From Dan McKeown…

Photo credit William Overton

Last Sunday saw the 2024 edition of the Yorkshire Veterans AA Cross Country Championships at Penistone Showground.

In the leadup to the race, I set myself the ambitious target of motivating enough Harriers to enter that we’d need to take a second car. Despite my best efforts – and perhaps my best-ever recruitment slogan (“Let’s bring some more mutton to this BBQ”) – it was, again, a single carload. And I didn’t even have to take out the child seat to make extra room.

Joining me on the expedition were crocked cyclist Steve Gott and poorly triathlete Danny T, both of whom had been too banged up to complete the PECO season. Nonetheless, with only 130-odd runners on the start line – and a good number of them genuinely old enough to be my dad – we were optimistic about our prospects of a team medal, provided we could all make it round the four-lap 10k course.

A word on the course: it set off up a gravelly track with concrete crossing that made me regret bringing long spikes, before sweeping downhill into a left-hand U-turn in a soggy bog. Heading back uphill, we turned round again to do a long section into a headwind before doing another detour through the bog, then heading back to the start field for the end of the lap. Wave to adoring fans. Go round again.

The previous two editions of the race had followed a set pattern of one guy steaming off at 34-minute pace, and several foolhardy people trying to give chase and blowing themselves up. This time was a much more tactical affair, although it was last year’s winner and runner-up to the fore, eyeing each other up like a pair of cats in a sack. I was a distant third place at the end of lap one and lost a few places before the end to come in sixth, which was enough for third in the M45 category.

(For keen followers of local veterans’ athletics, I can report that Mike Burrett of Leeds City dethroned two-time champion Scott Hinchcliffe of Barnsley AC. Apparently, the decisive break came on the second lap, but I was already too far behind to verify this.)

Neither of the last two winning teams had made the trip to Penistone, so I was beginning to hope we might even scoop the team gold for the first time since 2020. I divided what little breath I had remaining between cheering home Steve (12th) and Danny (21st), and shouting at runners from other teams that they still had one more lap to go (doesn’t hurt to try).

After a brief and painful warmdown, we were cheek by jowl in the bowling club bar with a pint of mild and the rest of the oldies to hear the results. Sure enough, we were confirmed winners of the M40 team category, a golden end to Steve’s first season as XC captain. Sadly, we don’t appear on the individual medals table, as our solitary bronze was mistakenly credited to Totley.

That about wraps it up for the 23/24 cross country season, other than the postponed National Championship, which I believe is scheduled to take place in September, as if late March XC wasn’t bad enough. Let’s hope it’s a wet summer.

Results:

(1 Mike Burrett, Leeds City 36:32)
6 Dan McKeown 39:39 (3rd M45)
12 Steve Gott 41:13 (5th M45)
21 Danny Thompson 43:04 (7th M45)