From Dan McKeown…
A brave trio of Harriers made the trip down the M1 to Sheffield for the Yorkshire Veterans’ AA Cross Country Championships on Saturday. We were hopeful of retaining our V40-49 gold medal from two years ago, bringing in Matt Cox as a replacement for Istvan, with me and Steve returning to defend our crown.
Alas, road closures and a general lack of car parking at Norfolk Park meant we were denied a warmup. Then, when the gun went off, a suspiciously spry-looking vet from Barnsley tore off like a scalded cat, lighting a fire under the entire field and turning the first (largely downhill) half mile into some kind of weird parody of cheese rolling for the elderly.
The c10k course settled down into a routine of teeth-grinding uphills and pitched downhills, packing in over 900 feet of elevation which, for a bit of context, is more than double what we had to contend with in either the Yorkshire or the Northern XC Champs. There were also a few rabbit holes which St John Ambulance had judiciously placed themselves near.
The three of us kept a wary, weary eye on each other, but it was Steve who proved the most durable, finishing 10th in the V35-49 race, 4th V45, with Matt and me coming in 11th and 12th respectively.
A commendable performance – no individual medals, but a team silver. Well done to Rotherham, who got all three of their scorers in ahead of Steve.
There are other Yorkshire Vets championship races coming up, plus a grand prix which Harriers can enter (we’re a YVAA-affiliated club), so check out their website at https://www.yvaa.org/ to see what’s on. Remember – “if you’re old enough, you’re good enough”.
YVAA XC M35-49 race
(Winning time 34:03, 76 ran)
10 Steve Gott 37:58
11 Matt Cox 38:10
12 Dan McKeown 38:23