This years Lancashire Schools Cross Country Championships were in doubt right up to the last minute, but thankfully they went ahead and saw some good championship running as a result, with qualification places for English Schools up for grabs. Thirty four athletes from Blackburn Harriers qualified for the championships.
Highlight of the day for the Harriers was the Title winning run of Matt Ramsden in the Inter-Boys race featuring 54 runners. Matt (Blackburn) and Rhys Ashton (Lancaster) battled it out the whole way round with Matt keeping a one to two metre lead only. With around 500 metres to go, Matt went for the finish and came home a confortable winner in the end by 5 seconds (18.14) from Rhys in 2nd place (18.19) and Max Cunningham (Rossendale) in 3rd (18.23). Sam Hodkinson (South Ribble) placed 7th in 19.10 and just missed out on a top 6 finish. Harvey Ashworth (Blackburn) ran a very good first lap but faded slightly on the 2nd lap, costing him places as he came home in 21st (20.47) with Ethan Barbarewicz (South Ribble) and Sam James (Preston) in 45th position (23.34). In the Senior Boys Race – Joe Gebbie (South Ribble) finished 10th (25.31) in a race won by Kian Davis (23.34), a race which saw just 11 seconds separate the first four athletes. Hannah Cookson contested the Senior Girls race clocking 18.05 in 10th spot.
Matt Ramsden (481) & Sam Hodkinson (554)
Harvey Ashworth (482)
Ethan Barbarewicz (559)
Sam James (539)
Joe Gebbie (77)
Hannah Cookson
Fifty nine ran in the Year 7 Girls race won by Charlotte Wilkinson (Chorley) in 8.38. Amelia Burton (Hyndburn) had a good run to place 16th in a time of 9.47 with Lucy Rishton (Blackburn) not far behind in 18th place (9.53) and Isabelle Hartley in 23rd (10.07).
Amelia Burton (613)
Lucy Rishton (578)
Isabelle Hartley (579)
An even bigger field in the Year 7 Boys race with 69 nine runners competing in the race won by Jack Lamb (Chorley) in 8.04. Highest placed Blackburn Harrier running for South Ribble, was Daniel Smith with an excellent performance of 8.29 in 5th place and first counter for South Ribble who placed 2nd in the team race. Ben Livesey (Blackburn) came home in 32nd position with a time of 9.11 with Harry Sambrook (Blackburn) in 39th (9.17).
Daniel Smith (747)
Ben Livesey (675)
Hollie Cubbon (Blackburn) had a good race too in the Junior Girls Race won by Ava Lloyd (West Lancs) in 13.07. Holly came home in 10th spot out of the sixty three strong field in a time of 14.18 with Leah Hoole (Blackburn) in 16th place (14.49), Kate Cookson also Blackburn in 20th (15.09), Eva Knowles (Blackburn) clocking 15.24 in 29th place, Keira Haxton (Hyndburn) 40th in 15.51, Caroline Woodworth (Hyndburn) 50th in a time of 16.14 and Lucy Ramsden (Blackburn) running 16.52 in 56th spot. Hollie, Leah, Kate and Eva were all counters for the Blackburn Team which finished 2nd to the winners – Chorley.
Hollie Cubbon (194)
Leah Hoole (193)
Kate Cookson (195)
Eva Knowles (197) and Keira Haxton (228)
Caroline Woodworth (232)
Lucy Ramsden (198)
Amy Davies (Blackburn) took 4th pace in the Inter-Girls Race won by Darcy Lonsdale (Fylde) in a time of 15.18. After being part of the leading group of four over the first lap, Amy got slightly detached and clocked 15.45 with Eleesha Charnley (Hyndburn) working her way through the field, not far behind in 7th with a time of 15.58, Ruby Cain ((Blackburn) in 30th place (18.22) and Rebecca Ramsden (Hyndburn) 32nd in a time of 18.26.
Amy Davies (385)
Eleesha Charnley (417)
Ruby Cain (387)
Rebecca Ramsden (422)
The Junior Boys race was won by Luke Rawcliffe (Fylde) after a tremendously close run race with Tobias Swarbrick (Lancaster) which saw both boys given the identical time of 14.20. There was a top run too for David Holman (Hyndburn) who had his best cross country race of the season as he placed 3rd in a time of 14.31. Next Harrier home was Dexta Thompson (Rossendale) in 9th spot clocking 15.05 with Hayden Mercer (Blackburn) one place further back in 10th (15.13). Kyle Taylor-Pomfret (South Ribble) finished in 19th out of the 59 runners in 15.36 with Theo Watson (Blackburn) in 22nd place (15.40), and just one place behind – Jack Paget-Fowler (Blackburn) in 23rd (15.41), Joe Joyce (Chorley) in 28th spot (15.50), Codie Dewhurst (Blackburn) 30th running 15.56, Sebastian Burton (Hyndburn) clocking 16.11 in 33rd and Saul Sharp (Hyndburn) in 35th (16.16).
David Holman (323)
Dexta Thompson (354)
Hayden Mercer (290)
Kyel Taylor-Pomfret (361)
Theo Watson (291)
Jack Paget-Fowler (292)
Codie Dewhurst (295) & Sebastian Burton (326)
Saul Sharp (324)
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Jess Judd who ‘gave everything she had on the day’ came home in 4th position in a time of 21.10.2 at this years BUCS Championships held in Exeter after a battle with the first three Women – winner Anna Moller (20.33.0), Amelia Quirk (20.44.1) in 2nd and Mhairi Maclennan (Northern Cross Country Champion in 20.49.9) featuring a field of six hundred and nineteen finishers.
Joe Howe ran in the Men’s Race ‘A’ Race which had 1170 contesting and finishing. Joe had a pretty solid run, ‘similar to his run at the Northerns’ to come home in 174th place in a time of 37.57.2.
Jess with Jo Pavey after the Race
Joe Howe on the left – ‘refuelling’?
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Gt. Manchester Schools Cross Country Championships – Saturday February 2nd
In the Greater Manchester Cross Country Championships Zachary Walmsley – running for Bolton – came home in 8th place out of a 54 strong field of runners, clocking 12.19 and earning himself a place at the English Schools Chgampionships in Leeds.
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Northern U13 & U15 Indoor Track & Field Championships – February 3rd
Terrific performance by U15 Ben Boocock at the Championships this weekend in the 60m Hurdles. Ben qualified for the Final with a PB equaling time of 9.52 and went one better in the Final – cutting nearly three tenths of that time – to clock 9.24 and win the Silver Medal and just 200th’s behind the winner. ben’s parents told us afterwards that they were delighted with the result commenting “Massive thanks to Paul Wibberley today for all his support”.
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Winter Warmer 10k – Sunday February 3rd
Seven hundred and ten finishers in this race won by Tipton’s Stephen Corbishley in 34.08. Victoria Mousley had a good run, comfortably winning the Women’s Race for the Harriers in a time of 40.58 and 44th place overall. To cap a good all round day for the Club, the Harriers won the Team Race, Harry Wilkin won the Junior Men’s Race and Chris Davies won the V40 Age Group category.
Victoria was pleased with her run and spoke to the Club after the race was over, commenting “A decent run for me, managed to pull my hamstring just on the sharp hill before the descent into Pleasington but luckily someone from the club told me i was first lady with no other in sight so i just slowed off a bit to ensure I didn’t cause an injury. Happy to finish first lady even though my time was a bit over what i would have liked. Great runs from the Harriers today. Great support on the course too from club members“.
Victoria Mousley
Josh Holgate had a battle with the eventual winner and was leading the race as he dropped down to Sandy Lance, approaching the climb up to the Church at Pleasington. In the end, Josh had to settle for 2nd place in a time of 34.17 and commented to the Club after the Race that he “wasn’t sure how the race would go with being on and off with illness the past few weeks and not being able to get the mileage and sessions in, but overall I can’t complain with the outcome. Looking back I probably went off too hard on the climb and found myself isolated on the descent and allowed the Tipton runner to creep up behind. We battled it out from the duck pond to the track but sadly he had that bit more in the legs to push on at the end for the win. Well done to Victoria Mousely on the win and to Tom Blaney and Christopher Davies for having great runs finishing 3rd and 4th. Big push now to add a bit more sharpness for National XC and the 12 stage relays”.
Josh Holgate (325)
Tom Blaney (327) & Chris Davies (171)
Next in for the Harriers came Tom Blaney in 3rd place in a time of 34.50 and afterwards he told told the Club “I really looked forward to todays race as its one of my favourites. In the past few months i’ve only really run XC so i had no idea how that would translate to the road, its fair to say i was pretty pleased with my performance. I had a really tough time hanging on to Chris for most of the race but just found an edge on the downhills and the last mile to take a hard earned 3rd place. Well done to everyone that raced, a great effort by all”.
Chris Davies placed 4th overall which made it three Harriers in the first four places, clocking 35.01 and enough to give him the V40 1st prize. He told the Club.“Always a tough course the Blackburn Winter Warmer 10K but even harder this year with the tougher conditions. The majority of the course was runnable but the odd section had his challenges. Overall I had s solid performance, a few seconds down on last year’s time but nothing to get concerned about. I’ve raced alot these last few weeks and trained hard due to Marathon training so things are going really well at the moment. Pleased with 4th position overall, my best in this competition and 1st Vet 40 for the second year running. A good day for myself but great runs from Josh Holgate and Thomas Blaney . A great team effort finishing 2nd, 3rd and 4th. Well done to them and all the other Blackburn Harriers who ran on the day. A special mention for Harry Wilkin who finished 1st Junior Male in 40:23. A cracking time on a tough course. Well done all”.
View from the side of the road
Fifteen Blackburn Harriers ran the race and after Chris Davies finished 4th the next home was U17 Harry Wilkin in 38th place with a time of 40.23 which won him the Junior Men’s first prize. Danny Maynard was the next one in (42nd) in 40.46. V45 Sean Procter was just five seconds behind Women’s Race winner – Victoria Mousley – in a time of 41.03 (45th) and followed home by V40 Paul Jeffries in 71st (43.03), V45 Craig Greenough (81st) in a time of 43.40), V50 Ian Clarkson – having a break from the Fells this weekend – in 143rd (47.08), V45 Lindsay Davies in a time of 47.19 (146th), V40 Paul Whittaker (167th) clocking 48.02, V50 Mark Wilkin running 48.21 in 179th, Rebecca Woodworth (366th) with a time of 56.36, V55 Alison Armour (532nd) in 63.01 and V50 Clare Wilkin (63.43) in 560th place.
Harry Wilkin
Danny Maynard (444) & Sean Procter (795)
Craig Greenough (263)
Ian Clarkson 
Lindsay Davies (174)
Mark Wilkin (735) 
Rebecca Woodworth (757)
Alison Armour (21) 
Clare Wilkin (733)
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Twenty young Blackburn Harriers ran in this Junior 2k as part of a nearly two hundred strong field which was a tremendous effort.
Winter Warmer Junior 2k Results
The Junior Race saw the Harriers take six out of the first ten places with 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th places which was a great effort by them. Amy Davies placed 5th overall in a time of 7.33 for the 2k course, with Saul Sharp having a very good run in 6th (7.37), Leah Hoole 7th (7.45), Daniel Smith (8th) also 7.45 and the same as Sam Aspey – the ‘pocket rocket’ – in 9th (7.45) with Oliver Gill in 10th (7.58).
Then came Caroline Woodworth in 17th (8.44), Charlie Haworth (23rd) with a time of 9.04, Hannah Davies (26th) in 9.06, Charlotte Sousa running 9.07 in 30th, Ella Hardman (9.13) in 32nd place, Lulu Sharp finishing 37th in 9.33, Emily Smith in a time of 9.42 (38th), Tippi Francis (52nd) in 10.15, Sam Craven (64th) in a time of 10.43, Isabella Pacelli in 10.51 (71st), Isaac Smith (129th) in a time of 11.28, Grace Lewarne running a time of 11.37 (86th), Tom Hunt (12.41 in 117th place and Annabelle Logan (125th) with a time of 12.55.
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