Young local athletes stake claim for championships

The Durham Schools' Cross Country Championships saw young athletes making their bid for a place on the County team for the English Schools' Championships at Nottingham on Saturday, March 5.

The first 16 home in six events have now been selected for the Inter County match at Preston Park, Stockton, on Saturday, February 6.

This will be the final race for athletes to show their form before eight athletes in each age group gain national selection.

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Houghton Harriers had many athletes representing West Wearside in the County Championships at Meadowfield and they came away with much success.

Top of the pile came 13-year-old Henry Johnson, the North East under-13 cross country champion, who won the junior boys’ race. His clubmate Will Bellamy was fifth.

Jamie Reed, representing Durham Central, was runner-up in the inter boys, Lily Hardy was third in the junior girls and her twin Eva was fourth, and Lydia James took seventh.

There was another win for Houghton in the Year Seven girls’ race, where Nicole Phillips, representing Easington, triumphed and Amy Leonard (West Wearside was seventh).

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Sunderland Harriers were representing Wearside and they saw Jess Fox finish second in the senior girls event.

Sarah Knight was a bronze medallist in the inter girls and clubmate Eve Compson (West Wearside) finished fifth.

Mark Smith was also third in the senior boys and Jonny Howe finished fifth, and Chris Bell eighth.

Sean Mackie was sixth in the inter boys and Connor Prior was seventh in the Year Seven race.

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Results: Senior boys: 1 Joe Armstrong (Durham Cen) 22.46, 2 Kieran Walker (Easington) 23.25, 3 Mark Smith (Wearside) 23.38, 4 Joseph Bradley (Durham Cen) 24.10, 5 Jonathan Howe (Wearside) 24.17, 6 Christian Brown ( Darl) 24.51, 7 Jamie Wood (Darl) 25.07, 8 Chris Bell (Wearside) 25.18, 9 Tom Joyce (Gates) 25.27, 10 Lewis Terrell (Gates) 25.27.

Senior girls: 1 Olivia Bateman (Gates) 17.19, 2 Jessica Fox (Wearside) 17.34, 3Amy Foster (SW Durham) 18.29, 4 Amelia Leslie (Sth Tyne) 19.09, 5 Frankie Salter (Sth Tyne) 19.27, 6 Shona Haston (Darl) 19.54, 7 Fran Best (Gates) 20.07, 8 J Mikaela (Darl) 20.34, 9 Terri Stuart (Derwent) 20.50, 10 Rebecca Browne (Gates) 20.59.

Inters boys: 1 Michael Wade (Durham Cen) 18.33, 2 Jamie Reed (Durham Cen) 18.58, 3 Cameron Allan (Durham Cen) 18.44, 4 Max Harris (Darl) 18.45, 5 Matthew Dumniean (Darl) 18.51, 6 Sean Mackie (Wearside) 19.05, 7 Mathew Wakefield (Sth Tyneside) 19.22, 8 Luke Sinclair (Darl) 19.26, 9 Ryan Watson (SW Durham) 19.28, 10 M Phillips (West Wearside) 19.32.

Inter girls: 1 Lucy Erin Hunter (Darl) 16.12, 2 Stella Jones (Darl) 16.18, 3 Sarah Knight (Wearside) 16.27, 4 Hannah Short (Derwentside) 16.55, 5 Eve Quinn (West Wearside) 16.57, 6 Lizzie Cramb (SW Durham) 17.04, 7 Lisa Thornley (Gates) 17.06, 8 Katie Noble (Darl) 17.12, 9 Sarah Lipscombe (Sth Tyne) 17.26, 10 Bridget Bradshaw (Durham Cen) 17.30.

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Junior boys: 1 Henry Johnson (West Wearside) 15.56, 2 Cameron Thomas (SW Durham) 16.02, 3 Matthew Clough (Gates) 16.32, 4 D Openshaw (West Wearside) 16.43, 5 Will Bellamy (West Weaside) 16.47, 6 Daniel Joyce (Gates) 16.49, 7 Chris Stoddart (SW Durham) 16.50, 8 Izaak Taylor (Darl) 17.01, 9 Sam Gibson (Durham Cen) 17.14, 10 Harry Crawshaw (Darl) 17.23.

Junior girls: 1 India Pentland (SW Durham) 11.41, 2 Rebecca Wren (Gates) 11.52, 3 Lily Hardy (West Wearside) 12.02, 4 Eva Hardy (West Wearside) 12.19, 5 Megan Noble (Darl) 11.32, 6 Bethany Chapman (Sth Tyne) 12.33, 7 Lydia James (West Wearside) 12.35, 8 Katie Wood (Sth Tyne) 12.36, 9 Grace Mackie (Wearside) 12.37, 10 Chloe Fairclough (SW Durham) 12.43.

Year Seven boys: 1 Tom Wraith (SW Durham) 8.14, 2 Peter Cook (Durham Cen) 8.18, 3 J Russell (Darl) 8.20, 4 Joel Benner (Durham Cen) 8.21, 5 Josh Walsh (SW Durham) 8.24, 6 Charlie Phillips (Durham Cen) 8.25, 7 Connor Prior (Wearside) 8.25, 8 Will McKenna (Durham Cen) 8.30, 9 Connor Pam (Gates) 8.42, 10 Tyler Jaques (Durham Cen) 8.46.

Year Seven girls: 1 Nicole Phillips (Easington) 8.37, 2 Emily Chong (Durham Cen), 3 Tess Graham (SW Durham) 8.56, 4 Harriet Rogers (Darl) 9.06, 5 Scarlet Newton (Durham Cen) 9.07, 6 Caitlin Minns (Darl) 9.11, 7 Amy Leonard (West Wearside) 9.14, 8 Sarah Wilcock (Darl) 9.21, 9 Freya Kirtley ((Darl) 9.24, 10 Emily Salmon (Durham Cen) 9.28.