Cross Country

Very well done to Stephen Jones (SPJ) and the rest of the Welsh Masters team at the British and Irish Masters cross country last weekend. We are very lucky to have a few words from the man himself, see below, brilliant effort and well deserving of a proper Guinness – first Welshman home and 13th/20 in a field of some of the best V60 runners from across the UK!

‘The course at Santry Park in Dublin was very wet and muddy last Saturday but it suited me and I hoped it would slow down some of the faster road runners. However, after a fast start the pace continued to be fast and I was left towards the back of the field with the other Welsh runners in the Vet60 category – we were in a race where the age group was 50-65 so most of the men in our race were younger and faster. I kept up a reasonable pace but the standard of runners was very high which wasn’t really surprising as it was an international race and included some of the best runners in GB and Ireland so I didn’t manage to pass anyone until the very last 100ms when I managed to catch and pass a Scottish Vet60. So I finished 13^th out of 20 and although I was first for the Welsh V60s I was a bit disappointed to be so far back – more speed training needed for next year!

It was a great weekend and there was really good team spirit amongst all the teams. The standard of competition is very high and I would encourage anyone aged over 35 and interested in top class competition to think about having a go at qualifying for this event next year. I’m sure that we have a number of runners within Eryri who are capable of qualification for the Welsh team and it would be good to see more individual medal winners and hopefully some more Welsh teams getting into the top three.’

Full results are available from the following link (see Statistics tab):

http://bmaf.info/index.asp

Well done Steve!

NEXT CROSS COUNTRY FIXTURE IN NWXC LEAGUE – NOTE DIFFERENT VENUE TO LAST YEAR

Saturday 28th November, Mold Alun School, Mold, CH7 1EP

Junior races in the morning, Ladies race 2pm, Mens race 2.45 – please come and support your club!

Cross-country section report for AGM

Last year kicked off to a flying start (very much like this year!), with a fantastic turn-out at the first fixture of the North Wales Cross Country league at Treborth playing fields. Fantastic efforts from a total of 23 women and 24 men who ran for Eryri at this and the other 4 fixtures last year meant that Eryri Harriers won overall club, 1st senior ladies and 1st masters ladies teams , 2nd men’s and 4th men’s masters teams (narrowly missing out on a podium position). Everyone deserves a medal for their contributions! There were some outstanding individual league successes too including Andrea Rowlands (2nd senior lady, 1st FV40), Don Williams (1st MV70), Louise Emery-Jones (2nd FV35), Megan Hughes (3rd FV35) and Maggie Oliver (2nd FV65). In the men’s, Fred Maier was 2nd senior man, Owen Roberts was 2nd under 20, with SPJ and Arwel Lewis 2nd and 3rd in the MV55 category overall. Many thanks to Paul Jenkinson, Maggie Oliver and Stuart Macdonald who held the fort whilst I was in France, helping to make sure we had teams to the last two fixtures in Telford and Oswestry amongst many other things!

Eryri Harriers were also well represented in the selections for last years Welsh inter-regional and masters championships in Builth Wells. SPJ was already showing his current strengths and was 1st in the MV60-64 category. In a race with over 100 runners, Dylan Jones had a fantastic run coming in at 13th overall and 3rd in the MV40-45 category. Helen Blair, Sandra Rowlands and Ellie Salisbury worked hard to bring home 1st team prize for Eryri. Some of our younger runners including Michael and John Spill, Annabelle McQueen, Steffan Williams, Owen Roberts also ran well representing North Wales. Bronwen ran well to finish 7th in the U20 category.

In the North Wales Cross Country championships there were some fantastic team results with Eryri coming 1st in the Senior Men’s, Senior Ladies and Masters Ladies categories and 2nd in the Masters Men’s category! Andrea Rowlands had a great run coming in second lady, with Bronwen Jenkinson 5th (1st under 20) and Megan Hughes 2nd FV35, Sandra Rowlands 2nd FV45, Ellie Salisbury 3rd FV50 and Maggie Oliver 2nd FV65. In the mens race John Spill was third in the under 17 race with Steffan Williams continuing to improve a little further back. Don Williams was crowned over 70’s champion, SPJ the over 60 champion, Arwel Lewis over 55 champion, Owen Roberts won the u20 mens race while Daniel Kashi was second male overall and Hugh O’Donnell was second over 35.

Twelve Harriers also competed at the Welsh Cross Country Championships. Annabelle McQueen was 18th in under 15 girls, Bronwen Jenkinson got her first ever medal at the Welsh Champs and was third in the under 20s. New recruit Lauren Jeska finished second in the senior women’s race behind Llandrindod’s Ffion Price. In the men’s races Mike Spill ran solidly to come 14th in the under 13 race while John Spill was fifth in the under 17s and Steffan Williams was 18th. Owen Roberts was fifth in the men’s under 20 race which was won by GB International Jack Hopkins. In the senior men, Richard Roberts finished sixth with SPJ coming a fine 20th leaving many youngsters in his wake, Ben Beachell was 23rd, a resurgent James McQueen 40th and Mike Blake 50th.

Eryri runners represented North Wales at the fantastic British Inter-Counties XC Champs at Cofton Park, Birmingham including Richard Roberts who had a good run to make the top 100 finishing 92nd and Daniel Kashi in 218th. Bronwen Jenkinson was 55th in the under 20 category and John Spill was 97th. Two Eryri Harriers represented the club at the British Masters XC champs – very well done to Don Williams who finished 7th MV70 and 96th of the 138 finishers (including masters ladies and MV65’s and Arwel Lewis who was 72nd overall out of 142 finishers in the Male Masters 35 to 64 category and 11th MV/55 (2nd Welsh). In Antrim, Northern Ireland, Bronwen Jenkinson represented Wales in the IAAF Cross-Country, incorporating the Home Countries International, Bronwen finished 31st in the under 20’s race.
Last year was fantastic with runners representing Eryri, North Wales and Wales all over the UK, and this year is looking fantastic too, let’s pull out all the stops and keep it going, well done to EVERYONE who has run, helped or both!

See link below for further information, the Welsh Cross Country Relay Championships are on Sunday 22nd November in Bridgend.

http://www.welshathletics.org/news–media/news/cross-country/2015/october-2015/entries-open-for-the-welsh-cross-country-relay-championships.aspx

Teams of 3 for women’s teams and teams of 4 for men’s teams. Please let Becki Law (bex85@msn.com) know by Friday 13th November if you are interested in making up part of a team.

Selection for the British Masters Cross Country International – Welsh Squad
Well done to Steve Jones (SPJ) and Maggie Oliver!

Two Eryri athletes have been selected to be part of the Welsh squad in the British Masters Cross Country International in Dublin on 14th November. SPJ has accepted his selection to run in a couple of weekends time and Maggie is a reserve athlete and so will be on call should she be needed! It really is fantastic to have our athletes representing at this high level, having both shown a high level of commitment to the sport over the years – well done and good luck to them both!

Well done everyone at the last cross-country! On a weekend where Eryri runners were representing all over the place (great work everyone!), we managed to field a men’s team (just!) – it’s 6 needed to count, with penalties if not, and we had John Spill, SPJ, Neale Lewis-Jones and Arwel Lewis, then Mike Blake reluctantly dragged his vest on (star!) and then Craig Jones appeared, bounding down the steps with minutes to spare! The race started and we noticed first-time XC runner Dewi Owen out in front having a very strong run… well done Dewi but sorry Mike! Very well done also to John Spill who came in a brilliant 2nd overall, followed by Dewi in 12th, Craig Jones, SPJ, Arwel Lewis, Neale Lewis-Jones and Mike Blake. Great efforts!

In the ladies race, Becki Law, Annabelle McQueen, Tammy Lewis-Jones, Helen Blair were first four home, closely followed by Annie Williams, Ellie Salisbury, Alison Donnelly, Becca Roberts and Maggie Oliver – well done ladies, fantastic running all round, cheering included (it was so good that Dave Williams said he had a phone call from Penmaenmawr about the noise disturbance!). Also running in the same race, Steffan Williams had another great run coming in 11th, with Don Williams and Alwyn Oliver (first XC race for 25 years!?) coming in 66th and 78th.

Many thanks also to Jen Charlton and Joe for their now expert help at the finish, hopefully back running again soon though!

OFFICIAL OVERALL RESULTS ARE NOW IN

In the team standings, Eryri ladies are still first in the seniors and masters, with the men’s team also second and the master’s mens team have moved up to 5^th! Brilliant! Very well done again to everyone who ran on Saturday, we have maintained our competitive standing because of you!

Other notable individual performances not mentioned above include:

SPJ who was 1^st M60, Don Williams and Alwyn Oliver who were 1^st and 3^rd Over 70’s

Tammy Lewis-Jones and Helen Blair who were 1^st and 2^nd FV45, Annie Williams who was 1^st FV55

See link for full results: http://www.northwalesxc.com/

Next event is in MOLD, NOT WREXHAM on 28th November, further details to follow but Mold is actually closer than Wrexham so that’s good too!

A fine day and good running conditions greeted over 250 runners at Treborth Playing fields on Saturday at the first fixture of the North Wales Cross Country League. Nineteen men and twelve women from Eryri Harriers took part and brought the Senior Men’s, Senior Ladies and Masters Ladies team to 1st overall, with the Masters Men in 9th – it was fantastic to see both new and familiar faces contributing to an absolutely brilliant start to the season!
In the first race of the day Andrea Rowlands had a strong run coming in 2nd overall, with Beckie Taylor (first race as a new member!) coming in 7th, followed by 9th placed Megan Hughes (also 1st W35) and Sarah Caskey. In her first cross country race with the seniors, Annabelle McQueen had a storming run coming in at 12th overall, followed by Helen Blair (1st W45), Tammy Lewis-Jones and Annie Williams (1st W55). Fresh from their mountain marathon epics, Hayley Turner and Ellie Salisbury had a great run, followed by Sioned Rowlands (first time running the course!), Becca Roberts and Maggie Oliver making up the 12-strong Eryri Ladies team. Well done everyone, fantastic effort from all!

In the men’s race of 148 runners, Rob Samuel (great to see back at the cross country!) was second overall, with John Spill a brilliant 3rd. Next was Jim Bacon, Fred Maier (10th and 11th overall), Owen Roberts and Hugh O’Donnell, followed by Matt Fortes and Rory O’Donnell, with Jonathan Moore and Gary P-J coming in next. Arwel Lewis, Paul Jenkinson and Jonathan Fleming packed well, with Steve Llan Jones, Neale Lewis-Jones (enjoying his first ever cross country race!) and Steve Pilbeam coming in next – a bumper team of 16! Ryan Owen (another new member!) flew into second place in the under 17 men’s race with ever-improving Steffan Williams coming in 7th overall. Don Williams was 1st out of 11 M70’s running – an inspiration to us all! Full results will be on NWXC league website soon.

(Photos: Mike Blake)
The cakes were wonderful, thanks so much to all who contributed and to Ann, Sharon and Karen for sorting sandwiches and tea! Thanks also to all of the marshalls and helpers – Maggie and Alwyn Oliver, Mike Blake and Matt Fortes all helped mark the course (amongst other things!), Ellie and Stu on the carparking (also amongst other things!), Iorwerth, Dils and Sioned, Sue and Becca Roberts, my good friend Jane Boyd. The finish would have gone completely to pot if it wasn’t for Matt and Sioned (again!) and Jen Charlton (who did a great job getting thrown in at the deep end!). People helped make sure the course was runnable and sweep up afterwards (Hayley, Paul, Arwel) and I’m sure there are others who did things and I didn’t even know, but I would have definitely known if it hadn’t been done, so thank you so much!
Looking forward to the next fixture on Saturday 17th October at St David’s College, Llandudno!
Becki Law

The first Cross Country fixture of the 2015/16 season is nearly upon us, starting at 2pm on Sat 3rd October at Treborth, Bangor.

This fixture is arranged by Eryri members, and volunteers are required for marshaling duties on the day and also to donate cakes for the refreshments afterwards.

And of course a good turn out from our members to race on the day is always useful! Please remember you need to wear your Eryri vest and be first claim Eryri Harriers to run!

This fixture is historically where we stamp our mark for the XC season, and a large team turnout is essential to do this.  Regardless of how fast or slow you are you all make a big difference by pushing back another club’s team member, so it all helps.  Last season there were 18 ladies and 14 men out for the club atBangor, lets try to beat that this year.

If you can help in any way please contact Cross Country Secretary, Becki Law – 07922968636  bex85@msn.com

For the full XC fixture list see the XC page here.