Teesdale School in Barnard Castle was the venue for Cross Country on Sunday, February 15. The day was ideal for running and the courses were undulating.

In the under-13 girls race, Seraphina Kelvey-Brown was first home for the club over the 2.3 km course and finished 26th out of 42 runners in a time of 10:43, followed by Jessica Durham, 30th, 11:10, and Leanne Ranby, 32nd, 11:18. The team finished 7th.

The pressure was on for the senior ladies of the club due to two of their counters having to miss the race. Dawn Richardson had to spectate following a visit to Casualty caused by a fall in Hyde Park earlier on in the week, and Caroline Davies was called into work. However, the remaining members of the team pulled out all the stops for an amazing afternoon. Katherine James was on top form and was the first Quaker home to finish an incredible eighth position out of 56 competitors in a time of 18:51. Katherine was also the first under-17 lady beating championship leader Tori Wheatman from Scarborough. Sarah James also had a fantastic run and finished 15th in a time of 19:28, followed by Denise Kelvey-Brown, 25th, 20:28. Annette Clarke took a break from marathon training to compete and finished 32nd in 21:07, next home was Jean Southren, 43rd, 22:51, team captain Julie Giblin, 46th, 23:31 and Beverley Snook, 48th, 24:25. The team finished 4th overall on the day.

In the senior men's race, Wayne Bramley romped round the 9 km course to finish 56th out of 126 runners in a time of 37:15, followed by Steve Snook, 61st, 37:33. Don Jones made his debut to the cross country circuit to make up team numbers and did extremely well to finish 63rd in 38:05, next was Steve Jones, 67th, 38:53, Dave Giblin, 80th, 39:50 and Dave McLachlan, 100th, 42:03. The team finished 10th.

On an excellent day for running, 5 Quakers took on the challenge of running the 'hill from hell' in the undulating Liversedge half marathon also on Sunday, February 15, which contributed to the club championship series.

Danny Gordon was first home for the club to finish 225th out of 409 competitors in a time of 106:24, followed by Dave Thompson, 260th, 110:39, Graham Park, 272th, 111:48, Paul Ranby, 294th, 114:10. Mike Horan had a tremendous race to 358th in 123:46. We know this because Graham thought he would have at least a half hour wait before Mike returned with the car keys and was somewhat surprised when he saw Mike emerge from the last hill!

Julia Orr was once again competing in Cross Country on Saturday, February 21. This time it was the English National Championships at Temple Newsam, Leeds. Women were competing from all over the UK on this extremely hilly course and Julia finished an incredible 17th out of 164th competitors in a time of 21:00.

The first of the Durham Dales Fell Series will be held on Sunday, April 18 at Hamsterley Forrest. Further details of Doctor's Gate will be issued soon.

On Sunday, February 22, seven Quakers travelled to Pocklington to compete in their Snake Lane 10 mile race. It was a bitterly cold day, but it was a good, flat course aimed at personal best times. First home for the Club and as usual the first male over 50, Ian Scott finished 12th overall from 618 contenders, to finish in 57:46, followed by Dave Thompson, 395th, 1:22:06, Mike Horan, 525th, 1:30:33, Sharron Towns, 542nd, 1:32:55, Ross Chisholm, 546th, 1:33:29, Vanessa Treston, 557th, 1:35:22 and Wendy Glasper, 618th, 1:56:23.

* The Quakers Running Club train on Tuesdays and Thursdays evenings, 6.30pm from Hummersknott School, Darlington. All abilities welcome. For further details see www.quakersrunningclub.co.uk.