Start Fitness NE Harrier League – Round 2 Town Moor 30 January 2010

 

Bracken on Fire – as Moor turns Red

 

Bright and cold 2 deg C – no wind – snow and ice but good underfoot

 

NSP Results :

 

Senior Men : 2nd overall in Div 2 on day and now 3rd in league

 

3       0:40:45      BRACKEN, Guy

45     0:44:01      HEMY (V), Vaughan    M

60     0:44:33      BATY, John

94     0:45:48      ATKINSON, Peter

99     0:45:58      ATWELL, Stephen

128   0:46:58      BORLOS (V), Stephen

129   0:47:00      PULHAM, Andy

144   0:47:26      ROBSON, Gary             M

204   0:50:15      JOHNSON, Mark

208   0:50:32      WHITEHEAD, Chris

214   0:50:59      QUINN, David

229   0:51:52      MARK, Steven

233   0:52:04      BAKER, Richard

250   0:53:15      TEALE, Mark

255   0:53:29      MORRIS, David

270   0:54:33      SMALL, Mark

284   0:56:30      WEBB, Andrew

304   0:58:22      ADAMSON, George

 

Under 15 boys

3          0:13:19         WALLETT, Anthony

 

Under 13 Boys

2          0:14:28         KELLY, Elliot

29       0:18:07         PRICE, Lewis

35       0:19:26         ROBSON, William

38       0:20:13         MOORE, Callum

 

Under 15 girls

5          0:17:22         TANNER, Vicki

 

Under 17 Girls

5          0:31:07         WALLETT, Gemma (U17)

14       0:48:35         CHHINA, Chelsey

 

 

Senior Girls- 3rd team on day – now sharing top spot with 2 other teams

9          0:33:05         DANN, Stephanie

22       0:34:52         ROBINSON, Lucy

35       0:35:54         JONES, Katie

37       0:36:13         DAVISON, Leah

49       0:37:01         NEILSON, Karen

59       0:37:54         FOJUT, Rosa

65       0:38:16         VICKERS, Louise

66       0:38:20         GILROY, Victoria

67       0:38:27         PAYNE, Emma

71       0:38:42         GEORGE, Melanie

78       0:39:04         ROBINSON, Emma

79       0:39:05         CARROLL, Amy

83       0:39:24         HUGHES, Sophie

89       0:40:16         JACKSON, Holly

 

After a prolonged delay, the Harrier League finally resumed at the Newcastle Town Moor. The first time the area had been used for 15 years.

 

It was a very fine day and the overnight snow gave things a festive feel. Harriers from all over the region were chomping at the bit to get out racing after their long layoff and everyone seemed happy … apart from that is, the Club Capt.

 

One of the traditions in the Poly’s long 100 year plus history is for the Capt to provide and erect a hospitality tent at each harrier event for the Club’s athletes – and any passing dignitaries. The tent is extremely popular – in fact some turn up just to experience the tent atmosphere and either don’t run – or forget to run. For the men it provides a shelter to discuss serious issues of the day such as team tactics, spike length and the latest go-faster socks. It is also a store for Steve Atwell’s pie collection. For the girls, it is like a coffee shop cum boudoir – a place to forget the challenges of the real world and the last set of instructions handed down by the coach. It provides a base for changing in the warmth – a hot drink and chocolate to finish with and a place to exchange chit and chat and any gossip learnt from fellow competitors on their trek round the course.

 

This Capt (the 23rd in the Club’s history) broke with this fine tradition on January 30th 2010 by not putting up the tent!

 

Our Capt has always had an aversion to camping - an activity he associates with men (and ladies) with beards, sandals and pipes. In doing so, he overlooks one of the world’s greatest campers – President Ghadaffi of Libya – who also, as a colonel, out ranks our Capt. He puts up his tent wherever he goes.

 

The Capt was in combative mood on the subject. Many of those who dared to challenge him - and there were a few (who in these modern days argued the issue of unfairness to the girls ) – were bought off with promises of plum legs on his next batch of relay squads. One athlete of principle refused to accept the Capt’s shilling and as an act of protest ran for Gateshead Harriers for the day – a Club whose big reputation is built on having one of the best of all tents as well as a President that provided the inspiration for the Teletubbies.

 

The girls, of course, had not arrived while all this kerfuffle was going on – and truly if they had been, the Cpt would have faced a formidable challenge.

 

The Capt’s typical response in these situations is that the girls should be more like the blokes! Problem with this theory is that if they were like the blokes, then no one would want to go out with them.

 

Sometimes as a Club Capt – you have to make really tough decisions – this was one of his hardest but he was not going to let any emotion about women  rule on that score.

 

Back to the course and it has to be said it was something of a disappointment. With typical Geordie overstatement – it is hardly a moor anyway. A moor would require heather, some grouse, men in tweeds and a colony of rare goats. The ‘Town Moor’ has none of this. The Scots would call the Town Moor a ‘field’.

 

The course was run on existing trails – and the only area of high ground was largely ignored. Still, at least the snow provided a bit of edge. For the fashionable it allowed the chance to sport some smart headgear. Tony must have done a wild trade on hats that day – he sold at least 4 Ron Hills to NSP runners alone!

 

The men’s race saw debuts for quite a few runners – including Guy Bracken – who cruised round to a 3rd place finish (the best individual result since Alun Woodward’s brace of double firsts 2 years ago). He set the pattern for others to follow – with John Baty and Peter Atkinson featuring very highly on the results. For Peter, it was like a rebirth – last having done a harrier event 20 years or so ago. But not clear on whether he finished higher and the intervening years had diminished his power.

 

It was another big turnout in the men’s races with the Club very much packing out the middle order. Some like Dave Quinn are starting to become regulars. The final points’ scorer for the Club was Steve Borlos – minus the normal firecracker start!

 

George Adamson – one of our most experienced and long serving cross country runners – was also fit again and back in action. Great to see you again, George!

 

Another good sight was Danny Richardson (Alnwick and NSP) back running again after a long lay off. While he’s still wearing his German colours – it’s still proper to block/obstruct/shoulder charge him on harrier leagues!

 

Despite GB’s run – these days the seniors seem to be outshone by our younger runners. The U 13s fielded 4 runners this time – and it could have been 5 but for a late withdrawal. A fine run saw Elliot Kelly grabbing second place – just a short way off an outright win! He was backed up by some of the regulars – Lewis, Will and Callum.

 

The U 15 girls’ and a fast run saw Vicki Tanner come in 5th place – (but 3rd fastest on the day). Vicki had just set the fastest time on the youngsters’ Yacht Race just a few days earlier. Well done!

 

They were all a great credit to the junior coaches Vicki and Paula.

 

Gemma Wallett was seen by us powering away at the start of the U 17 race – out running the seniors. She didn’t seem at all troubled by the rather treacherous ground conditions along the fence line nor the length of the course. Gemma finally come home 3rd in her event in a strong field. She was joined  by Chelsey Chhina – one of our young 400 metre track athletes – who dominated for the Club during the last track and field season. The course is a long way for a 400 m runner – just ask Richard Baker or Andrew Webb.

 

Not to be outshone by his sister, Anthony (who is regularly finishing high in the standings these days) ran positively from the start and was also 3rd in the U15 boys.

 

The final event of the day saw a particularly impressive turnout from our senior ladies. Fielding (somewhere in the region of) 13 athletes, the poly far exceeded any other club in (wo)manpower and the start line was an imposing mass of red vests. It left coach, Ron Stewart, as the biggest human coat and hat hanger on the day – and surely there should be a prize for that?

 

There were a number of notable performances, especially from relative poly newcomer Steph Maclean-Dann, who continues to make remarkable improvements and stormed to a top ten finish even despite a three minute handicap. In like-minded spirit, Lucy Robinson & Katie Jones didn't let their handicaps get the better of them, confidently clawing their way back through the field to make up the final two of the poly's three counters. A very consistent performance from the girls - two consecutive 3rd place finishes (three if you include the Davison cup) - which sees them realistically vying for top spot at this early stage of the season.

 

Also showing very strong performances on the day, Leah Davison and Louise Vickers pushed themselves further up the field - and other clubs' counters further down the field - than the last harrier league outing at Farringdon.

 

It was excellent to see new faces and recent-joiners (or re-joiners) plunging themselves in at the cross country deep end - Sophie Hughes and Amy Carroll deserve special mention for a snowy baptism of their poly vests. And Karen Nielsen made a welcome return with a good solid run.

 

A few of the girls offered gracious thanks to the guys who stayed on and braved the cold and risk of stiff muscles to offer encouraging / threatening cheers of "Come on Poly" (in absence of knowing anyone's name).

 

Despite such a fine performance, our heroines were all left to shiver and change in the cold as a biting north wind picked up. The Capt had by that stage high tailed it out of the area to avoid any female wrath or probing questions. (The Cap is normally always good value at post race discussion/interview).Witnesses claim he had speeded up a lot  in the latter stages of the race in the hope of avoiding any eye contact with the girls at the finish..

 

While our frozen heroines stared wistfully and longingly across at the Wallsend tent – where their girls were being welcomed back and treated to boiling mugs of coffee (apparently 3 different types on offer including Colombian?)  and chocolate presented personally by the Wallsend Cap in their cosy big tent   – our Capt (now back in his rocking chair) was tucking happily into his curry watching an old edition of his favourite Roadrunner cartoons.

 

‘This Roadrunner’s the kind of bird you need at a running club,’ he mused, chomping away heartily on his chicken masala. ‘It can sure run and doesn’t need a tent.’

 

The Cap’s mood cheered !