From Petra Bijsterveld…
The Yorkshire Cross Country Championships returned after a Covid-related hiatus in 2021. In previous years the event has been held at Lightwater Valley, but this venue is no longer available so the organisers scouted for a new home and settled on Kiveton Park just south of Sheffield. A park and woodland area created out of a former colliery site it provided an excellent cross country venue with plenty of mud, a decent hill and a couple of small water jumps. The weather was fairly unremarkable for January, not icy cold but cool enough, a bit of a breeze with intermittent heavy showers. Attendance overall was a little down on previous years but there was a good turnout from Ilkley (though there is always room for more runners in the XC tent!) and some excellent running. The star of the day was Jemima Elgood who won the senior women’s race, only 10 days after her stunning 10K time of 33:12 at Ribble Valley.
U17 women
(1 15:33 Evie Thompson, Rotherham Harriers)
5 16:15 Emily Gibbins
21 ran
U20 women
(1 19:47 Alice Jones, Wharfedale Harriers)
14 Poppy Anderson
17 ran
U20 men
(1 21:10 Theo Jacques, Skyrac AC)
8 22:38 Nathan Coy
20 ran
Senior women
1 25:46 Jemima Elgood
42 31:45 Rachel Carter
55 33:51 Fay Walsh
64 34:45 Sarah Pickering
103 41:47 Petra Bijsterveld
113 ran
7th team out of 15
Senior men
(1 29:52 Joshua Dickinson, Leeds City)
8 31:19 Tom Adams
22 32:27 Dominic Coy
35 34:11 Cameron Reilly
73 37:28 Steven Gott
76 37:33 Dan McKeown
95 39:26 Tim Ashelford
124 41:19 Steven Coy
143 42:39 David Westhead
201 ran
8th team out of 21