This weekend was a big one for Birtley athletes, with many of them competing at the Northern XC Championships at Pontefract, and for some of them it was their first big champs. Although they didn't bring back any silverware this time, there were still some cracking performances, notably from Chris Perkins (5th u15 boy) and Kate Waugh (4th u17 woman) - well done to all that took part! Results here, and photos by Karen Harland are available on her Flickr page. Some of the Birtley crew can be seen above in this pic from Nick Newby.
Meanwhile, it was also a big weekend for Molly Elliott, who was competing in an indoor competition in Sweden - she came away with a shiny new PB of 3.52, congratulations Molly! For those of you who have FB, here's a video of her performance by her coach Chris Boundy. 

If anyone fancies a training session tomorrow morning instead of a Park Run I’ll be at Rainton Meadows 9:30. It’ll be a fartlek type session - Tommy Millmore

Birtley AC athlete Adrian Bailes showed his fine form with another fantastic first place at last weekend's Brass Monkey Half Marathon, finishing in an impressive 69:44. 
Team Birtley were also ably represented with a slew of sub 90 minute performances from:-
Martin Bell 81:45
Karl Oakes 82:13
Ruth Dadswell 88:22
Well done everyone!

Birtley hosted the Cathedral Relays on Sunday 13th January, and what a great day it was. The technically challenging course, with its short but steep hills, and lots of twists and turns to make the most of a limited space, proved very popular with the athletes. The warm (wind-free!) indoor sign up area in the Lord Lawson gym was greatly appreciated by the team managers, as were the refreshments on offer. 
Results (from a very nervous results team!) were produced on the day, and prizes were presented to the winning athletes and teams. The NEMAA team awards were also presented by Archie Jenkins, with the individual medals to be given out at the upcoming XC Champs next month at Wallsend.
Full results here.
If you enjoyed the event, want to comment on a photo or result, or have any other feedback, please feel free to leave a comment at the bottom of this page

Birtley AC had some great performances at the recent Sherman Cup/Davison Shield XC - everyone ran well, but special mentions must go to:-

Maggie and Daisy Graham (3rd and 6th) in the girls u11 race.

George Beevers 12th in the u13 boys race.

Katie Francis won the u15 girls race, with Tess Graham, Abigail Thwaites, Scarlett Newby and Amy Drummond all finishing within the top 20 of the u15 girls race. The u15 girls also won gold in the u15 team competition.

Chris Perkins won the u15 boys race by a clear margin to complete the Birtley double.

Ollie Barrett and Lewis McConnell both finished in the top 10 of the u17 mens race.

Adrian Bailes finished 3rd in a strong mens field, whilst Ruth Dadswell made her comeback in a very creditable 23rd position in the womens race.

​Well done to all, results can be seen here.