Pretty dreadful conditions greeted the athletes as they turned up for the Red Rose Cross Country League fixture at Wilson Playing Fields – a case of mud, mud, glorious mud and more mud!!
Notwithstanding the horrible conditions, the Harriers pulled out some good performances with Individual wins and good team performances.
Red Rose League Results HERE
The U11 Boys Team who won the the first fixture at Leigh came 2nd to Clayton on the day to keep themselves in the hunt for the overall series. Edward Lee led the lads home in the 79 strong field, finishing 7th in 8.38 and strongly supported by Kyle Pomfret “This is the best day ever!” in 10th (8.45), Saul Sharp 15th (8.55), Oliver Gill (42nd) 10.06) and Ben Duxbury 44th in a time of 10.09.
The field in the U11 Girls was a whopping 96 and showed the commitment of these youngsters when you consider the conditions compared with Leigh and a sunny day with 105 runners out.
Leah Hoole led the Harriers team home in this Race with another impressive run in 5th place in a time of 8.43 with the 3rd placed runner through to 7th place separated by just seven seconds. Next home with another good run for the team was Hollie Cubbon in 9th place (9.05) followed by Kate Cookson (45th) in 10.28, 8yr old Georgina Bleek in 11.25 and Isabelle Hartley (77th) in 11.30.
The U13 Boys having won the first fixture at Leigh were hoping to consolidate at Hyndburn and in the end finished 3rd on the day which still keeps them in the hunt for the Series. Matt Ramsden “Great team effort in very muddy conditions“ had yet another impressive run coming in 2nd (9.47) after a great battle with the winner from Bury. Leon Thomas who looks to be getting stronger also had a good run to take 9th spot in 10.22 and backed up with a solid runs from Daniel Brown in 21st (11.02) and George Whittaker (31st) in 11.39.
It was another good run from Amy Davies – “It was a well run race and a lot of competition but a very fun race” – in the U13 Girls winning after a good battle with the Horwich athlete by four seconds in 10.56. Eleesha Charnley ran well for 12th place (11.39) and unfortunately our other U13 girls weren’t available which prevented us from having a team to count.
The second individual win of the day came in the U15 Girls with another impressive performance by Maddie Elliott who is growing in confidence with every race. She won by eleven seconds from Briony Holt in 2nd place. This is two wins out of two now for Maddie in the Red Rose League and puts her on course for a Series Individual win. Hannah Cookson ran solidly in 10th position (18.51) as did Chloe Bleeks in 19th (20.12) and Anna Lonsdale (22nd) in 20.27.
The third Individual win of the day came in the U17 Women’s Race with Liz Greenwood who is in really good form, winning by nearly three quarters of a minute in 20.23. Liz commented after the Race that “It was a proper cross country with nasty weather and masses of mud but I really enjoyed the race and was pleased to come away with the win”. With the U17 Women running with the Senior Women, there was a great Race between Liz and the Joanne Nelson who won the the Women’s Senior Race in 20.31, just eight seconds behind Liz. Also running in the Senior Women’s Race was Katie Buckingham who finished 4th in the U20 field in 24.17.
One hundred and thirty nine runners in the Women’s Race including five Harriers – one of whom – Katie Buckingham – was also running as an U20. Katie popped home from University and decided to put in a couple of training sessions and race at Hyndburn which was great to see.
First Harrier in behind Katie was mum Jan Buckingham in 84th place in a time of 28.34 followed by Carol Cookson in 92nd (29.39). Lorna Sharp was tracking Carol and wasn’t that much adrift in 97th spot with a time of 30.03 with Lindsay Davies in 111th (31.53.
At the first fixture at Leigh the Harriers Senior Men’s Team came in 3rd on the day and improved to 2nd placed Team at Hydnburn despite the fact that a number of the Harriers Senior Men were running at other events over the weekend which was a very good performance. Joe Monk led the way for the Harriers with an excellent 5th place in 38.24, securing the U20 Men’s top spot as well which gave the Harriers their fourth Individual win of the day. Tom Blaney was next in (14th) in 39.13 and is clearly getting back to form after a long spell out through injury. Chris Davies was just two places back in 16th (39.24) with Shaun Livesey in 22nd (40.14).
Chris Balderson had a solid run to place 49th in 43.02 and 4th V50 on the day followed by Allan Hartley in 68th (45.06). Team Manager John Cookson was next in placing 106th in 48.28 with Marco Maggio (U20) in 49.22, Craig Greenhough 118th in 49.32, Richard Taylor 181st (56.33) and Paul Wilkinson (188th) in 59.21.
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Arley 10k Results HERE
Over 1000 finishers at this 10k Race which is growing in popularity and is organised by Blackburn Harriers Matt Wood. Just three Harriers racing and tremendous results for them.
Tim Raynes whose current PB going into the Race was (34.07) knocked a massive chunk of it when he set a new PB of 32.51, finishing 7th overall and telling the Club that “Despite the conditions, I really enjoyed the race today – great course, really well organised and delighted to come away with a big PB.”. Not to be out done David Almond whose current PB was (37.16) cut over a minute off this to set a new PB of 36.06.V55 telling the Club that “Really pleased with my run today. Been getting over a niggling injury recently and training starting to go really well now. Looking to get under 36 mins as a next step. Great run from Tim today and John now coming back from injury too”. John Chaplin who was racing his first 10k since March 2014 following prolonged injuries had a solid run in 60th with a time of (38.03) and commented “Not too pleased with the time but just enjoying getting back into racing again. Great runs by Tim and Dave”.
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Witton Park Run was cancelled this week because of the Bonfire put on by the Borough, but there still a couple of Harriers who ran with V50 Michael Toms at Burnley finishing 3rd in a time of 19.02 out of the 214 runners – Burnley Results
Whilst V60 Evan Cook came in 25th overall at Heaton Park with a time of 20.42 a run which still had 430 finishers despite the conditions on the day. Heaton Park Results
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The Dovedale Dash is a cross country race of 4¾ miles, run by about 1200 to 1400 people of all abilities. The venue is the picturesque area around the village ofThorpe near Ashbourne and Dovedale in the south of the Derbyshire Peak District. The course is mainly along field paths and open ground in the valleys of the rivers Dove and Manifold. There are short stretches along tarmac and there is some stony ground. One of the excitements is the crossing of the river Dove at the well known Stepping Stones.
Here’s Ben Fish doing something that he probably hasn’t done before in a Race, proving that there is more than one way of making a splash!!
Ashbourne Race with Ben “The race was Dovedale Dash near Ashbourne, the start is a mad dash of 1000 charging down the Valley to the river crossing and dovestones. I chose to go through the river, big mistake, lost my footing and fell into the banking! Clawed my way back to 2nd, happy with that. It’s hard to tell whether it’s a xc or fell classified race“
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