A balmy October day greeted the athletes for the first fixture in this years Red Rose Cross Country League at Leigh, with conditions favouring fell shoes as much as spikes which saw a good turnout from the Harriers on the day with over 40 athletes competing in the different age groups.

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Full Results HERE

The U11 Boys got the Club off to a great start on the day winning the Team first place in a tight battle with Clayton who were just 3 points behind and Rossendale 7 points adrift.  Edward Lee led the lads home in 5th place (8.02) out of a 70 strong field. Rory Teare (8th) in 8.06 and Kyle Pomfret (9th) in 8.10 made up the winning team and just 8 seconds separating them. Next home was Saul Sharp in 20th (8.26) followed by a first time outing for new member Oliver Gill (32nd) in 8.52 and similarly Ben Duxbury (58th) in 9.55 and Harry Wilkinson 70th in a time of 10.45.

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One hundred and four young athletes in the U11 Girls Race with the Harriers taking 5th Team place out of the 12 competing. Leah Hoole was first in with a good run in 8th place (8.24) with Hollie Cubbon just behind in 13th (8.34), Kate Cookson (25th) in 8.48), Amelia Tyson in 42nd spot (9.19) and Isabelle Hartley (76th) with a time of 10.22).

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The first Individual win of the day and second Team win for the Harriers came in the U13 Boys Race in a field of 55. Matt Ramsden  – The feeling at the end of the race is worth the nerves at the beginning”  – who won at Mid Lancs the other week kept it going with another great win by four seconds in a time of 8.55 followed by really good runs from the other lads – Jamie Teare (3rd) in 9.08 and Leon Thomas (11th) in 9.17. Daniel Brown also had a good run taking 22nd place in 10.02 with George Whittaker (38th) in 10.41.

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The U13 Girls Race featuring 75 runners nearly gave the Harriers the third Individual win of the day. There was a great battle between Amy Davies and the Bury athlete Daisy Worthington with just one second separating the two of them at the finish. Cracking Race and a really good run from Amy who came second in 9.38. Eleesha Charnley had a solid run in 24th place with 10.53 and unfortunately we were one short on the day to make a Team.

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Maddie Elliott had a cracker of a run in the U15 Girls to win in 13.06 just three seconds in front of the Moston runner and said Really enjoyed the race today and it was great to win for the first time for the harriers. Well done to everyone who raced and supported, especially Hannah, Chloe and Anna as we got the 2nd team overallHannah Cookson (11th) in 14.28 and Anna Lonsdale (18th) in 15.02  – took the Club into 2nd place in the Team competition – and Chloe Bleeks who also ran solidly took 21st spot in 15.12. Tom McKee was our only U17 runner on the day placing 11th in the U17 Race with a time of 19.56.

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The Harriers had six women out in this Race won by Joanne Nelson who headed the 154 strong field in a time of 19.04 just a week after running a PB of 2.54 in the Chester Marathon. Carol Cookson was first home for the Harriers in 86th (25.29) with Jan Buckingham chasing her to place 90th in 25.37. Michelle Teare wasn’t far behind either in 101st (26.19), followed by Jackie Taylor in her first Race for quite a long time (105th) in 26.53, Lorna Sharp (108th) in 27.08 and Lindsay Davies (125th) in a time of 28.37.

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Two hundred and twenty nine runners in the Men’s Senior Race and it was Karl Billington who took first place with a cracking run of 31.30 which gave him half a minute to spare over the 2nd placed athlete from Rossendale. Karl headed the team on the day of 12 Harriers which took 3rd Team (out of 18) behind Bolton and Leigh. Karl commented after the Race that hefelt great to win one of these league races it’s been a while. Went in there with a game plan and stuck to it and it payed off. Looking forward to the rest of the season”.

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Another fine run by Tim Raynes in 6th place in 32.40, the same time as the 5th placed Wigan athlete. Shaun Livesey was next in (16th) in 34.18 and was the 2nd V40 on the day. Chris Davies wasn’t far behind in 22nd in 35.09, not bad after having a done a shift at the Post Office as a ‘warm up’. David Almond also had a good run finishing 48th in 37.24

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Allan Hartley followed David Almond in placing 72nd in 39.25 with John Chaplin – back racing after a long period of injuries –  76th (39.32), Craig Greenhough (121st) in a time of 42.10, in 129th Mark Almond (42.25), 131st John Cookson (42.28), Richard Taylor 156th in 44.00, Paul Wilkinson 195th in 47.18 and David Billington 218th (51.35).

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