Northern Counties Cross Country Relay Championships

Graves Park, Sheffield

Saturday 22^nd October 2016

The annual Northern Counties cross country relays were staged once again at Graves Park in the city of Sheffield. The event is the first major meeting of the 2016/17 cross country season in the north of England and it includes races covering all the athletics age ranges from under 11’s up to senior athletes and beyond. There is always a good turnout for the event and this year was no exception with just under 1200 runners turning out for the races.

All the competitors compete for their individual clubs with the junior relays contested over three legs and the seniors over four legs.

Kingston’s juniors were represented by two relay teams, one a team of under13 boys and the other a team of under15 girls. The club also fielded two senior men’s teams, the ‘A’ team consisting of three of our under 20’s together with a senior athlete. The ‘B’ team was an incomplete one with two more under 20’s and a further senior athlete.

The under13 boy’s team consisted of Adam Fox, Thomas Smales and Jevon Mills.

Adam and Tom  had both made their Kingston debuts at the 2015 relay championships and they have made good progress in all areas in the last twelve months. Adam finished in 4^th place at the County cross country championships this January with Tom finishing 5^th they also ran together for the County in March’s national inter counties meeting in Birmingham. The track & field season saw Adam win the County 200 metres title and the silver medal over 100 metres and both boys put in excellent performances for the club throughout the 2016 league campaign in the UK Youth Development league.

Jevon Mills has been a Kingston athlete since 2015 and he made his County debut in November of that year in the regional final of the English Schools cross country cup at Chesterfield, a second County call came his way this time as a high jumper at the Inter Counties track & field meeting this September in Nuneaton.

Adam Fox took out the baton on the first leg of the relay and he completed the 1.8 kilometre course in a time of 5:53s, handing over the baton in 20^th place to Thomas Smales who ran the course in 6:01s the 13^th fastest time on the leg. The baton was collected by Jevon Mills for the third and final leg and he recorded the 14th fastest time on leg three, carrying the baton over the finish line in 6:02s, for a total team time of 17:56s.

44 teams took part in the under 13 boy’s relay and the Kingston team finished in overall 16^th place.

The athletes in the under 15 girl’s team which was run over a two kilometre course were Daisy Evans, Jodie Martin and Katy Greenacre.

Daisy Evans has been training with Kingston since 2014 and this was her second appearance at the Northern Counties relay meeting, having run at the 2015 event. She has competed this year at two UK Youth Development League matches and at the clubs ‘Spring Open’ this April.

2016 has been an outstanding year for Jodie Martin which began at the County cross country championships in January where she was the silver medallist. March saw her selected for the County team at the National Inter counties meeting in Birmingham. Two further County call ups came this time on the track, firstly at the Northern Athletics inter counties event at Costello in August and the under13 & 15 Inter Counties meeting in Nuneaton in September. She was the 800 metres gold medallist at the Humberside Schools Championships and 800 metres silver medallist at the County Championships. This year’s crowning achievement however came at the Northern Championships at Middlesbrough where Jodie won her first major medal, picking up an excellent silver in the 800 metres final.

Katy Greenacre is in her third competitive season with Kingston and she has been in action this year at one of the clubs Youth Development League fixtures and also had a run out at the Humberside Schools Championships. This meeting was her second appearance at the Northern Counties relays having competed at the 2015 event.

Daisy Evans ran the first leg and she covered the two kilometres in a time of 9:16s and she handed the baton over in 34^th place to Jodie Martin who was the second leg runner, she put in a big effort and ran the 14^th fastest leg  handing over the baton in a time of 8:42s to Katy Greenacre who ran the final leg in a time of 9:27s the 26^th fastest time to post a total team time of 27:25s.

37 teams ran in the under 15 girl’s race with the Kingston team finishing in overall 28^th place.

The senior men’s ‘A’ team was made up of one senior athlete Oliver Newton and three under 20’s Shaun Smith, Harry Powell and Baldvin Magnusson.

Oliver Newton is now a student at Loughborough University he is still a Kingston member and competes for the club over the cross country courses and also on the track in the Northern Senior League matches. He is a highly respected athlete and has long been a mainstay of Kingston’s league teams.

2016 has been a frustrating year for Shaun Smith who had to endure eight months on the sidelines with injury following his last race of 2015 at the British cross country challenge meeting in Liverpool. He did not return to action until July of this year when he competed at the clubs final Youth Development League fixture at Costello and what a race that was, Shaun looked very strong and he dominated the rest of the field running a new PB into the bargain. He ran the 3000 metres at  a Stretford Grand Prix meeting in August and in September he saw action in the Northern Counties 6 stage road relays in Manchester.

Harry Powell has been in superb form throughout the whole of 2016 he started the new year with a gold medal at the County cross country championships and 6 days later made his representative debut for Northern England at the Antrim International cross country meeting where he took 5^th place. Next up was an 11^th place finish at the Northern championships, all of this in the month of January. In March he took 9^th place in the national Inter Counties meeting in Birmingham. On the track at the Northern Championships he won both the 5000 metres and 3000 metres titles.

Baldvin Magnusson also had a good start to the year putting in standout performances at major cross country meetings, finishing high up in the field at the Northern Championships as well as the English Championships the English Schools event and the National Championships. The track & field season saw him win the bronze medal in the Northern 5000 metres final and also take the 1500 metres bronze at the County Championships.

Oliver Newton carried the baton on the first leg over the two mile course and he covered the ground in a time of 11:01s crossing the line in 28^th place and handed over the baton to Shaun Smith who ran 10:47s the 8^th fastest time of the second leg before passing the baton to Harry Powell whose outstanding run of 10:34s, the 4^th fastest time saw him hand over to Baldvin Magnusson for the last leg and he covered the course in 11:05s (11^th fastest) to bring the team safely home in a total time of 43:27s.

67 teams competed in the senior men’s race with the Kingston team finishing in 10^th place.

The men’s incomplete ‘B’ team  were under 20’s Josh Taylor-Brown and Jack Brothwell with senior colleague Simon Downs. The 3 athletes each ran a leg and their times and positions were recorded but they were not placed in the team competition.

On the track Josh Taylor-Brown is the reigning County 1500 metres champion and he also ran in two finals at the 2016 Northern Championships where he took 4^th place in the 3000 metres final and 6^th place in the 1500 metres final. On the cross country circuit he was a 4^th place finisher at the County championships and he put in a very good performance at the National Inter Counties cross country championships in Birmingham

Jack Brothwell is the reigning County cross country champion and he also produced impressive performances at the Northern cross country championships as well as the English Championships and the National Inter Counties event. On the track he was the 1500 metres silver medallist at the County Championships and he competed in the 1500 metres final at the Northern Championships.

Simon Downs is a senior athlete who joined Kingston earlier this year, he is a road runner and cross country runner and he covers just about anything you can think of. He made a most welcome debut for the senior team in the Northern Division 1 match at Sheffield this summer, where on an extremely hot and humid day he ran in both the 5000 metres and the 3000 metres steeplechase.

Josh Taylor-Brown led the team off on the first leg and he completed the course in a time of 10:53s handing the baton over in 23^rd place, Jack Brothwell took over and he covered the second leg in 11:22s handing over the baton in 24^th place, Simon Downs ran the third  leg in 12:53s and crossed the line in 43^rd position.