Members of Blackhill Bounders were flying the flag for the club at regional and national XC level over the weekend at Wallsend for the North East Masters XC Championships and also down Birmingham at the Inter Counties XC Championships. The North East Masters fixture was originally planned for last month down at Darlington but due to a waterlogged course it was cancelled and re arranged at short notice to Wallsend. The NEMAA did a great job to come up with a good course for all to enjoy so thanks must go to them.

For the ladies Sarah Lister won gold in the V35 category and finished 3rd, 23:12, in the 6K race overall. Leanne Robertson, 24:25, just missed out on a medal after picking up an injury on the 3rd lap and having to slow down after being right behind Sarah for most of the race.

For the men well what can we say Patrick Duffy was 1st home overall, 26:16 in the 8K race and was crowned NE XC champion and won gold for 1st vet 35. He had a great tussle with Stewy Bell, 26:24, who was flying today and bagged gold for 1st V45. Ian Young, 27:52, won silver for 2nd V40. All 3 also won gold medals for finishing 1st team overall on the day. Kev Doolan was 19th in a time of 29:37 with Ian Middlemass finishing 22nd in a time of 30:01.

Not along after we finished Stewy had a call from Jordan from down in Birmingham where he was representing the North East at the Inter Counties. Jordan ran in the U20`s 8K race finishing 65th, 28:03, and 3rd counter an excellent result for the team.