Stewart Park, Middlesbrough – 13/12/25

The JJs women started the day sitting in second place in Division 1 of the NEHL after a post-race recount from Druridge Bay saw us demoted. With a few of the usual faces missing from the first two races, the 11 JJs who lined up absolutely stepped up and delivered some brilliant performances, keeping us right up there in the standings still in 2nd place. Izzy had a superb run, flying through from the medium pack to finish 14th overall and 3rd in the Division 1 race. Yasmin was next home in 44th, also from the medium pack, followed by Wren and club captain Kate, both having stormers and leading by example to complete the first scoring four. Not far behind, Hannah, Emma, Alice, and Liz packed well to form a strong second team — helping the JJs to finish 5th on the day and hold on to 2nd place overall. A fantastic team effort from all the JJs women running, on what was a tough, hilly course in the autumn sunshine. Next stop: Wrekenton — let’s keep the momentum going!

Race Results 2 – NEHL XC – Lambton Estate – Round 3 – 25/10/25

A great race in near perfect cross country saw 19 JJs men tackle the hills at the Lambton Estate course and round 3 of the NEHL. At the start of the race, the JJs men were lying 8th in Division 2 and they needed a good performance to take them up the table. The men delivered and brought themselves home in 1st place to lift them up to 5th. Louis joined the small band of JJs to collect an individual medal with 3rd place and our second this year with Louis first in the Div 2 race. Max followed his brother home and the JJs came rolling in. Joshua running the race with a smile on his face all way round was next with Richard, Nicholas, coming out of the medium pack and Alex make his club debut made the first scoring six. The JJs men then packed well behind to ensure their opponents were pushed down. Great to see James also making his JJs debut. Well done lads, a great win, let’s keep the momentum going at Wrekenton in a months time.

Race Results – NEHL Druridge Bay Men’s Race – 12/10/25

Four JJs set off for the south of the region, Darlington, and a new course for the North East XC championships. A windy but dry day greeted them on a typical championship course of a fast flat course with some small inclines and drops. The women went first and Sarah Wann was our only representative. Sarah took the race in her stride covering the 6km course in a decent 33:07, a very different distance to what Sarah normally does. Sarah brought home the gold medal in the W45 age group and is North East XC champion for 2023.

The men went off next with Simon Wells going out fast, and for once holding that pace. Cliff Veitch and Matty Down gave chase but couldn’t get back on equal terms with Simon over the four laps and 8km of the race. Simon was first JJ home, something that he hasn’t done for a long while with Cliff coming home in the next position and Matty two places down on Cliff. A great run from the three saw them take the bronze medal in the M45-54 category, with Cliff and Matty having to race in the younger age group to ensure the JJ men completed a team.

A great day of racing with some medals to bring home. The British Masters Championship is being held in our region for the first time in a long while and it would be good to have a good entry of our Over 35 year runners. As shown yesterday, medals can be won and a British Medal would be a good prize. The race is at the Rising Sun Park on the 18th March and entries can be done here https://www.nemaa.co.uk/bmafxc2023.html

Women’s Race

14th Sarah Wann 33:07 1st W45

Men’s Race

34th Simon Wells 39:56 7th M50
35th Cliff Veitch 40:17 9th M55
36th Matty Down 40:42 10th M55

Team Race – M45-54

1st Houghton Harriers 1:50:41
2nd Crook & District AC 1:52:49
3rd Jesmond Joggers 2:00:55

Women’s Race

The women set off first with Laura Chapman looking like she was meaning business, leading the field round the open field at the start. Laura, who is in full marathon training, used her strength to push hard and come home 8 seconds down in second place behind the Sunderland Harrier and 43 seconds faster than last year and the 3rd fastest JJ time of the day. Straight after her leg, Laura set off on a 21 mile training run back to Jesmond to keep her marathon training on track. Sophie Reynolds then set off and had a stormer to take off 50 seconds from last years’ time to bring home the JJs in 3rd place. In form Liz Heard took off for the last leg and against tough competition brought the JJs home in a respectable 5th place and going under 13mins, a great achievement. A great start to the XC season for the women.

5th Laura Chapman 10:54 Sophie Reynolds 13:08 Liz Heard 12:48

Men’s Race

With the women showing the way, the JJ men had two teams on the start line. 19 years after running at the Farringdon cross country for the first time, the talented Jake Archer led the A team out with debutant Calvin Marsland leading off the B team. Jake ran a superb 10:11, taking off 33 secs off last year and Calvin a great 11:02, to record the 4rd fastest JJ time of the day. Niran Patel and Cliff Veitch were off next with great runs. Mark Adamson and Angus Routledge went off on the 3rd legs both running solid times and handing over to Joe Kirtley, another making his JJs debut and running a very solid time of 10:39 and Angus Miller. Angus brought home the B team with a good 12:09, showing that the recent foray in to Ultra Running hasn’t dented his speed. The A team manged a good 9th place with the B team coming home in 19th. Well done men, looking forward to the first NEHL race of the season.

9th Thomas Jake Archer 10:11 Niran Patel 11:06 Mark Adamson 11:03 Joe Kirtley 10:39

19th Calvin Marsland 11:02 Cliff Veitch 12:27 Angus Routledge 12:01 Angus Miller 12:09

Simon Wells 4/9/22

The NE XC Relay Championships took place at a much different Thornley Farm, basked in sunshine and a lot less mud than at the recent NEHL. With the race run over a different course it still had its challenges with the ground being bumpy and a few wet patches, it was hard to get in your stride over the 3000m distance. With a lot of the NE larger clubs not putting in any entries, it was good to get a JJs team out, much to the delight of Bill McGuirk, the NECAA chairman. Tom Dowling lined up first after a good individual XC season. Tom flew round the course bringing home the JJs in 9^th place with the JJs fastest time of the day of 12.29. Ben McMain, in his second XC of the season following injury, took over with a good run of 13.10 moving us up to 8^th. Niran went off third and held on to 8^th place with a time 9 seconds off Ben.  Simon, took off on the fourth leg, enjoying his time back in the A team with the young lads, but sadly slipping two places with the team finishing in 10^th place overall.

It was good close to the XC season, in which the JJs had a very successful season. With spring road season beginning, it will be good to carry that success on to roads.

10^th       Jesmond Joggers – 0:52:51  Tom Dowling     12:29   (9) Ben McMain 13:10 (8) Niran Patel 13:19 (8)        Simon Wells    13:53

Race report 1: Senior and Vet Women’s race

A record breaking 17 JJ females took the line at the wonderful XC course in Alnwick Pastures, looked over the by the 11th Century Alnwick Castle. A venue that had witnessed enough history of the years was about to witness the JJ women making their own history. The talk prior to the race was whether the women would be able to stave off relegation from Division 1 and keep their place in the higher echelons of the NEHL. We needed have worried. With Emily Green and Izzy Sharrock making their League debuts and Izzy her club debut, the women stormed the barricades and planted the JJs flag at the top of the Division 1 race. The first scoring four all got in the top 20. With the rest of the JJs women packing closely behind, the women blocked the other Division 1 clubs from getting anywhere near the top. A highest finish of any JJs team to top the highest NE division. Emily, Izzy, Sarah Bowen and Megan Rowland stormed round the course, but it would be unfair to just highlight those four. All the JJs did themselves and the club proud with an immense display of running. Emily Green’s sprint finish to overall the women in fifth place was immense, with a spectator standing next to me saying ‘wow, that’s a turn of speed!” Laura Chapman finishing place relegated Gateshead Harriers as had she passed the Wallsend Harrier in front they would have got down instead. Emily Pass using her marathon training strength pushed through the field chased by a ever smiling Georgia Beatty. Great to see Emma Curtis making her NEHL debut as well.

With the JJs women finishing top of the League race, it meant that the women finished 5th in Division 1, another first for the JJs in a history setting day. Thank you for every female JJ who ran in the NEHL this season. This is all of your achievement. We are very proud of you.

Race report 2: Senior and Vet Men’s race

With men going after the women’s race, the men knew that they would have to pull out all the stops to not hide in their shadow. This they did with aplomb. A record Twenty-nine male JJs took the start line, with 9 making their NEHL debuts including Dave Watson, who after 9 years as a member, finally succumbed to all those announcements on club nights and decided that it was time to don the JJs vest over the country.

Joel Birks left off where he finished at Thornley farm and finished in the top ten, this time starting in the medium pack and setting the JJs fastest time of the day. Diggory Slee making a great debut run got inside the top 20, ensuring promotion to the medium pack next season. Great to see Ben McMain back racing following his injury problems but looking back on track. The race to get in the first six was tough with another returnee from injury, Mark Critchley just missing out. Niran Patel was just behind him, having taken a break and stopped his watch, being the only JJ on the day with a running time and an actual time on his Strava. Am sure Seb Coe never did that……..

The men had an outside chance of promotion but it wasn’t to be with the men still acquitting themselves well on the day with a 5th place finish and a 4th place finish in Division 2 at the end of the season. The highest the men had ever finished the season to add to the women’s history making. To think in 2018, we were struggling to complete a men’s team at the same fixture. Well done to every male JJ who pulled themselves round a NEHL fixture this year, sometimes in complete mudbaths. We should be proud of our achievement this season. Can we go better next year season? Time will tell.

Simon Wells 6/3/22

Angus Miller’s report of the day is as follows:

I met Geoff at Kings Cross Station and made our way to get the 214 bus to Parliament Hill.  About five minutes into the journey Geoff realised that we were going the wrong way.  The bus driver didn’t know where Hampstead Heath was which was helpful.  We got off the bus and got on the correct bus and we could tell we were on the correct bus as there was runners from all around the country asking the driver if the bus went to Hampstead Heath.

We got off the bus and made our way through the event village seeing all the juniors covered in mud. The tannoy announcements emphasised the scale of the event. We went and picked up our number and ankle tag.

The sun was shining and the weather was perfect for running.  We saw the queue for hoodies and joined the queue to get a hoody to remind us of the mud.  We walked down the hill and saw the senior women stretched along the start line.
The women were off battling their way up the hill.  The women’s race was 8km and was won in a time of 29 minutes by Jess Gibbon of Reading AC.
We walked to the tented village which was like Glastonbury with all the clubs that were entered. We found a little area that was dry where we could change prior to the race.

We spoke to South London AC and put our bags next to them prior to the race. The time had come to wish each other good luck and make our way to the start line, waiting for the starting orders. 3pm came and we were off.

The course was muddy and everyone was battling to stay up right and not lose any spikes. It felt at times like I was on Strictly Come Dancing.  I dug in and got my head down and looked at the mud.  I am glad I put tape round my spikes but I still nearly lost my spike.

Geoff had to stop and find his spike and put it back on. I was near to the final lap when I heard spectators shout saying that the leaders were coming through. I looked by and saw them flying through the field. I saw Alex Yee a gold medalist from Tokyo Olympics fly past. The winner of the men’s race Mahamed Mahemed who runs for Southampton won the race 12km in a time of 40:52.

I made my way back to my bag broken and covered in mud.  My right hamstring was gone. I do ask myself why I put myself through hell.

Overall a really hard race both mentally and physically.  I am glad I did it and will definitely do it again. It was a lovely course with great views.  Next time I am in London I might come and walk round the course.

We got the bus back to London Kings Cross where Geoff went back to Newcastle and I went off and met my cousin. With Newcastle winning it was a good day all round.

Official times:

Angus Miller: 1:11:10
Geoff Blair: 1:18:48

The four men set off just after one with the wind getting stronger, a warm up jog up the starting straight didn’t bode well with the wind howling in to our faces. The men started in to the wind and the men’s field charged in to the wind and up the first hill. The wind and lack of rain meant the ground under foot was good to firm going and the JJs master thoroughbreds made light work of the first hill without the mud from the last XC we had encountered. At the top it was still blowing a hooley as Tom moved effortlessly down the hill and in to what shelter there was. Cliff was steady as usual building through the field with Simon not far behind and Rob bringing up the rear. The men enjoyed the different course and the slightly different distance of 5.2 miles than the normal 6miles of the NEHL. Unfortunately, we scored only one complete team, in the M45-54 age group due to late withdrawals. A tough age category saw the team finish 6^th.

Great running in difficult conditions and a competitive fields in all age categories.

The NE Masters Association run different events for all athletes over 35, and you race within your own age group. Watch out for the more races coming up such as the Summer Track and Field League and other races.

Woman’s Race

72^nd Kari Best              0:31:33            11^th W45

Men’s Race

53^rd      Tom     Dowling           0:35:53            9^th M45

82^nd     Cliff      Veitch              0:39:10            12^th M55

87^th      Simon  Wells               0:40:08            20^th M50

102^nd   Rob      Dooley             0:43:27            18^th M45

Men’s Team Race – M45-49 (aggregate time)

 6^th Dowling, Wells, Dooley  1:59:28