The Durham County Championships took place on the Saturday, January 17, they were again held at the exceptionally tough course at King James School in Bishop Auckland.

Newton Aycliffe had a lot of young talent on show, one of which was Lewis Moses who was running in the intermediate boys race ran fantastically to win the Durham County Championships. Moses now earns the right to lead County Durham out at the English National School Championships later this year.

Also running in this age group were Chris Kerr and Adam Gibson, Chris ran a great race to finish 11th and enter the Inter Counties next round. Gibson ran a great race, but narrowly missed out on the top 16 by two places, finishing 18th. In the Senior boys Mark Richardson ran superbly to finish 11th, Adam Harker also ran brilliantly to finish 13th and qualify for the next round.

At the Old Monks Six Mile multi-terrain race at Hesleden on Sunday, January 5, George Reid and Brent Morfoot represented Newton Aycliffe AC. On a day more suited for ice skating than running, staying on your feet was an achievement in itself, Reid produced a superb performance to come home in 16th in a time of 41.58. Chasing Reid, Morfoot came back in 18th place in 42.05. Now free from injury, George is producing some excellent times, and his off road training is now showing in his strength and stamina during competitive racing.

Newton Aycliffe Under-17s travelled to Manchester for the Northern XC Championships held at Heaton Park on Saturday. It was a mild day but the course was exceptionally muddy, due to a few showers. It was a 200-strong field with Lewis Moses coming out on top for the club following his success at the Durham Schools. Moses ran a superb race, despite the wet conditions and managed to complete the race and finish in a superb 12th place with a finishing time of 18.18. Chris Kerr was second home for the club was a magnificent run to finish in 50th place with a time of 19.25. Next home was Matthew Bell regaining fitness managed to finish 59th with a time of 19.44. Adam Harker completed the quartet running marvellously claim 105th place with a great time of 20.50. Over all the boys finished in an outstanding sixth place in the team event and were second North East Team home.

On January 12 Newton Aycliffe had a great turn out of runners to tackle the wet conditions of the Acklam Grange NYSD XC. In the Under-13 boys age group the club had two runners, James Askew finishing 16th in a great time of 12.16, and not far behind was Thomas Adcock to take 20th place with a time of 13.22. There was a strong turn out in the Under-17 boys with five runner, Aycliffe took first team, the boys were lead by Lewis Moses finishing first with a fantastic time of 18.03, next was Chris Kerr finishing fourth in 19.45, Adam Gibson 19.23 in fifth, Matthew Bell 19.35 in sixth, Adam Harker 19.53 in eighth.

Sue Milburn lead the way in the senior women's race to finish a marvellous tenth in a magnificent time of 19.00, Helen Wright was next home running well to finish 37in 22.26. The club also five senior men runners, leading the men was George Reid in superb form to finish 46th in 30.23, next was new comer Shaun Bell finishing an exceptional 59th in a time of 31.06, next was Peter Milburn 68th in 31.25, Brent Morfoot 31.29 in 70th, Colin Gibson 31.59 in 74th. The men finished in a great fourth place in the team event.