Race report by Rob Cook

Steel City took 5 teams to Graves park for the Northern Cross Country Relays this year. The event was very high quality this year and with conditions dry and cool there were some super fast times!

For those that haven’t raced it before the relays are legs of 2 miles around a (slightly different to the SYXC course) XC course at graves park, packing a lot of elevation and challenges into a short distance. Just 2 miles makes for a fast and furious race with no time to relax but equally no need to keep anything in reserve!

In the women’s race the Strider’s teams came 14th & 41st out of 43 complete teams with Caroline Brock setting the fastest time of 12:34 on the first leg.

In the men’s race the strider’s teams came 28th, 41st and 49th of 52 complete teams with Ben Naismith setting the fastest leg of 10:59, again on the first leg.

Given that the race is held on the same course every year you can get nerdy with the stats and it really shows how high quality the competition was this year.

Salford won the men’s race with their slowest leg being 10:00, and every other runner under 10 minutes. The fastest leg overall last year was 10:09. Salford dominated the men’s competition with their B team finishing 4th overall.

The fastest men’s leg was 09:26 from Calum Johnson of Gateshead, the 2024 intercounties champion who went to the world championships that year.

The women’s race this year was won by Derby AC in a time nearly 2 minutes faster than last year. The fastest leg was 11:05 by Lydia Turner of Birtley, some 44 seconds faster than last years fastest time.

Although those times & athletes can seem daunting it’s a great event for all abilities and a great opportunity to rub shoulders with some of the best XC runners in the country. Especially with it being local I can’t recommend it enough as an event. Special thanks to Malcolm and Richard Pegg for sorting the teams, tents and numbers out!

Striders Results:

Women’s Teams