November 2nd saw good weather greet the 2013 English Cross Country Relay Championships at Mansfield. With a number of injuries, holidays and late withdrawals, the Harriers Teams were unfortunately down on previous years. However, there were some good performances on the day.
In the Women’s Senior Race there were 99 Teams and Blackburn ‘A’ finished a very creditable 21st, just missing out on a top 20 spot by eleven seconds from Sale Harriers. On first leg was Alison Leonard in 11th place overall and in a time of 10.26.20, which was just twelve seconds slower than Louise Small who was part of the winning team. The second leg saw Rachel Wood, fresh from her win at the Luton Half-Marathon coming in in 21st place (12.17.15) and on Leg 3 was Sarah Yorkstone, back racing after a long period away from the sport because of injuries, posted a really solid 12.05.65 to keep the Club in 21st place in the Team Champs.
The Senior Women’s ‘B’ Team also had a pretty good day finishing 43rd team overall. Becky Shorrock had a very fine first leg in (11.37.75) handing over on Leg 2 to Shelley Tattersall (13.13.65) who placed 51st at the end of her Leg. Laura Hesketh took over on Leg 3 and ran strongly to bring the team back into 43rd place overall with a good time of 12.10.65.
Senior Women’s RESULTS
In the U13 Girls our team of Maddie Elliott, Hannah Cookson and Natalya Irvine had a good day to finish 26th out of 83 Teams and again, just 5 seconds away from Sale Harriers ‘A’ Team who took 25th. All three girls ran consistent legs backing one another up well. Maddie on Leg 1 came in 40th with a time of 8.12.55, followed by Hannah on Leg 2 (8.10.60) who pulled back 15 places to take the team into 25th place. Natalya then ran a good final leg (8.30.30) to keep the the team in 26th place.
U13 Girls RESULTS
Katie Buckingham, Phoebe Howe and Roxanne Oliver did themselves proud in the U17 Women’s Race. Katie kicked off first leg with 9.54.40 to leave Phoebe Howe on Leg 2 in 38th place. Phoebe with 10.53.55 dropped just two places (40th) and handed over to Cross Country debutant and 400m hurdler Roxanne Oliver (12.28.85) who competed for the Club right out of her comfort zone to finish in 45th place.
U17 Women’s RESULTS
The U17 Men’s Champs had 69 Teams lining up with Blackburn finishing 54th. Joseph Howe who is in good form and racing well took the first leg in (10.16.45) to leave us in 55th going into the Leg 2. Robert Wong, recovering from illness over the last two weeks, posted a time of 10.32.80 to bring the Club up to 46th and debutant Chris Richardson-Dulling (11.33.15) on Leg 3, got a good welcome to Championship racing.
U17 Men’s RESULTS
One hundred and fifty seven teams lined up in the Men’s Senior Race and Blackburn had two Teams competing but unfortunately, because of late withdrawals, the Club was one short of making two full teams. The ‘A’ Team finished 8th overall and was led off on Leg 1 by Andy Fleet (18.02.20) to put the team in 81st place. Andy Butterey ran the Teams fastest leg (17.52.15) to pull us back to 72nd place. Leg 3 saw Danny Maynard finish in 91st place (20.23.05) and Chris Barnes with 18.37.50 took the team back up to 85th place at the finish. The ‘B’ Team consisting of Andy Heyes, John Chaplin and John Cookson – one runner short – had a combined time of 1hr. 28.18. In the Junior Men’s race the Club had just the one athlete – Rob Warner who ran the first leg in 9.29.10.
Senior Men’s RESULTS
