Round three of the Mid Lancs Cross Country League took place at Wilson Playing Fields hosted by Hyndburn AC on Saturday 15th December in relatively warm but muddy conditions!!
Blackburn Harriers had thirty nine athletes out competing in the different age groups with some wins and good performances.
Full Results HERE
(With thanks to Richard Marchant for the photos from the Race)
In the U11 Girls, Amy Davies continued where she left off in great form at Rossendale in winning the Red Rose fixture. In this one, she held of Kirsty Hamilton of Lancaster by just one second to take the win in 9.30. Amy Dowsing had a cracking run for 4th place in 9.48 and both Amy’s were backed up with another fine performance by Eleesha Charnley 10th (10.02). New member and debutant at XC, Jessica Gibson did really well on her first outing to finish 16th in the 51 strong field, with the youngest two girls Alayna Irvine 37th (12.23) and Kate Cookson 38th (12.29) giving solid support to the team.
Jamie Teare has had a really consistent first season in the U11 Boys. Again on Saturday he finished high up the 50 strong field in 9th place with a time of 8.45 and just 15 seconds off 2nd place. Another young lad, Edward Lee, who always manages to run with a smile on his face and also in his first season placed 31st in 9.46 and Rory Teare, Jamie’s brother took 36th position in 10.05.
In the U13’s Blackburn girls were just pipped by Preston with a gap of ten points to finish 2nd Team overall and putting in some good individual performances. First home for the Club was Natalya Irvine in 11th position (11.04). She was followed home by another good run from Maddie Elliott who seems to have recovered from her broken bones! finishing in 14th (11.09) and just 5 seconds behind Natalya. Hannah Cookson came in next (17th) and a time of 11.26 and another first time runner in cross country this year, Emily Warren in 34th (12.24). In the U13 Boys Rhys Charnley finished 32nd in 15.09.
The U15 Girls took the Team 1st place beating Preston Harriers by 21 points. Grace Handley who is in great form at the moment won the race in 12.17 with Liz Greenwood 2nd in 12.46. Megan Clarkson who continues to improve was in 9th position (13.33) to give the team 3 athletes in the top ten. Rose Abbott contested to finish 21st in 15.16 and Molly Morton one place behind (22nd) in 15.33. In the U15 Boys Byron Abbott who has missed a fair bit of training due to injury had a solid run for 10th in 16.00.
Katie Buckingham 3rd in the U17 Women’s Race in 17.43, backed up by Phoebe Howe in 8th (19.39) and Rhiannon Wickham (20.00) in 9th place won the 1st Team place and were the only competing Club to fill all three places on the day. The U17 Men’s team of Jack Hindle (4th) in 23.13, Joseph Howe 11th (25.11) and Morgan Philips 18th (27.20) took 4th place overall with 32 points to winners Preston (16), Pendle (26) and Helm Hill (29).
There were 30 Teams and 120 athletes contesting the Women’s Senior Race which saw Blackburn take 10th place with Helen Leigh, Laura Hesketh and Jan Buckingham as the counters. All three women are running really well at the moment, no more epitomised than by Helen’s run in taking an excellent 4th place overall in 25.38. Laura also had a good run with a 16th place (28.01) and Jan Buckingham completed the team in 87th (36.17).
Two hundred and forty three Men and 29 Teams finished the Senior Men’s race, won with a fine run by Gary Priestley for Salford Harriers in 35.31. Gary runs for Blackburn on the Track during the summer. Karl Billington, home from St Mary’s for the Christmas period had his second cross country race in recent weeks and first races for three months taking 5th place overall in 36.28. With strong runs from the rest of the Team, Blackburn took 5th team place overall with 208 points. V45 Paul Guinan who is getting back to some real fitness took 21st place (38.59), followed by U20 Zac Howe (31st) in 40.43 who is also home for the Christmas period from Cambridge University. Chris Davies who started to drive home before the race with an injury, decided to turn the car round and compete after all and his reward was 38th place in41.22. V45 Matt Nuttall came 53rd (42.50) and V40 Chris Balderson was 71st in 43.49. Andy Heys came in 117th (47.10) with V40 John Cookson (152nd) in 49.35 and Allan Hartley 158th in 50.39. V40 Ian Clarkson who is in his first competitive year and enjoying the experience was 182nd (52.41) and never say die V40 Paul Wilkinson was not far behind in 194th place (53.40).
