February 20th, 2011
Not here for the rides
We set off in convoy on the Friday before for an overnight stay close to the course. An early start at 10am Saturday morning to get to the race venue of Alton Towers Staffordshire.
Joining the queue of traffic leading into the actual entrance of the theme park we took a vindictive turn into a side road, because today we were not here for the rides.
It was clear on arrival that the course was not going to be as dry, compared to when the same event was ran here in 2008. The club tent area looked as though it’d been freshly ploughed then hosed with water with similarities to Glastonbury festival. We managed to find a clear(ish) spot for the club tent and raised the Birtley AC banner.
Studying the course map we set off to check the route in preparation for the U17 men’s race which was the first event Birtley had an athlete competing in.
Adrian Bailes set off amongst 270 other runners to race the 6k distance, which was one small and one large lap. Unfortunately Adrian was unable to complete the course due to illness but still put up a valiant effort negotiating almost 4k. Adrian recovered later on and became a welcome sight on the course supporting the other Birtley athletes.
The next race was scheduled for 1.00pm, but due to safety reasons a frustrating 30 minute delay put the start of the U15 girls back to 1.30pm. An issue had been raised with access for first aid provisions on the lower part of the course causing a change to two small laps instead of one large, which still measured approximately 4k. Birtley U15 girls have previously enjoyed glory at North East and Northern level giving them a desire for National success. They all performed well realising that each position counted and that a National team medal could be within the reach. After the race a nervous wait whilst officials added team totals the news reached the girls that they had achieved a silver medal team position. The girls spent the rest of the day proudly wearing their medals the first ever National team medals to be won by Birtley AC.
Delays and some confusion hit the rest of the races before the final event which was the Senior Men and set off at 3.15pm. The course which was originally 12k being three large laps was changed to 10k one small and two large. A light drizzle made the worsening conditions abysmal for spectators and participants alike. Six Birtley Seniors started the race, five completed the testing course “harder than the Northerns” Tony Forster. Unfortunately Ged Murray coming back from injury reluctantly pulled out. The continuing five had brilliant runs lead in by Darren Purvis then Neil Allan, Lee Millmore, Dave Coulson and Tony Forster.
Well done to everyone who competed and thank you to all the supporters who travelled.
Next years Nationals are to return to Parliament Hills London. This is a recommended experience for anyone spectator or athlete.
Locally let’s see the Seniors continuing their campaign for promotion to Division 1 in the Harrier League (next one Wrekenton 26/02/2011) and the U15 girls securing individual and team titles and more Birtley athletes in general competing across all events.
Results
U15 Girls
10 2537 00:15:40 Lydia Turner Birtley AC
19 2533 00:15:55 Anna Fawcett Birtley AC
35 2534 00:16:17 Sophie Forster Birtley AC
96 2535 00:17:17 Paige Gilhespy Birtley AC
Top 3 teams
1 60 Aldershot Farnham & District ( 3 12 20 25 )
2 160 Birtley AC ( 10 19 35 96 )
3 198 Tonbridge AC ( 4 18 29 147 )
Senior Men 10k
180 6232 00:41:41 Darren Purvis Birtley AC
314 6222 00:44:20 Neil Allan Birtley AC
405 6228 00:45:52 Lee Millmore Birtley AC
1072 6224 00:58:48 David Coulson Birtley AC
1099 6226 00:59:50 Tony Forster Birtley AC
For full results http://www.englishcrosscountry.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=66&Itemid=73
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February 8th, 2011
A cold rain and saturated ground failed to dampen the spirits of Birtley AC athletes and supporters who turned out for the third Harrier League of the 2010/11 season.
Again some excellent team and individual results with the U15 girls holding onto the top spot in the teams. Senior Men moved into second place with the prospect of promotion.
Lydia Turner won her race from the fast pack, backed up by the ever improving Paige Gilhesby in 4th and Rachel Ward in 7th completing the team.
Karl Oakes had a brilliant run in the Senior Men finishing 16th from the slow pack which will move him into the medium for Wrekenton on the 26/02/11
Under 13 Girls 2nd Team
3rd 0:16:12 Olivia BATEMAN
14th 0:19:45 Danielle GRAHAM
17th 0:21:10 Erin WEST
Under 15 Girls 1st Team
1st 0:15:04 TURNER, Lydia
4th 0:16:04 Paige GILHESBY
7th 0:19:20 Rachel WARD
Under 13 Boys 2nd Team
5th 0:15:49 Lewis MORGAN
12th 0:16:32 Jack FOLEY
13th 0:16:40 Luke KELLY
Under 15 Boys
27th 0:18:37 Matthew NORTON
Senior Men
16th 0:43:44 Karl OAKES
35th 0:44:40 Peter FARNIE
43rd 0:45:00 Lee MILLMORE
46th 0:45:08 David KELLY
135th 0:48:40 Michael KEENAN
162nd 0:50:20 David COULSON
200th 0:52:51 Daniel FLETCHER
240th 0:57:52 Tom MILLMORE
267th 1:13:37 Gerard MURRAY
For full results see http://www.race-results.co.uk/results/2011/index.php
And look out for Birtley runners http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjqLQmrlA0Y
As always listen for club announcements and watch the notice board for news and events.
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January 30th, 2011
Being almost at the top of England we rarely get a chance to have a championship event on our door step. However, this year was a fortunate change and a short journey to Herrington Park Sunderland for the North of England cross country championships.
A make shift community complete with pop up tents, club flags, burger vans and parked (stuck in the mud) cars not to mention the hundreds of people running round in shorts and vests must have been a strange site to a passersby. Hopefully some of them may have been inspired and fancy a go at doing it themselves
Many of us remember Herrington Park from 2007 when the North Eastern and National Champs were ran here.
The 2010/11 Northerns stayed true to the previously tried tested courses and for those who hadn’t already had a taste of Sunderland hills it was an experience to remember.
The organisers took advantage of every twist, hill and camber to make this one of the toughest championships to date. An initially frozen ground soon thawed unleashing a “treacle like energy sapping mud” (Karl Oakes), that in some points couldn’t be avoided.
We had many great runs with another notable performance by Lydia Turner coming 2nd in the U15 girls matching last years second place as an U13.
Well done to all those who competed
Results
U13 Girls
70 Olivia Bateman 12:27
123 Danielle Coulson 13:39
U13 Boys
93 Luke Kelly 12:20
U15 Girls
2 Lydia Turner 17:23
9 Anna Fawcett 18:07
10 Sophie Forster 18:11
49 Sophie Montgomery 19:29
53 Paige Gilhespy 19:37
U17 Men
106 Adrian Bailes 26:10
Junior Men
76 Daniel Fletcher 40:50
Senior Men
95 Neil Allan 45:48
188 David Kelly 50:23
211 Karl Oakes 51:21
410 David Coulson 1:01:50
442 Tony Forster 1:05:11
453 Brian Bailes 1:07:10
476 Tom Millmore 1:14:03
483 Gerrard Murray 1:23:23
487 Patrick Kelly 1:29:49
For full results http://www.race-results.co.uk/results/2011/naxc11.htm
Please keep an ear out for club announcements for coming events and watch the club notice board for races.
Lets see more Birtley AC vests out for Sundays (06-02-11) harrier league at Newcastlre, Town Moor.
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January 15th, 2011
Temple park at South Shields again the venue the North Eastern Cross country championships.
Originally scheduled for December 11th, the event was postponed due to the adverse weather that brought most of the country to a stand still. With a welcome rise in temperature and a thaw of the snow the regional champs was accommodated at the expense of a Harrier League fixture that was due to be ran on the same day.
The club which was founded in 1987 has used this race as the club cross country championships since it was formed. The first Birtley runner in each age category will be awarded with the club championship trophies at the presentation night in May.
Birtley athletics club had members in most of the age groups with our U15 girls finishing 1st 4th and 11th picking up a team and individual gold.
For full results please see http://www.race-results.co.uk/results/2011/index.php
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November 27th, 2010
After a course inspection today’s Harrier League has fallen victim to a little snow.
Enjoy your sledging
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November 6th, 2010
Birtley’s under 15 girls produced an excellent performance today in Mansfield. The trio of Paige Gilhespy, Sophie Forster and Lydia Turner finished in 7th position from 88 teams accross the country. Very well done from all at BirtleyAC. Well done also to Adrian Bailes returning from a long lay off due to injury. Full report and results to follow.
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October 31st, 2010
A bright, sunny morning with a light breeze greeted runners for the second Harrier League of the season held at Farringdon school and hosted by Sunderland Harriers. The race programme opened up with a combined race for the under 11 age group. There was a good turn out of some 46 youngsters completing the 1 mile loop with the following Birtley athletes all finishing strongly. Amelia Bateman was again the first Birtley runner home followed by Kieran Taylor, Jessica Morgan (having her first race for the club) and Sophie Ward. The under 13 boys came next and with Jack Foley having qualified for the fast pack last week it was left to his team mates to challenge for top spot. The team had finished 2nd last week in the league and the pressure was on to perform well again this week. They certainly did that, from a field of 45 Birtley had three finishers in the top 8 to give them first team. Led home in overall first place by Lewis Morgan who was having only his second race for the club, Luke Kelly and Adam Ridley made sure of an exellent team position. Jack also ran well to back up the team from the fast pack. Due to injuries and holidays Birtley fielded only one under 13 girl and Olivia Bateman who finished third last week and therefore ran from the fast did exceptionally well to run through to 7th position overall (3rd fast packer). The under 15 boys had two Birtley runners Callum Maclean and Matthew Norton who both ran well in their first cross country of the season. Next up were the all conquering under 15 girls who continued their rich vein of form to take first team for the second week in a row. Running from the fast pack Lydia Turner finished third, Sophie Forster 5th and Paige Gilhespy 7th with Sarah Murray backing up. The under 17 boys saw a return to cross country for Daniel Turner who ran very well to finish in 8th place. Next up were the Senior men who fielded a magnificent 16 runners and produced 6 counters in the first 66 from a field of 366. First home for the club was Darren Purvis 4th who was pushed all the way by Zak Scott 5th then followed Shaun Laws 25th Karl Oakes 52nd new comer Peter Farnie 65th all from the slow pack and Lee Millmore 66th from the medium. With 4 or 5 runners unavailable on the day the dream of promotion this season could prove a reality. Well done to all who competed in what proved a very successful day for Birtley AC.
see sportsoft race results for full results
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October 23rd, 2010
The opening race of the 2010/11 Harrier Leagues was today ran at Cramlington Nature Reserve and hosted by Blyth running club.
A night of showers had left the ground saturated ready for hundreds of runners to churn it up into mud.
New for 2010/11 was the under 11’s running in a combined straight race for girls and boys. Kicking off at 12.15 they ran one small lap of approximatly 1.1k running around the perimeter of “the bowl”. Birtley fielded 3 runners Amelia Bateman, Kieran Taylor and Michael McNally who all had brilliant runs, eager for next weeks second harrier league at Farringdon.
In the Under 13 boys we had new comers Jack Foley and Lewis Morgan with experienced racer Adam Ridley running one large lap of 3.2k course. Adam finished 11th outside the top 10 so we will watch the official results to see if he has moved into the fast pack.
Three of Under 13 girls completed the same testing course with Olivia Bateman finishing 2nd from the slow pack. She was followed by Danielle Graham and Danielle Coulson both having gutsy runs.
By the U15 boys the course was nice and muddy but this did not put off Sean Ridley flying the flag as the only Birtley runner.
Four runners turned out for the U15 girls Sarah Murray, Sophie Forster, Lydia Turner and Paige Gilhespy. Lydia won the race from the slow pack.
Just 3 years ago in the same race the Senior Men Birtley only managed to field 5 runners. Today 11 Birtley Vests crossed the finishing line, running 3 large laps. Well done to Dan Fletcher having his first Harrier League race as a Senior. Tony Forster for having his first race for the club.
Birtley still need to get toes on the line in the Under 17 Men and Women and Junior/Senior Men and Women. Come on, join your club mates and race.
At the time of writing official results had not been published so keep and eye on race results for positions and times. Also watch out for photos of todays race being added to the “Photos” section of the website.
Well done to everyone who turned out and thank you to all the Birtley supports for cheering. Thank you to Blyth running club and officials for orgainsing an enjoyable afternoon of cross country.
Looking forward the Farringdon next week 30/11/2010
Results now published
http://www.race-results.co.uk/results/2010/index.php
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October 11th, 2010
At Graves Park, Sheffield on Saturday 9th October 2010.
The same Birtley Trio of Paige, Sophie and Lydia from the road relay champs traveled to Sheffield for the inaugural running of the Northern Crosscountry champs.
With confidence and experience after their 4th placing a week earlier the 3 managed to move into the medal placing with an excellent 3rd place.
Race report By Adrian Bailes
Following on from last weeks successes at the northern road relays the under 15 girls team prepared for the 2 and a half hour haul to Sheffield. The group of Paige Gilhespy, Sophie Forster, Lydia Turner with there parents and friend Adrian Bailes all met at the turners house at 8 o clock and by half 8 we set off with Tony Forster leading us and Julie Turner following in convoy.
After the journey we arrived slightly rushed to make it to the start of the race in time. All in good spirit the team ran to the start of the race and Tony collected the team numbers whilst the team did a group warm up. The team were all determined to go at least one place than last weeks 4th place and Paige set off for a quick 2k with two ‘large (or so they say) hills in it. As I stood at the top of this hill, I now realized how large the hill was by some of the grimaces on some of the athletes faces. Paige got up the hill very well and then worked hard chasing the athletes ahead of her and finished the first leg in 13th position. Next person to take to the course was Sophie Forster and she set off rapidly and then the next time I saw her at the top of the hill she seemed to have maintained that harsh pace she started with. Although she thought that at the top of the hill she came out at the next corner she continued pushing on and finished her leg with Chelsea Jarvis of Stockport harriers who won the English schools 800m last year chasing her down but Sophie managed to hold her off and complete her leg in an impressive 5th place. Now it was the last leg and we were set up for an exciting last leg with the four athletes ahead of Lydia all with considerable gaps she like Sophie and Paige set off chasing down the athletes before her determined to get a medal. At the top of the hill Lydia came around in 4th place and with about 400m left Lydia passed the girl in 3rd place and had the team in the bronze medal position. Lydia battled hard and managed to pull away from the girl who was now in 4th place and she was chasing down 1st and 2nd race but as they turned the corner into the finishing straight the two leaders raced each other neck and neck all the way and the gap was just too big for Lydia to catch them up. The team finished the relay in 3rd place beating Stockport Harriers who won last weeks road relays. It was a very good day out and well worth the journey. The team were more than satisfied with there bronze medal in the northern cross country relays.
For the Evening Chronicles coverage click here
http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/sport/athletics-news/2010/10/13/relay-championships-fail-attract-region-s-clubs-72703-27454193/
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September 11th, 2010
Birtley AC has given a promising start to the 2010/11 crosscountry season by fielding 29 runners over the day’s races. Sunderland Harriers Open crosscountry races are seen by many as the start of the crosscountry season and it could have been a really wet one after the previous night’s showers. Luckily the weather became bright and warm drying off a lot of the ground water so that conditions under foot did not become muddy. There were six races with Birtley fielding runners in all but one. Straight races for the younger athletes and senior women. Relays for Senior and Veteran men.
Under 11 boys and girls ran a 1000m course starting and finishing on playing fields the same as all the other races with some slight up and down hills. This race gave our under 11’s a good taste of what the harrier leagues will be like as on the 30th October Sunderland will again play host to the second of the years harrier league fixtures.
Under 11 Girls
| Amelia Bateman |
7th |
5.01 |
| Sophie Ward |
10th |
5.31 |
Under 11 Boys
| Michael McNally |
10th |
4.59 |
| Kieron Taylor |
12th |
5.16 |
| Joel Flowers |
14th |
5.42 |
All the below age groups ran the same 1.8 mile course.
Under 13 Girls
| Olivia Bateman |
3rd |
12.08 |
| Danielle Coulson |
12th |
13.20 |
Under 13 Boys
| Adam Ridley |
16th |
12.03 |
| Luke Kelly |
19th |
12.18 |
| Andrew Baxter |
24th |
12.31 |
Under 15 Girls
| Lydia Turner |
1st |
10.33 |
| Sophie Forster |
3rd |
11.02 |
| Paige Gilhespy |
6th |
12.02 |
| Sarah Murray |
15th |
17.32 |
Under 15 Boys
Under 17 Women
Under 17 Men
Relays
Senior Men A 5th team 40.04
| Shawn Laws |
|
10.21 |
| Josh McEnaney |
|
10.09 |
| Neil Allan |
|
9.49 |
| Lee Millmore |
|
9.45 |
Senior Men B 11th team 43.46
| Ronnie Eillies |
|
10.48 |
| Michael Keenan |
|
10.59 |
| Dan Fletcher |
|
10.43 |
| Stevie Barras |
|
11.16 |
Veteran Men A 10th team 48.48
| Karl Oakes |
|
10.34 |
| Pat Kelly |
|
15.22 |
| Brian Bailes |
|
11.36 |
| Dave Kelly |
|
11.16 |
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