Relays are often competive events when athletes and as importantly, teams come alive. No more so than at Berryfield Park in Mansfield for the National Cross Country Relay Championships. Driving down the M62 in monsoon conditions, you might be forgiven for not looking forward to the day. But by the time you got to Mansfield, the sun was out, it was windy, there were myriads of club tents and hundreds and hundreds of athletes walking the new course, catching up with team members, athletes from other clubs and just generally looking forward to racing on the day and seeing how high up they could come in the team competition. With 14 teams competing – out of the original 17 entered –  it was a pretty good day for the Harriers.

All Photos on Blackburn Harriers Facebook Page — (HERE)

All Age Group Results – (HERE)

Highlight of the day for Blackburn Harriers came in the Junior Men’s race in whcih the Club had entered three teams with Team 1 featuring Matthew Clark on the first leg, Myles Fraser on leg 2 and Dexta Thompson on the final leg, coming back from 25th place to take the Team Silver Medal after Matthew ran 9.13.83 in 25th followed by Myles (8.44.97) pulling back an amazing 19 places before handing over to Dexta who stormed through to 2nd place (8.37.30) with the fastest leg of the day. Fabulous running from the lads. Team 2 including Ben Stratton (9.25.97), Jack Lamb (9.51.63) and Ethan Cutler on the final leg (10.13.61) finished in 32nd spot whilst Team 3 led off by Gordon Ballantyne in 10.19.35 backed up by team mates Logan McCredie on the second leg (10.21.90) and Tom Monks on the final leg (11.04.44) finished in 43rd spot.

L-R – Matthew Clark – Dexta Thompson – Myles Fraser

The Harriers Junior Women’s had Alicia Tomlinson, Holly Moffatt and Keira Haxton finishing in 21st place out iof 41 teams. Alicia ran the fastest time for the team on the first leg (9.28.71I in 20th place followed by team mates Holly Moffatt on leg 2 running 10.42.51 in 28th spot before handing over to Keira Haxton – her first race since June – who ran 10.41.21, picking up seven places.

Alicia Tomlinson (A 202)

In the Senior Women’s race the Club had entered two teams – Team 1 featuring Abigail McAndrew, Libby Huxley and Kirsty Maher – Team 2 featuring Louisa Powell-Smith, Maddie Elliott and Ellen Sagar-Hesketh. Abigail led off on the first leg coming home in 10th spot (10.03.33) followed by Libby who took back 6 places with a time of 10.17.91, backed by up Kirsty on the final leg coming home in 6th place (10.09.76). Our Team 2 finished in 43rd spot out of 121 teams which was another fine performance with V45 Louisa leading off with 10.31.95 followed by Maddie in her first race in along time posting 11.13.73 on the second leg and Ellen – who has not raced for over a year after having a baby – on the final leg running 12.53.12.

L-R – Noel Fincuance – Louisa Powell-Smith – Maddie Elliott – Ellen Sagar-Hesketh

L-R Kirsty maher – Libby Huxley

Our Senior Men started the week off with three teams and finished up on the day with just the one because of injuries and ill-health. The team  – one of 173 other team – had Matt Ramsden on leg 1, Ben Makin on the second leg, Joe Monk on third and Ryusei Maruyana on the final leg. Matt had a cracking run on the first leg, coming home in 4th place, the first U23 and 6th fastest leg of the day. Ben was on next running 16.33.99 followed by Joe pulling back 4 places with a time  pf 16.01.65 and Ryusei – who, coming from Japan – has never run cross country previously, running 16.51.86 in the final leg – the team finishing in 20th spot. Max Cunningham ran Leg 1 but we don’t have a time for him.

Matt Ramsden (A15)

In the U17 Age category we had three Men’s teams originally – losing one to ill-health issues –  and one Women’s team. 62 teams in the Women’s race which saw the Harriers place 27th overall being led off by Lottie Hesketh in 10.01.56, handing over to Emma Robertshaw in 35th place who pulled back 10 places with her 9.58.86 and backed by by Bella McCredie on the final leg with 10.53.59. 100 teams in the U17 Men’s race which saw our teams come home in 16th and 46th. Team one consisting of Sam Aspey, Henry Ward and Jack Wood and Team 2 featuring Max Winstanley, Max Belshaw and Peter Sagar-Moss. Sam took off on leg 1 posting a time of 9.22.14 and handing over to Henry in 15th spot. Henry ran 10.10.14 on the second leg and passed on to Jack Wood on the final leg in 26th spot – Jack running 9.31.96, clawing back 10 places to see the team finish in 16th spot. The times for our second team were pretty even – just 13 seconds separating the three athletes – Max running 10.07.50 on the first leg, Max Belshaw posting a time of 10.15 16 on the second leg with Peter Sagar-Moss running just his second race for the Club in 10.20.45, the team finishing in 46th.

L-R Lottie Smith – Bella McCredie – Lottie hHsketh – Emma Robertshaw

L-R Joe Monk – Max Cunningham – Sam Aspey – Matt Ramsden – Ben Makin – Ben Stratton – Ryusei Maruayana in the front

Hats off to our U13 Boys team who – apart from Thomas – hadn’t done national championships previously. Thomas Stewart led the team off with a cracking time of 7.36 84 (33rd) followed by Edward Russell-Blackburn clocking 8.07.14 to stay in 34th spot before handing over to Ben Hawksworth who ran 10.33.64 after being held in the pen for two minutes before it was noticed that he should have gone – the team finishing in 65th spot.

Thomas Stewart being cheered on by Blackburn athletes and supporters

What can you say about the U13 Girls team which had Georgia Brambles on the first leg, Ruby Govier on the second and Mollie Pickup on the 3rd – none of these girls have even run at this level previously. Georgia was in only her second ever race – her first, taking the win in the U13 Girls Mid Lancs race at Kendal a coupole of weeks ago. Georgia went and won the first leg, running 7.19.39 which was the 3rd fastest time of the day. Georgia handed over to Ruby who ran 8.57.95 followed by Mollie on the final leg running 9.33.73.

Georgeia Brambles

Millie Jordan who had won her Mid Lancs League race at Kendal two weeks ago, led the U15 Girls team home in 37th spot out of 82 teams, placing 10th in a time of 7.21.78 on the first leg before passing on to Holly Nicholls on the second leg (8.29.94) followed by Iona Bell on the final leg running a time of 8.38.47. Our U15 Boys team featuring Benedict Raby, Max Unthank and Blake Mcllwaine came home in 61st spot out of 96 teams which saw Bendict lead off running 7.08.76 on the first leg, followed by Max on leg 2 running 7.27.11 and backed up by Blake in only his second ever race for the club – coming home with a time of 7.49.83.

Millie Jordan

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