119th North Eastern Cross Country Championships
Stewart Park, Middlesbrough – 13/12/25
The JJ men took on a tough, undulating course around Stewart Park, Middlesbrough, for the 119th running of the North Eastern Cross Country Championships. Conditions and terrain ensured this was a proper championship test, and as the gun went the commentator’s advice rang out clearly: “Don’t burst the boiler.” At the sharp end, strong runs from Silas and Richard saw them home as the first two JJs. Behind them, excellent packing from the next group of JJs paid dividends, with several runners coming through together around the 47-minute mark for the demanding 11km course. In a highly competitive field, the JJ men finished a very creditable 11th out of 20 teams. A solid team performance and plenty to build on — well done lads, great running.
As is tradition at the North East XC Championships, the women closed the day’s racing, tackling a gruelling 8km course that had been well and truly churned up by earlier races.
Izzy and Hannah were inseparable for much of the race, running stride for stride before Izzy found an extra gear in the closing stages to pull clear and finish an excellent 23rd, with Hannah just one place behind in 24th. Alice, Sorcha and Yasmin all ran strongly to place inside the top 50, while impressive packing from the rest of the JJs saw the team finishing within touching distance of one another. Maia, made her North East XC debut, running in the colours of Oxford University. A special mention goes to Sophie, who dug deep in tough conditions to finish inside 55 minutes.
The team competition was fiercely contested, with the JJs women finishing 5th team overall. Notably, they were the joint largest team of the day, doing your Chairman proud. A fantastic collective performance. Well done, ladies!