Ellie Fellow had another strong run for the U15G, finishing in 2nd place in 15:25.
Joseph Lonergan was the first Blaydon athlete over the line in the U17B race, taking 3rd place in a time of 17:29. Team mates Will Collinson and Oscar Jolly finished in 18:24 and 19:14 respectively, securing 2nd place for the team with 30 points.
The senior men were led home by Matthew Alderson in 44:45, followed by James Dias in 45:02, Matthew Levison in 46:50, and Jaycee Shotton in 50:36.
The senior women were unable to field any runners due to illness and injury.
The Brass Monkey Half Marathon, 16 January 2022
Around 1,500 runners took part in the first Brass Monkey Half Marathon for two years, which took place in York on 16 January. Last year’s event had to be cancelled because of the lockdown. The race is fast and flat, the first 100 finishers in 2022 were under 1h:18m.
Matthew Alderson finished in 18th place in an amazing 01:11:37. James Dias was the second black and amber vest home in 01:18:10. Eleanor Bradbury was the first Blaydon lady to complete the 13.1 mile course in 01:25:46. Michael Friberg (01:33:09), Philip Mcguire (01:33:22), Izzi Jackson (01:33:26) and Chris Ashall (01:38:14) also all ran fantastic times.
Birtley Cross Country Relays, 16 January 2022
Blaydon fielded a team of Masters men (M65+) in the Birtley Cross Country Relays, which incorporated the NEMAA XC Relay Championships) on 16 January 2022. The team comprising David Graham (13:22), Alexander Liddle (15:42) and Stuart Beryl (14:41) ran a combined team time of 43:45, finishing second in their age category.
North of England Cross Country Championships, 29 January 2022
The North of England Cross Country Championships 2022 took place on Saturday 29 January 2022 at Pontefract Park Racecourse. Apart from running into strong winds, underfoot conditions for the 500 plus field were ideal.
Joseph Ramshaw, Jamie Lonergan and Finn Graham ran in the Blaydon U13B race. Joseph finishing in a brilliant 6th place in 10:49, accompanied by Jamie in 11:11 and Finn in 11:49. Ellie Fellows was the sole U15G and she ran a great time of 17:13 in her race.
Eleanor Bradbury and Emma Cartwright represented the senior women, running 36:38 and 43:30 respectively, and Isaac Dunn ran 50:26 for the senior men.
