The early morning drizzle that accompanied us all the way to Peterlee, turned to persistent rain by the time we arrived, and pretty much stayed with us for the day. The procedures in place allowed for a very well run and Covid-safe environment for the athletes, with every race starting on the hour so that no age groups mixed on the course.
First off at 10:00am were the U13 girls, with Kora Howorth (we think the youngest runner on the course at 11 years and 3 days old) leading them off on first leg in a time of 18:21 in 15th place, handing onto Zoe Brissenden-Lang who pulled back 2 places in a time of 18:47 with Edith Miller bringing the team home in a very strong time of 17:08 and improving their position by a further 2 places to finish 11th overall.
Next up an hour later were the U13 Boys, who finished with enough shoes to complete a triple jump between them. First up was Freddie Palmer, the only member of the team to keep both shoes on his feet for the jump phase. Freddie ran an excellent first leg in 13:50 handing over to Henry Pickett who ran a solid 16:32 carrying one shoe for much of the race for the hop phase, with Lucas Powell bringing the Team home in 13th place also carrying one shoe for the step phase. I think we may invest in some tape for the next fixture!!
At midday, the U15 girls were up with Anna Dorman heading off first, bringing them in in 10th place in a time of 15:15, being backed up by Hope Moir in a time of 17:26 then Caitlin Attley in a time of 16:31, with the team finishing in 9th place. Thankfully, no shoe issues were experienced, but the rain kept falling. Anna was particularly pleased to be greeted by Rosie the Labradoodle at the end, who added 2 large paw prints to her vest design, possibly a late entry to the Anniversary vest design competition.
The last race TBH had representation in was the U15 boys race, with a very evenly matched team finishing in 8th place overall. Jake Moir ran the first leg in a time of 13:29 in 10th place. David Carr pulled 2 positions back in a time of 13:23 and Zak Kettle held the position running the fastest TBH time of the day (by 1 second) of 13:22.
This was a very welcome return to competition for the TBH juniors and the organisers should be commended for the efforts they made to ensure the safe running of this event.
Dave Moir
PS Thanks to Stuart Whitman for the fantastic photos.
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