Earth came in the form of fields of mud that turned into field of dreams.
Wind was the best that Dudley & Eunice could deliver to test the mettle of the hardiest of runners.
Fire was the powerful force in the bellies of the Postal Harriers who knew there was an opportunity out there. It's the sort of the story that has Hollywood film producers turning to their script writing mates and asking them to sharpen their pencils. Maybe.
The finale of the PECO cross country league took the Posties to Roundhay Park where both ladies and mens teams had a genuine chance of securing promotion from their respective leagues.
Starting with our ladies, it was a tight as tight can be at the top of the table after race 4 of the series. Our Posties and St Theresa's were competing for the honours and with St Theresa's winning the team event at Roundhay, our Posties had to come no worse than 2nd of the day to claim the league crown. Delighted to report that they duly delivered and finished the season top of the pile on 9 points with St Theresa's one behind on 10 points.
Our 7 champions on the day along with their finishing position were:
59th Lou Mamalis 38.00
69th Mel Ellwood 38.34
73rd Amy Johnson 38.56
100th Harriet Sleight 40.13
111th Emily Cox 41.08
114th Amanda Clark 41.21
165th Laura Robson 46.29
Fantastic performances ladies and congratulations to everyone who has taken part during the season.
Could the men match the ladies and win their league? The bar had been set very high! They put themselves in the best possible position by winning the team event on the day but the gap to Rothwell was just too big to close and they ended up in second position. 7th place in Race 1 of the series being the difference but it still means a promotion to the first division next season for both of our teams. Pretty impressive stuff.
Our promoted superstars on the day were:
31st Dom Carter 29.33
37th Glynn Ellwood 29.45
48th Alex Davis 30.20
62nd Jim Carter 31.22
66th Si Partridge 31.27
214th Jamie Butler 37.15
221st Andy Heather 37.36
273rd Andrew Halcro-Johnston 39.51
304th Richard Hawkins 42.31
Well done also to everyone else who has contributed to the team over the season.
We are still waiting for the final individual results to be confirmed but Dom Carter is looking good currently sitting in 23rd place and Mel Ellwood leading the way for the ladies in 30th place with the last race to add in.
Bet the washing machines in York were working hard on Sunday afternoon to get this lot clean again.
Absolutely fantastic to see both of our teams doing so well and roll on next season for life in the first division.
That just leaves the parkrun round up from Saturday. I've spotted one or two of our newer members whilst browsing through the results. If you go into your parkrun profile and select York Postal Harriers as your club then you will pop up on the club report each week. Contrary to popular opinion I don't go trawling every single parkrun results page to find out where you were and what you did. I like my life much easier than that.
Flatts Lane - nice and hilly up near Guisborough
46th Karen Travis 35.12
Harrogate - far from hilly unless you climb over the Range Rovers parked around the edges of the Stray
22nd Jamie Butler 22.34
Heslington
1st Jordan Howe 15.40 (yep it's not a typo, that's 15 minutes, bloody incredible Jordan)
8th Alex Davis 18.58
15th Dom Carter 19.55
50th Di Campbell 22.50 (sub 23 must be like shelling peas now eh Di!)
51st Jim Carter 22.50
52nd Andy Heather 22.52
York
65th Patrick Hough 21.44
185th Simon Middleton 25.37
375th Lucy Turner 30.50
Millfield
47th Gemma Rutter 28.19
48th Paul Rutter 28.20
Have a great week everyone and for those of you who live near the river I hope you escape the worst of the flooding.