TWO medals and plenty of promotions capped a great start to the season for members of Tynedale Harriers in the opening round of the North East Harrier League.

Heading to Wrekenton on Sunday, Tynedale put in a good performance all-round with the stand-out display coming from Charlie Daley, who took gold in the highly competitive U17 boys’ race. His performance earned him promotion to the fast pack.

Teammate Harrison Cutler joined him in that race, but narrowly avoided promotion with an impressive 10th place finish.

In the U17 Girls/U20 women’s race, Kate Salthouse took bronze. She too won promotion to the fast pack. Rebecca Wren, from the fast pack, was 21st.

In the U15 age category, Tynedale fielded a full team in the boys’ race, with Ralph Robson first to finish for the club. He stormed through half of the field from the fast pack to cross the line in 29th.

Oliver Lowe was second counter for the team in 34th and Thomas Hindle in 52nd. Jess Sails was the only Tynedale competitor in the U15 girls’ race and finished in 41st from the fast pack.

Tynedale had a strong presence in the U13 girls’ race, with five runners. Maria Gaines and Kate Terry both ran well from the slow pack to finish in sixth and ninth respectively, earning themselves promotion to the fast pack. Tabitha Robson was the third scorer for the team, crossing the line in 47th from the fast pack. Poppy Watson and Isabel Gaines completed the team.

Alex Hanlon was the only Tynedale representative in the U13 boys’ race, finishing 42nd.

In the U11s boys’ race, Marcus Riddell raced around the course to finish fifth in a field of almost 100 runners. Morgan Vincent also had a great run in that race.

In the six-mile senior men’s race, there was a record turnout for Tynedale as 17 men pulled on the black vest.

With strength in numbers, the Tynedale team was rewarded for its efforts with third place in Division Three, making a really positive start to the season.

First counter for Tynedale was John O’Reilly who crossed the line in 39th in a huge field of 666 runners. He clocked the second fastest time of the day in the MV55 category.

Next to score was Phil Vincent in 61st. Both men will be promoted to the medium pack.

Joe Green, running in his first senior men’s cross-country, was next to count, in 123rd. Rob Earle (133rd), Lewis Balfour (165th) and Paul Hutchinson (191st) were the final scorers for Tynedale. Alex Tang, Andy Green (fast pack), Mike Little, Peter Murphy, Hugh Bingham, Pete Watson, Ed Yuill, Ian Southby, Paul Edwin, Phil Boylin and Chris Young also raced for the club.

A record-breaking 499 runners lined up for the women’s race, and Kirstie Anderson made light work of her handicap from the medium pack to race through the field and finish in 11th to be first counter for Tynedale.

Second scorer for the club was Charlie Pinkney, who had a tremendous run to finish in 42nd. Both women will be promoted to fast and medium packs respectively.

Kate Lowe, running from the medium pack, just managed to overtake Carol Marshall in the final stages of the race. They finished in 149th and 153rd and were the final scorers for the team. Also running for Tynedale in the women’s race were Kim Bluck, Steph Bingham, Jennifer McDonald and Joanne Murphy.