CROSS COUNTRY
Winter cross country
Two leagues, mud, hills, and a team result that depends on people turning up rather than on anyone being brilliant.
Where the club races
Vale of York enters both winter leagues every season: the PECO series and the West Yorkshire Cross Country League. They run on different weekends, so most people do some of each rather than choosing.
Both are scored by team as well as by individual, which changes the feel of it. Your finishing position is added to your team mates’, so turning up matters more than being fast. A mid pack finish on a cold Sunday is worth something to the club, which is not true of most road races.
Courses are off road and rarely flat. Spikes or trail shoes are the usual answer. Winter in Yorkshire being what it is, some of it will be muddy.
Coaching is led by England Athletics licensed coaches who are Enhanced DBS checked.
The details
- Season
- October through to February across the two leagues
- Training
- Wednesday 7.00–8.00pm interval training at Bubwith, which runs as intervals through the winter
- Who competes
- U12 upwards through to seniors and masters
- Distances
- Vary by age group and by league, from around 1500m for the youngest to 10km for senior men
- Registration
- England Athletics registration is required to score, and you must run for one club only
- Cost
- Club membership £14.50 a month, England Athletics registration £23 a year, plus a league entry fee that changes year to year
- Coaches
- England Athletics licensed and Enhanced DBS checked
The two leagues
Different organisers, different courses, the same winter.
November to February
PECO
A five race series around Leeds and the surrounding area. Senior races are a single lap of roughly four and a half to five miles, the same course for men and women, and there is a separate junior league on the same dates.
- Minimum age 16 on race day for the senior league
- You must be a paid up member of an England Athletics affiliated club
- Entries are handled through RaceBest
Worth knowing: only advance and season ticket entries count for the league. Enter on the day and you run as a guest, scoring nothing for the team.
From October
West Yorkshire Cross Country League
A short series of meetings from October, entered as a whole rather than race by race. Distances step up by age group, from 1500m for the youngest through to 10km for senior men.
- Six count for the senior men’s team, four for the senior women, three in the younger age groups
- You need to run at least three meetings to be in the individual standings
- England Athletics registration required for all but the youngest group
Runners who want a team
You are running for other people, not just for a time. It is a different kind of Sunday.
Road runners in the off season
Winter strength that pays off when the roads and the track come back round.
Anyone who prefers fields
No traffic, no kerbs, no measured splits to be disappointed by.
Ask about cross country
Tell us what you run at the moment. You do not need cross country experience, and you do not need to be fast.
Ask about a place