PARKRUN has been keeping the athletes of Richmond and Zetland Harriers busy.

At Northallerton on Saturday, February 19, Anthony Jefford finished third in 20:41 and Peter Richardson 28th in 26:52. At Darlington, Ian Christon finished seventh in 19:07, Ken Harker 14th in 19:51, Henry Wright 17th in 20:03, Paul Wright 48th in 23:28 and Victoria Christon 141st in 28:53.

The following Saturday at Northallerton saw Steve Middleton finish first in 19:28, Anthony Jefford third 20:52, Matilda Ellis ninth in 23:29 and Joseph Smith 12th in 24:29. At Darlington, Ian Christon finished second in 17:09, Gail Smith 46th and first in age category in 23:01 (PB), Pauline Whittaker 72nd in 24:19, Rebecca Smith 120th in 26:37, Victoria Christon 175th in 29:11, Ian Hepworth 177th in 29:16 and Nicki Buckett 199th in 30:20.

At Fountains Abbey, Carl Jones finished first in 16:01. It was Carl's first time doing this parkrun and he managed to set a new course record for the V45 age category. Also making an impression was Rob Scott at Cannon Hill parkrun in Birmingham, finishing first in15:51. The following day at Northallerton Junior parkrun saw Ollie Middleton finish first in 7:35.

On Saturday, March 5 at Northallerton, Rob Scott finished first in 18:53, Anthony Jefford seventh in 22:45, Elaine Watters 23rd in 26:09 and Elly Robertson 27th in 26:57. At Darlington, Ken Harker finished 17th in 19:37, Paul Simpson 18th in 19:45, Henry Wright 24th in 20:08, Rebecca Smith 46th in 22:18 and Gail Smith 66th in 23:43.

At other events, Saturday, February 26 saw Marc Scott compete in the 3000m at the UK Athletics Indoor Championships in Birmingham and secure his place at the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Belgrade this month. Marc finished in first place in 7:53.35 in spectacular style.

Joseph Reeve travelled to London for the Cross Country Nationals at Parliament Hill in Hampstead Heath. Joseph had a good race in the muddy conditions to finish 84th out of 304 in a time of 24:17 over the 6k distance.

John Gray along with his dog Pippa, raced the Chopwell Wood 5k Canicross, and despite going wrong on the hilly course they managed to finish in first place in 20:11.

Sunday, March 6 was the date for the final Cross Country race in the NYSD series in Whitby. In complete contrast to the previous race at Richmond, the weather was near-perfect and the sun was shining. The first race of the day was the U11 boys and Sam Carter finished sixth in 04:34 and Luke Robinson eighth in 04:37. Katheryn Fletcher finished ninth in 04:53 in the U11 girls race. In the U15 boys race, Ollie Middleton finished fifth in 16:54 and Thomas Carter seventh in 17:01. In the U15 girls, Phoebe Haw was seventh in 19:31. Onto the U17, U20, Senior and Vet Women's race and Shannon Robinson (U17) finished in first place in 22:01, Rebecca Smith (SEN) 13th in 24:20, Elaine Watters (V45) 26th in 27:58, Pauline Whittaker (V55) 30th in 28:30, Gail Smith (V55) 34th in 29:23. The team finished in fourth place. The last race of the day was the U20, Senior and Vet Men's race. Mark Forrest (V55) was the first Harrier back in 19th place in 36:19, Steve Middleton (V45) 21st in 36:48 and Anthony Jefford (SEN) 51st in 40:28.

John Gray and his dog Pippa were back out racing at the Dalby Forest 5k Canicross and secured first place once again in 19:14.