29th March 2003. Aine Hoban has fantastic run for Britain in World Cross Country Champs.
Aine performed with great distinction for Great Britain in the U20 Womens World Cross Country Championships in Switzerland, and along with her team members was very unlucky not to return with a team medal. In a race dominated as usual by the Kenyan and Ethiopian runners, Aine was Britain's 3rd counter (and 10th European finisher) in an excellent 37th place, and the team finished 5th, just 4 points behind the third team. Congratulations to Aine on her first full international, and we look forward to seeing her competing many more times for her country.

27th March 2003. Midweek Distance League March Newsletter, containing results of the Carlton run from the Unicorn Inn, won by Rob Parfrey.

23rd March 2003. Penny Thackray wins Sheffield 10K.
The Wakefield girls make it a 1-2 in the Sheffield 10Km road race, with Penny Thackray returning to winning ways in 36:48, and Angela Dickie 2nd in 37:45. Sarah Beevors finished just outside the medals in 4th place in 39.12. Race Results from SportSoft

23rd March 2003. Adrian Howden makes winning debut for club.
There was a good turn out from Wakefield in the Ackworth Half Marathon, which incorporated the Yorkshire Half Marathon Championships. In his first run for the club Adrian won the M45 section, with Dave Brailsford just 8 seconds behind in 2nd place. Brian Horsfall was the club's first runner home, and these three packed well to give Wakefield 4th team out of the 43 teams that closed in. Richard West was just outside the medals as 4th M45, to underline the clubs strength in this category. Sharon Marshall was also just out of the medals in 4th place in the womens race. Race Results from SportSoft

2nd March 2003. New 60m Hurdles Club Record for Kerry Jury.
Kerry Jury set a new PB and Club Record of 8.48 for the 60m Hurdles, in the AAA indoor championships at the Birmingham NIA. She set her best time in the semi-finals and came 6th in the final. Ruth Dales also performed creditably, recording an excellent time of 8.83 in her semi-final in the same event.

2nd March 2003. Julie O'Mara first Lady home in Norton 9.
Julie ran out a clear winner in the women's race and 21st overall in 53:14. Race Results from John Schofield's ukresults.net

27th February 2003. Latest Midweek Distance League February Newsletter added, containing results of the Durkar run from the New Inn, won by Mark Ridgway.

22nd February 2003. Aine Hoban finishes 2nd in National U20 Cross Country Champs.
Aine had another fabulous run, coming 2nd in the U20 race at Parliament Hill fields to confirm her position as one the country's leading young distance running talents.
Junior Womens National Results from Sportsoft.
Aine was also featured in an article in Athletics Weekly this week.

16th February 2003. Mark Ridgway 3rd in first Yorkshire Vets League Race
Mark has made a welcome return to the club, and made his debut as a Vet finishing 3rd in the first league race at Horsforth. With Ian Walker in 11th, Peter Young 12th and Steve Wilkinson 18th the team finished 2nd behind the hosts, who had their strongest squad out.
Race Results from YVAA

12th February 2003. Club awarded grants from Ron Pickering Memorial Fund
Due to the club's success with its junior athletes, it was one of 26 clubs awarded a grant from the fund. Four of it's most outstanding junior athletes Cloe Beckett, Naida Bromley, Sarah Drake and Chris Kirk were also awarded individual grants as a result of their excellent performances last year.

11th February 2003. Aine Hoban Selected for Britain in World Cross Country Champs.
After her fantastic 2nd place in the Inter-Counties U20 race Aine, along with Dani Barnes, Catherine Wootton, and European Champion Charlotte Dale, has been selected to run for Great Britain in the World Cross Country Championships in Switzerland. We think this is the first time a Wakefield Harrier has had an international cross country vest since the 1960s. Congratulations to Aine on her selection, and we wish her well, and look forward to seeing her competing on TV. Details of GB team selections from UK Athletics

9th February 2003. Debbie Collinson wins England U20 International vest.
Debbie came 2nd competing for England in the Shot at the U20 Indoor International at Cardiff. She threw a new PB of 11.79m, and as she said herself "I can't really ask for anything better than a PB on an England debut!". Congratulations to Debbie on making her England debut.

8th February 2003. Latest Midweek Distance League January Newsletter added, containing results of the Magnet Pub run.

8th February 2003. Aine Hoban comes 2nd in Inter-Counties U20 Cross Country Champs.
At Wollaton Park Nottingham the in form Aine had a truly fantastic run, surprising even herself by coming 2nd in the U20 race behind European Champion Charlotte Dale. With this run she will surely have gained selection for the World Cross Country Championships in Switzerland, and also helped Yorkshire to the team silver medals. Results of U20 races
Other club members representing Yorkshire were Julie O'Mara who finished 1st counter in 32nd in the Senior Womens race to help the team finish 7th, in the U17 race Jasmin Kerry was 4th counter in 57th, and Eve Hardbattle 7th counter in 185th to help the team win silver medals, and in the U15 race Jaydene Wright was 7th counter in 114th, helping the team finish 2nd.

1st February 2003. Harriers win 3 Northern Senior Indoor Titles.
3 Gold medals were won by club members in the Northern Indoor Championships at Manchester. Kerry Jury showed that even though she has retired from international competition she has lost none of her competitive spirit by taking the Womens 200m title in 25.03, and also winning silver in the 60m Hurdles with 8.71.
Caroline Nutt took the Womens Pole Vault, equalling her PB and club record of 3.50m.
The most outstanding performance was probably by 17 year old Chris Kirk, who won his second Northern Long Jump title of the season, this time winning the Senior title with a superb new PB and Championship Best Performance of 7.24m.
Medals were also won by Cath Bacon 2nd in the Ladies 800m in 2:15.92, Alice Butler 3rd in the 1500m in 4:42.55 and Ruth Dales 3rd in the 60m Hurdles with 8.85.
Other finalists were John Uridge 4th in the Mens 60m with 7.04, Elaine Sutcliffe 7th in the Womens 60m in 8.00, Sarah Beevers 5th in the 1500m in 4:50.59, Clare Sykes 6th in the 1500m in 5:00.69, talented U17 multi-eventer Naida Bromley came 4th in the Long Jump with 5.49m, and 4th in the Shot with 10.01m, and Louise Lisseman was 5th in the Shot with 9.71m.

25/26th January 2003. Debbie Collinson & Chris Kirk reach finals of AAA U20 Indoors.
Debbie won the bronze medal in the U20 Ladies Shot at the NIA in Birmingham with an excellent throw of 11.54m. See Saturday's Results.
Chris couldn't quite reproduce his recent 7m+ form, and finished 6th in the Long Jump final with 6.82m. See Sunday's Results.

25th January 2003. Aine Hoban easily wins Northern Cross Country Championships.
At Heaton Park Manchester the in form Aine destroyed the field in the U20 race, winning comfortably by over a minute. U20 Womens Results
In the Senior Womens race Julie O'Mara finished an excellent 12th, and with fine runs from Sarah Beevers in 44th, Sharon Marshall in 60th and Carol Bacon in 65th the team finished just out of the team medals in 4th. Senior Womens Results
In the U17 Womens race Jasmin Kerry finished 14th, and in the U20 Mens race Paul Lockwood made a welcome return with an excellent 12th place.

18/19th January 2003. Debbie Collinson & Chris Kirk win Northern U20 Indoor Titles.
New member Debbie Collinson made an excellent start to her career with the club by winning the U20 Ladies Shot with a superb 11.36m. See Saturday's Results.
In form Chris Kirk won his second Northern title in a week, this time easily winning the Long Jump in Manchester with an excellent 7.07m, beating British record holder Chris Tomlinson's championship record! Nathan Elliot just failed by 6/10ths of a second to land the U15 Boys 800m title. See Sunday's Results.

11th January 2003. Jasmin Kerry wins West Yorkshire Cross Country League U17 title.
After winning all 4 races in the series Jasmin easily wins her age group, with team mate Eve Hardbattle finishing 4th overall. Helen Singleton finished 2nd in the U20 standings, and Jaydene Wright improved steadily throughout the season to finish 4th overall in the U15s.

11/12th January 2003. Chris Kirk wins North of England U20 Indoor Heptathlon.
With 4743 points QEGS student Chris easily won the Northern title in Manchester with an impressive sequence of performances in the seven events. See full Results from North of England AA. Chris set a New Club U20 Record.

4th January 2003. Aine Hoban wins Yorkshire Cross Country Championships.
18 year old Aine showed the Seniors the way home at Nunroyd Park, winning in style by 14 secs. Julie O'Mara finished a fine 3rd, and with Alice Butler closing the scoring in 22nd position the Ladies won the team title quite easily from Bingley.
In the U17 race Jasmin Kerry and Eve Hardbattle ran excellently to finish 5th and 6th.
Jaydene Wright ran very well to finish 5th in the U15 race, with Lisa McLone not far behind in 10th.