It was a dry – for once no rain – crisp and sunny day at Hyndburn with little or no wind for Fixture Four of this years Mid Lancs Cross Country League. The Harriers did well on the day taking three Individual Wins, one Team Win and three second and one third Team places.
Full Results HERE
Series Standings after 4 Fixtures HERE
First race of the day featured the U11 Girls who finished 5th Team out of the 10 competing and led home by Hollie Cubbon in 2nd place overall with a time of 8.50. Hollie is in good form at the moment, winning the Bronze Medal at the Lancashire Champs last week, followed by a win in a Northern Schools Competition featuring nineteen schools at Giggleswick. Next in came Kate Cookson in 21st (10.00) followed by Isabelle Hartley (40th) in 11.03, Eva Knowles in 46th (11.16), and Emily Cottam (62nd) in 14.05 in her first cross country run for the Club. Amelia Tyson had to pull out having hurt herself.
The school competition Hollie was involved in was the Catteral Shield cross country held at Giggleswick school in Cumbria with 19 schools from all over the North of England entered.
Her winning time was 9.15 for 2300 metres which was a course record. Edward Lee also ran doing really well and came 10th time 9.15. Afterwards Hollie commented ” It’s really tough course lots of hills, but worth it for the sausage and chips they gave us after!”
Meanwhile the U11 Boys missed out by just one point to Chorley AC & Tri (23 points) to finish 2nd Team on 24 points. Edward Lee led the boys home taking 5th spot overall in a time of 8.47 being backed up with good runs by Rory Teare (8th) in 8.54, Kyle Pomfret (11th) in 9.03, Oliver Gill (32nd) in a time of 10.09 and Saul Sharp in 49th (14.41). Saul’s run was a very courageous one. He got bumped into the freezing water, up to his waste and was effectively out of the Race at a time when he was going really well and the lads were looking to be in a good position for the win. He just got out and completed the Course which showed real determination and guts.
Amy Davies followed up her win at the County Championships last weekend with another win at Hyndburn in a time of 11.05 with Eleesha Charnley in 9th place in a time of 11.46. Matt Ramsden who also won the County Championships, won the U13 Boys Race in a time of 11.38 to lead the Team home into 2nd place with the same number of points (20) as the winners – Horwich also with 20. Jamie Teare ran well to finish 5th in 11.58 as did Leon Thomas in 14th (12.45) and they were backed up by Daniel Brown in 21st (13.10), Luke Ingleson (22nd) in 13.20, Jasper Smith (32nd) in 14.19 and Ethan Barbarewicz in only his second cross country outing for the Club – (33rd) in 14.21. In the U15 Girls which was run with the U13 Boys, Chloe Bleeks and Anna Lonsdale ran with Chloe placing 10th in 14.15 and Anna 16th (15.18).
Grace Handley has been out of action for some time with an injury but is now back in training and improving all the time. With just a Park Run under her belt in January, this Race was the first race she has run since September last year and she came back in really good form, winning the U17 Girls Race by nearly half a minute in a time of 18.01. The Club was a bit thin on the ground in the Senior Women’s Race with just two out on the day – Lorna Sharp placing 75th in a time of 35.50 and Lindsay Davies 91st (38.03). 2nd Claim Member (for Track) Joanne Nelson was 5th overall in a time of 25.42 and winner of the V40 Age Category too.
Final Race of the day was the Men’s Senior Race which saw the Harriers come second to Clayton, winning the V40 Team – (Mark Chippendale,Paul Guinan, Stephen Schofield, Chris Balderson) and 3rd place in the V50 Team – (Chris Balderson, Gary Pearse, Warren Smith).
Mark Chippendale set the early pace for the Harriers on the first lap taking Chris Davies and Paul Guinan with him, making a big contribution to taking 2nd place on the day. The three stuck together throughout the Race with Chris coming in 13th (39.20), Mark 14th in 39.30 and Paul, another athlete who has had his fair share of injuries, now getting back into regular training placing 15th (39.37).
New member Stephen Schofield was the next Harrier home 30th with a time of 41.20 and followed by Chris Balderson (50th) in 43.15, Gary Pearse (61st) in 43.43, Allan Hartley in 74th spot (45.09) and another new member – Warren Smith 102nd in 46.54.
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