On a brilliant weekend for Jo GASCOIGNE-OWENS she had the honour of representing England at the British and Irish Masters Cross Country International in Dublin on Saturday 14th November! Jo, running in the female 35 race, was a brilliant 7th of the 20 runners in 22.55, and was 3rd counter!
The following day she was one of a number of Harriers taking part in the penultimate Grand Prix race of 2015, the ever popular fast and flat Brampton to Carlisle 10 Mile Road Race. In the run up to the race severe weather warnings had been issued due to predicted monsoon like conditions in Cumbria, though these did not materialise thankfully. Despite a keen wind at times Jo was the 1st of the 24 Harriers to finish and was 59th overall. Jo was 4th female finisher in 1.02.46 which is comfortably the fastest 10 mile time by a Harriers this year. As in previous years Jo now has the fastest female times by a Harrier in 5k, 10k, 10 mile, half and full marathon distances this year. In the last 3 distances she is also faster than any male Harrier this year! There were also a number of excellent runs by other ladies in the race with lots of 10 mile pbs being achieved. 2nd Harrier to complete was Lesley MILLER who was 3rd in the female 55 category, 2 minutes clear of Pauline AITCHISON. As has been the case so many times this year Gay EASTOE was a prize winner, taking home the 2nd place award in the female 60 age group!
For the men Gary HALL ran the fastest 10 mile time of the year by a Harrier when he clocked 1.06.54. Richard JOHNSON was next to finish, and though disappointed with his time still achieved a 10 mile personal best. Jock BOLAM ran a decent race to finish 3rd male Harrier, ahead of Dave HINDMARSH and Tin FALCONER. Further down the list it was good to see Ian HORSLEY and Finbarr MURPHY donning Harriers vests for the 1st time! Thanks to the committee for arranging the coach and the block booking. Grand Prix standings to follow………Results:
59-Jo GASCOIGNE-OWENS 1.02.46
113-Gary HALL 1.06.54
124-Richard JOHNSON 1.07.54
184-Jock BOLAM 1.12.09
199-Dave HINDMARSH 1.13.25
210-Tim FALCONER 1.14.13
230-Paul GODDEN 1.15.39
266-Andy SQUIRES 1.17.12
273-Dave BARTRUM 1.17.22
277-Ian HORSLEY 1.17.31
280-Graham CROW 1.17.38
281-Lesley MILLER 1.17.39
314-Pauline AITCHISON 1.19.37
324-Lisa BASTON 1.20.07
329-Steve STUDLEY 1.20.57
331-Denise DRUMMOND 1.21.07
339-Maureen BARTRUM 1.21.41
376-Ruth DOCTOR 1.24.17
401-Sue BOLAM 1.27.04
433-Gay EASTOE 1.30.30
434-Richard EASTOE 1.30.31
440-Shelley COATES 1.30.49
505-Finbarr MURPHY 1.38.52
554-Mark HUME 1.58.30
Also that day Adam FLETCHER was representing us in the Borders Cross Country League at Dunbar. Adam finished an excellent 20th overall and was 2nd in the male 50 category, in 28.20.
The day before there were some good performances by Harriers at 3 different parkruns. At Druridge Bay Ben KELLY ran a pb of 18.02 to finish 2nd, whilst his mum Karen was 2nd female finisher! There was also a debut at the course for Mark DOCTOR, whilst course pbs were achieved by Sophie ENSER, Ed WHELDON and Lorna STEPHENSON. Pam WHELDON was 1st in the female 60 category, whilst William FORTUNE was 1st male 70.
Results:
2-Ben KELLY 18.02 (77.17%)
11-Mark DOCTOR 21.23 (64.30%)
15-Karen KELLY 21.58 (72.99%)
27-Sophie ENSER 23.49 (65.08%)
28-Cris ATWELL 23.56 (64.21%)
36-Robert STEPHENSON 25.11 (56.32%)
39-Ken HODSON 25.43
50-Justine NORMAN 27.37
52-Pam WHELDON 27.52
55-Cameron SYERS 27.56
64-Thomas DAVISON 28.40
76-Ed WHELDON 29.47
92-Jayne McKENNA 32.06
95-William FORTUNE 32.39
101-Lorna STEPHENSON 33.24 (48.00%)
Also that morning there was a brilliant performance by Dominic HARRIS at the Riverside Parkrun at Chester le Street. Dom is improving with every run and on this occasion dipped under 19 minutes to clock 18.55 and finish in 8th place! Over in west Cumbria both Richard and Gay EASTOE were age 60 category winners at Workington. Richard finished 22nd in 24.18, whilst Gay was 28th in 25.40.
Thanks to Craig HARMON for the shots of Ben and Karen KELLY at Druridge Bay.
