Following its presentation evening in October, Sedgefield Cricket Club can now fully reflect on the 2024 season. With an impressive run of form in the final third of the season, the 1st XI comfortably allayed any fears of relegation and finished mid-table. With a cup in the bag too, it was a satisfactory season. On the downside, player availability was challenging at times and this filtered down to the 2nd and 3rd XIs who increasingly relied on a mixture of youth and creaking-jointed, out-of-retirement seniors.

All of the junior sides had good seasons and this remains one area in which the club is strong. The boys’ U17 team once again won the league and the U12s came within a whisker of winning the County Cup. The club is already on the lookout for additional players for the 2025 season, so if anyone is interested, they are encouraged to get in touch.

The club’s AGM will be held on Monday 4 November, at 7pm. Members should all have received their notification by the time they read this and it is anticipated that, as in recent years, there will be a healthy turnout.

One vacancy to be filled is that of Club Secretary following the recent resignation for health reasons, of club stalwart John Walker. Everyone at the club would like to thank John for his many years, both as a committee volunteer and valued sponsor, and warm wishes are extended to him for his recovery. During the off-season, the bar will be open on Wednesday to Friday evenings, and all day at the weekend. Extra opening nights will depend upon televised football games.

Winter is coming, and cross country season has already arrived. For Sedgefield Harriers, this means a return of the North East Harrier League, with a series of fixtures around the region. This year’s opener was at the end of September, just up the road at Thornley Farm, and Sedgefield was well represented.

There was an encouraging turnout of junior Harriers, who delivered some great performances. Phoebe Grievson was eighth in the U11 girls’ race, with Tilli Lewis not far behind in 14th.

In the U13 boys’ race, Karl Thompson was 16th, With Cameron McGill in 31st and Matthew Graham 33rd. Jess Davis claimed a great third place in the U13 girls’ event and Daisy Woodward was 31st in the U15 girls’ race.

In the always competitive boy’s U17 category, James Taylor was 36th. Plenty of senior Harriers were also in action. Six women competed and the team finished sixth in Division 3, which was an excellent start to the season. The four ‘counters’ were Sadie Abel, Rosie Warnett, Sarah Maloney and Christine Hearmon, and Sue Dobson and Trina Price also ran strongly.

The men started their third season in Division 2, once again competing against some of the biggest clubs in the region. They finished ninth at Thornley the six counters were David Walker, Mil Walton, Justin Cox, Roger Whitehill, Stuart Ord and Chris Lines. Stuart Park, Ray Carmichael and Ben Smale also ran, with more Harriers lining up to take part in future fixtures, demonstrating that the club has good strength in depth.

A lot of Harriers have also been tackling marathons and other road and trail races in recent weeks, with more to come at the time of writing this. I’ll round up those performances next month (including the rest of the Kielder Marathon weekend events).

The annual Kielder Marathon weekend took place in early October, with two days of races, including a 10k, half marathon, full marathon, junior events and a gravel duathlon (run-bike-run) for individuals and teams. The gravel duathlon involves a 10k run, followed by a 34k bike leg, and finishes with a 6k run. It follows an undulating course around Kielder Water, including plenty of challenging ascents.

There was plenty of success for Sedgefield competitors this year. In the individual event, Sedgefield Harrier Peter Milburn was 20th overall and won the V60 category in a time of two hours 48 minutes and 11 seconds. Ray Carmichael also completed the gruelling race in 3:15:37. The team event was won by the ‘Sedgefield Specials’, featuring Harrier Chris Lines on the opening leg, Ferryhill Wheeler Ian Dunn on the bike, and anchored by Harrier Roger Whitehill.

The team in second place was from Newcastle University and also had a strong Sedgefield connection, as Tom Hearmon was on the bike leg. All of the Sedgefield participants were given encouragement around the course by other members of the Hearmon family, as Angus and Christine were part of the army of volunteers up at Kielder.

Sedgefield Squash Club’s season is well and truly underway, with numerous events every week. The in-house structure is booming, with fourteen leagues, representing a wide cross section of ages and abilities playing every month.

It is still early days in the Durham & Cleveland League, but the 1st, 3rd and 4th teams are currently sitting top of their respective divisions. The 2nd team and ladies’ team have only played one match so far due to fixture changes, with the 5th team sitting mid table after some great away wins. Hopefully, the December edition of the Sedgefield News will reflect continued success.

As always, the Sedgefield Squash Club is keen to promote health and fitness for everyone and is focusing on getting kids involved in squash over the next few weeks. The club’s England Squash qualified coaches run programmes for junior members throughout the autumn and spring terms, early on Thursday evenings, and on Saturday mornings. The club is always keen for new members to join, and can be contacted at info@sedgefieldsquashclub.co.uk.

Additionally, England Squash is running a junior programme called Squash Stars for children aged 5-9. More information, and joining instructions are available on the England Squash website at www.squashstars.co.uk/Play.

I’ve reported on the progress of Sedgefield para cyclist Ben Hetherington before, and he continues to make good progress in the sport. After a poor performance in the British Para Track Championships in February, it was a time for Ben to refocus and get back to some hard training, ready for the road season.

So far, this has paid off, as he won the season’s first para road race in Nottingham at the end of April, followed up by a win at the time trial. This set him up for a trip to the World Cup races in Ostend, Belgium and Maniago, Italy, in May. The races were highly competitive, with riders and countries trying to stake their claim for Paralympic selection. Ben did well, finishing in the middle of the pack in both road races and in the top 20 in both time trials.

While on the continent, he also took part in a para race in De Panne, Belgium, which he won. More recently, Ben won a bronze medal in both a road race and time trial.

The rest of the British Para Series will be held around England, including at Middlesbrough Sports Village on Saturday 20 July. The event will be part of a day of paracycling, organised by British Cycling in conjunction with Limitless. Starting at 12 noon and aimed at people with disabilities, there will be 90 minutes of free opportunities to try out trikes, tandems, handcycles and pedal carts.

Then, from 2pm, there will be para cycle racing in a variety of categories, and Ben will be in action as he continues to try and improve his times and bike handling skills, in order to ensure a place in the development team for the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.

The event on 20 July will also raise money for the Great North Air Ambulance Service (GNAAS), which Ben and his family have been supporting since his accident in 2019. GNAAS came to Ben’s aid then and at Middlesbrough Sports Village, there will be fundraising to help the service run its two helicopters, The Guardian of the North II and the Pride of Cumbria II. The event will be a great chance for anyone to learn more about para cycling and see some great racing.

To find out more about it, contact Gary Hetherington on 07484 673796 or 01740 621214.