Category Archives: Junior

The races for juniors at the Yorkshire Road Relay Championships are straight races, and four of our talented youngsters took part, with great distinction.

In the U13 Girls race Rebecca Flaherty continued her excellent form in 2^nd place, winning a well-deserved silver medal.

Our U15 Boys Alex Flaherty, Ben Rees and Theo Clay have been our most successful squad this season, and once again they came up trumps to finish second in the team competition. Alex was 4^th, Ben 9^th and Theo 16^th.

Tony Kingham
Junior Team Manager

These championships, for school years 5-7, were once again held at Prestwick Hall, Loughborough.

Five of our young Harriers were representing West Yorkshire, having gone through selection races at city level, then at county level.

In the Year 5 Girls Abby Clay was 87^th and part of the winning team.

In the Year 5 Boys Charlie Robinson was 30^th, and his team finished 5^th.

In the Year 6 Girls Mia Naylor was part of the winning team in 93^rd place.

In the Year 6 Boys Logan Walker was also part of a winning team in 39^th place.

In the Year 7 Girls Martha Jackson had an excellent run in 7^th place in a team that finished 4^th.

Well done everybody!

Tony Kingham
Junior Cross Country Team manager

The championships were held on 16 March at Temple Newsam Park, Leeds for the second year in a row, and once again the weather conditions were very tough on what was already a demanding course.

Seven of our young Harriers were were selected to represent their counties as a result of a selection race organised by the county associations: Ruby Firth ran for North Yorkshire and Grace Dawson, Emily Field, Alex Flaherty, Rebecca Flaherty, Reuben Mantle and Oliver Peace all ran for West Yorkshire.

In the Junior category (U15) Rebecca Flaherty was 42^nd (2^nd counter) in the girls’ race and Oliver Peace came 88^th (3^rd counter) in the boys’ race.

In the Intermediate category (U17) Ruby Firth was 143^rd and Grace Dawson 202^nd in the girls’ race and Alex Flaherty came 92^nd (1^st counter) in the boys’ race.

In the Senior category (U19) Emily Field was 44^th (1^st counter) in the girls’ race; and Reuben Mantle was 51^st (3^rd counter) in the boys’ race.

Well done to everyone!

For the team competition, the counties were divided into four groups, with each group containing counties of similar sizes according to the number of eligible pupils. The ESSA website refers to the groups as ‘big’, ‘medium’, ‘not so big’, and ‘little’ counties! North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire were with nine other counties in the ‘medium’ group. Up to eight athletes could compete in each gender/age group team, the first six finishers made up the team result, and the age-group results were added together to give a total score for each county.

In the boy’s competition, Devon was placed first overall, with North Yorkshire in 2^nd place and West Yorkshire 7^th. Cheshire won the girls’ competition, North Yorkshire was 3^rd and West Yorkshire 8^th.

Tony Kingham
Junior Cross Country Team Manager

Five of our juniors represented Yorkshire in this prestigious event. It was held on 9th March, once again at Prestwold Hall, Loughborough, where the wind made conditions extremely difficult for the athletes.

In the U13 Girls’ race, Martha Jackson, in her first year in the age-group, came 27th,
closely followed by Rebecca Flaherty in 37th, both were counters for the Yorkshire team that finished 4th.

Alex Flaherty was 72nd in the U15 Boys’ race, while Reuben Mantle, who always seems to save his best for this event, came 57th in the U20 Men.

Pride of place must go to Emily Field, who came 17th in the U17 Women’s race, which not only made her third counter for the winning Yorkshire team, but also secured her third place overall in the U17 Women’s British Cross Challenge series, a splendid achievement.

Congratulations to them all!

Tony Kingham
Junior Cross Country Team Manager

The games are organised by Yorkshire Sport Foundation for students in Years 3-6 who’ve been selected to represent their school’s district (Bradford, Calderdale, Kirklees, Leeds and Wakefield). This year’s games were held at Temple Newsam on 6th March.

The top 12 finishers in the Year 5 and Year 6 races go on to represent West Yorkshire in the National Schools’ finals. This time round, four of our athletes gained selection: Abby Clay (Year 5 Girls), Mia Naylor (Year 6 Girls), Logan Walker (Year 6 Boys) and Charlie Robinson, who was the individual Year 5 Boys’ winner.

In the other age-groups, there was a fine run from William Johnson (Year 4 Boys) and good efforts from Eloise Temple (Year 3 Girls), Isabelle Jebb (Year 4 Girls), and Seth Linacre (Year 6 Boys).

Well done to everyone, and good luck to those selected for the finals, which will be at Prestwold Hall, Loughborough on 23rd March.

Tony Kingham
Junior Cross Country Team manager

Set in the magnificent grounds of Harewood House, and on one of the warmest February race days any of us could recall, this year’s National was once again a magnificent spectacle. For the cross country runner this really is the peak of the season, and for those juniors who took part, an unforgettable experience which, we hope, will inspire them for the future. There were one or two notable absentees on the day, but the entry was pleasing – we had 19 finishers – and there were some sterling performances throughout the age-groups.

As usual in championships, the first race was the U17 Women, and once again we were given a wonderful start by Emily Field and Ruby Firth, who were 37^th and 76^th respectively, in what was a high-class field.

Our U15 Boys have been our best team this season and once again, despite a couple of absentees, they managed a team score. Alex Flaherty, in a pleasing 39^th place, Theo Clay (222^nd), Sam Mantle (303^rd) and Owen Pacey (312^th) were the 29^thteam home.

There have been all sorts of viruses floating around in the last few weeks and the team most affected was our U13 Girls. Nevertheless, they all battled round bravely to also secure a 29^thplace in their team event. Rebecca Flaherty finished in an excellent 16^th place, followed by Martha Jackson (43^rd), Rubie Coulton (396^th) and Holly Walters (397^th).

In the U17 Men’s race, Joe Carnelley once again ploughed a lone furrow in his first year in the age-group and had a very creditable run to finish 146^th. In the U13 Boys, Theo Armitage, who has two more years in the age-group, was 331^st and Alistair Trusselle, making his season debut in cross country, was 368^th.

Team-wise, our best performance came in the Junior Women, where only three counters were required to make a team. Phoebe Francis (90^th), Vicki Merrick (104^th) and Eliza Findlay (116^th) packed splendidly to finish in a very pleasing 15^th position.

Our Junior Men couldn’t make a team, being without a fourth counter, but Reuben Mantle (79^th), James Askew (160^th) and Josh Spencer (187^th) all acquitted themselves very well.

All in all, a most memorable day, with the best team atmosphere I have seen in my time at Bingley. There was tremendous support throughout, particularly from Graham Smith to whom, as usual, I owe a huge debt of gratitude.

Tony Kingham
Junior Cross Country Team Manager

It was a lovely day in Ilkley, much better weather than we had for the Stanbury Splash! We’d recce’d the course the week before in the Saturday morning training session, but the start had changed since the last time I was there, so I made the team work harder than they had to on race day (sorry about that!). The course contains a bit of everything; it’s 0.5 mile for the Under 9s, 1 mile for the Under 11s and Under 13s and 2 miles for the older age groups.

Unfortunately, we had no Under 9s in the race – let’s get some out for the next one.

Under 11s:

A great performance from Abby Clay who WON the girls’ race and Charlie Robinson who was SECOND in the boys’ race. Isabelle Jebb, Neve Garbutt and William Johnson also put in fantastic performances.

Under 13s:

Logan Walker was THIRD and Henry Murphy was 12^th in the boys’ race and Esme Garbutt also secured a 12^th position in the girls’ race. The results reflect the hard work these three have put into training on Saturday mornings.

Under 15s

There were more good performance from Theo Clay, who was fourth in the boys’ race, and Rebecca Flaherty, who finished THIRD in the girls’ race. William Askew was also proudly representing the hoops and finished 13^th in a strong field. Elinor Gorrell tried valiantly to get to the race but was struck by transport issues.

Under 17s

Alex Flaherty was SECOND in the boys’ race and Owen Pacey was 6^th. Unfortunately, Joseph Childs had to pull out due to a twisted ankle on the way down the hill.

Well done all!

Latest Standings

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The next race is Pendle on the 6^th April at 12:00, see here for details (scroll half-way down).

The PECO League, named after its main sponsor, the Print & Embroidery Company (in case you were wondering) comprises five races for both juniors and seniors. This season the programme was as follows:

Race 1: 25^thNov 2018 at Middleton Park, Leeds

Race 2: 16^thDec 2018 at Temple Newsam, Leeds

Race 3: 6^thJan 2019 at West Park, Leeds

Race 4: 20^thJan 2019 at Crimple Valley, Harrogate

Race 5: 10^thFeb 2019 at Roundhay Park, Leeds

Ten of the club’s juniors competed in the league, and while they were few in number, they produced some fantastic performances. So, congratulations to all who took part and particularly William, Mia, Izzy, Holly and Owen, who completed sufficient races to achieve an overall position in their respective categories.

The league is very friendly, the races well-organised and competitive, and the venues varied, it’s just a pity we’ve not been able to persuade more of our young Harriers to give it a go – maybe next season!

Tony Kingham
Junior Cross-Country Team Manager

The championships were once again held at the Grammar School at Leeds and, despite the snow, underfoot conditions were not at all difficult.

The Bradford team won three of the eight races, and Bingley juniors made a fine contribution to that success.

In addition, there were excellent individual wins for Martha Jackson in the Year 7 Girls, Rebecca  Flaherty in the Junior Girls, and Oliver Peace in the Junior Boys. Emily Field continued her great form in 2^nd place in the Senior Girls, and in the Senior Boys Reuben Mantle was 5^th.

Grace Dawson, in her first year in the Inter age-group, gained selection for the English Schools in 8th place, and Alex Flaherty, side-lined with an injury, was also selected in the U16 Boys. I must also mention Grace Ross, who was representing Leeds Schools, and pleasingly secured selection with a fine 7^th place in the Year 7 Girls.

In summary:

Emily, Reuben, Grace, Rebecca, Oliver and Alex will represent West Yorkshire at the English Schools Championships, to be held once again at Temple Newsam on Saturday, 16 March, and Martha and Grace will represent West Yorkshire at the Year 7 National Championships at Prestwold Hall in Leicestershire on Saturday, 23^rdMarch.

Tony Kingham
Junior Cross Country Team Manager