Agricultural is the best way to describe this course, with rutted sections where cows had been, and a turnip field at the top to run beside, allowing you to pick up plenty of mud on your spikes. We have seen this course a lot muddier, but sections of the muddier bits were frozen / slushy, and that made for a very tough race.
Unfortunately I didn’t manage to get there for the U11s warm up, but Jake Moir was sent ahead and managed to locate Jack McManus to do a warm up with him, and Aidan Whitfield had to do his best to warm himself up before the gun went. It was still a little rainy at this point, and the boys probably had the worst of the weather. This didn’t deter Aidan from finishing 19th in a time of 7:31 and Jack finishing 42nd in a time of 14:24. Jack managed to lose both shoes and after retrieving them and retying them, still finished this race with true TBH spirit. There were no U11 TBH girls this time round.
Our only representative in the U17 races was Zak Kettle and he finished a fantastic 4th place from the slow pack in a time of 17:36, just missing out on a medal but earning himself a place in the fast pack for the next fixture.
Then it was the turn of the U15s with Laura Whitman being our sole representative in the girls race. Larua ran an excellent 21:59 for the 2 mile (1 large lap) finishing in 27th place. It was then Jake Moir’s turn in the boy’s race, finishing in 13th place in a time of 15:18, having run at the School’s XC the day previously.
The final junior races saw Freddie Palmer also just miss out on a medal, coming 4th from the fast pack over the 2 mile course in a time of 13:44, he was followed in by Liam Whitelaw in 21st place in a time of 14:55 also from the fast pack, then by first timer Joel Tanser in 23rd place in a time of 16:55. This resulted in the team finishing 4th in their age category. They were backed up by Lucas Powell in 34th place in a time of 17:53 who unlike his father Andy Chiu, managed to stay on his feet over the fairly small hurdle that the organisers incorporated into the course.
The last junior race of the day had Niamah Michla run the 2 mile loop in a time of 18:05 finishing in 14th place. This was after a panicked, “where’s my number Mum” moment, followed by a lively warm up all the way back to the tent and back to the start line to fetch the aforementioned number. Kora Howorth (and her lucky socks) followed Niamah closely behind in 21st place in a time of 19:19, with Ruby Ditchburn closing the team in a time of 23:11 in 26th place. This also gave the girls 4th place in the team competition.
I keep mentioning former juniors running in the senior races and today is no exception. One of our very early juniors (Jake Dorman) finished first in the Senior Men’s race, a 6 mile (3 lap) race, in a time of 38:42. Jake has added to the family trophy cabinet with his gold medal going alongside his sister Anna’s gold medal from Lambton a couple of years back.
I was very disappointed with the number of shop bought sandwiches that made their way to Thornley. If it wasn’t for Nina Bigg saving the day with her vegan cinnamon rolls, today would have been a complete loss. Come on people, we are better than this!!
Dave Moir
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