Jane wins her England vest

Jane Hodgson, who won an England vest at the British & Irish Masters Cross Country.

Morpeth Harrier Jane Hodgson made the journey across the Irish Sea to Santry Park, Dublin at the weekend, with the venue hosting the best of British and Irish Masters cross country talent on Saturday afternoon as just short of 400 runners from both the Home Nations and Ireland competed against each other, writes Peter Scaife.

With all those taking part pre-qualified through their national associations as a result of a rigorous selection process, it was always going to be a high standard of competition, and in the end it was the host nation Ireland who had the best of it with their both Masters Men and Masters Women overall winners.

Winning her first England Masters vest, Hodgson was a member of a winning England O40s team, who were one of England’s only two winning female teams on the day, their O60s also triumphing.

She was third counter in 21:40 , running most of the race neck and neck with fellow team member and Vale Royal athlete Elizabeth Remondeau, the two credited with 17th and 16th overall. Charnwood AC’s Juliet Potter headed the team count in 21:05.

With athletes grouped into five year categories from 35–70 (75 for the Men, for some reason), overall scores were then aggregated with both England’s Men and Women finishing behind the Irish in second place.

Meanwhile, King Edward VI School Senior Boys team, made up entirely of athletes from Morpeth Harriers, were again in dominant form in the English Schools Cross Country Regional Final, held in Middlesbrough’s Stewart Park on Saturday, with all of their scoring four in the top eight of a total of 32 finishers.

They were led home by sixth former Matthew Walton, who won with a mere second to spare over Darlington Harrier Alex Boyer, leading finisher for third team Carmel College. Second team place went to Ermysted College of Skipton, North Yorkshire, who were 21 points adrift of the winning King Edward quartet.

Other King Edward counts came from third placed Will DeVere-Owen, sixth placed Liam Roche, and eighth placed James Tilley, with Bertie Marr, 11th and just out of the scoring count.

The win means that for the second year in succession King Edward have qualified for the overall finals, to be held in Leeds on Saturday, December 3.