A cold, windswept day at Rossall School greeted the athletes for the fifth fixture in the 2016-2017 Mid Lancs Cross Country League. U15 and U17 Boys and Girls had reduced fields possibly because of the clash with school holidays which was a shame, given the attendances for these Races previously.
The U11 Girls got off to a good start taking 3rd Team place on the day behind 2nd placed Southport, beaten by just two points.
Caroline Woodworth equalled her best finish of this season placing 5th in a time of 7.19 with Kate Cookson in 11th (7.42) and Keira Haxton (23rd) in a time of 8.02 being the three counters on the day. As so often is these Races, a couple of seconds is all that separates four or five young runners. Eva Knowles was next home for the Harriers in 27th (8.08) contesting a group of four which had just three seconds between them all. Hannah Davies came home 36th in the 70 strong field (8.37) followed in by Isabelle Hartley (42nd) in 8.42 and Olivia Banks – 8yrs old – and loving her experience of cross country in 64th with a time of 9.26. Finished with a smile on her face too.
Only three lads out in the U11’s featuring fifty eight runners with Saul Sharp, even though not that well, still turning out for the Team and placing 14th with a time of 7.20. He was backed up by Oliver Gill in 22nd (7.32) and George Marsden in 46th (8.16) all of which gave the Harriers 7th place in the Team competition featuring nine Clubs on the day.
New member David Holman, who was on the last minute, just making the Start, had a very good run in the U13 Boys leading them to 4th Team on the day and placing 9th himself in 11.09, with Ethan Barbarewicz just three places behind in 12th (11.22) and Kyle Taylor-Pomfret in 17th (11.58).
Twenty six runners in the U15 Boys Race, which saw Matt Ramsden come home 2nd to the winner Mathew McKay in a time of 14.26 with Leon Thomas 3rd in 14.28. Luke Ingleson placed 20th (16.56) and Harry Wilkin 24th (17.35) which gave the lads 2nd Team on the day.
Just one one runner in the U13 Girls (featuring 57 runners), U15 Girls (22 runners) and U17 Women (6 runners) for the Harriers, again reflecting school holidays. Eleesha Charnley who is lying in 7th place overall for the Series came home 6th on the day in 9.54 whilst Amy Davies who is in 2nd place for the Series kept up her challenge for the Medal positions with a win on the day in a time of 11.18. In the U17 Women, Maddie Elliott finished 2nd on the day (16.43) and is now in 3rd place overall in the Series and Natalya Irvine placed 4th in 19.27. Same story for the U17 Men with just 13 runners on the day, a Race which saw Joe Gebbie in 9th place (24.03).
It was the first run in the Mid Lancs League this year for Carly Edwards and it turned out to be a good run for her in the one hundred and forty one strong field, coming home in 22nd spot (27.29). Lindsay Davies placed 95th – her highest position of the Series – in a time of 34.35.
The Senior Men had four finishers in the first 22 places which was better than the first three Teams on the day, which was a good platform for winning but unfortunately we didn’t have a sixth runner to complete the Team. It was a great Race up front – 8 seconds separating the first three – with the eventual winner – Ben Johnson – maintaining the gap between himself Thomas Corrigan and Tim Raynes. It was a real battle between the latter for second place which saw Tim finish 3rd in a time of 34.29. Tom Blaney had another very good run in 11th place (36.19) with Chris Davies – 3rd V40 – in 18th (37.12), Mark Chippendale 22nd in 37.49 and Craig Greenough 113rd with a time of 45.13.
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Windy Hill Fell Race – February 12th
What a fantastic debut from Rachel Jones who has just joined the Harriers. In utterly atrocious weather conditions, two hundred and twenty three runners finished the Race which saw Rachel finish 41st overall in a time of 76.32 and 1st Woman.
(Conditions during the Race – not good!)
Carrying on with the winning theme were Paul Brindle and Joanne Nelson. Last week they combined at Lancaster with Paul winning the 10k Race outright and Joanne winning the Women’s Race. This week they entered the Parbold Hill Race and both were winners again, this time being 1st V45 in the Men and Women. Paul placed 11th over all in 46.35 whilst Joanne came 44th in 49.58.
(Joanne – That’s my friend, Hayley from Liverpool who was running it on her late dad’s birthday… that’s why we all ran it.)
(These two photo’s courtesy of SportSunday)
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Fastrax 5k Race 2 – February 12th
More wind for the runners at the second Race in the Series, run on the cycle track at Barrowford. The Race featured 68 runners won by Junior Man Joe Hudson in a time of 16.12.
Matt Nuttall was the 1st V45 in 12th overall place, posting a time of 17.40. Next in came Andy Heys in 22nd (19.01) and Bryan Searby 38th in 20.57. Young Harry Wilkin (U15) ran at Rossall in the Mid Lancs League on Saturday and then ran with his parents Claire and Mark to raise funds for the Campaign for Cystic Fibrosis. He finished 66th in 20.51.
After the first two Races, Matt Nuttall is in 3rd spot with identical runs of 17.40 both times – Andy Heys is in 5th place, again with identical runs of 19.01 and Bryan Searby has run only one of the fixtures and lies in 67th place of the 103 runners who have competed to-date.
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