Saturday saw a return to less distant pastures for the MidLancs Cross Country hosted at Hyndburn, a synonymous mud laden and varying terrain course, a favourite for the winter specialists within the club especially after the recent downpours, yet we must applaud those representing in the red and black hooped vest for the first time.
Tom Henderson started the day as soloist in the under 11’s breaking fresh turf to dip best in a photo finish for 4th place in 8:34. In the under 13’s, Megan Lloyd (13th in 12:31) muddied her spikes for the first time leading home a girls trio including Eve Maund (26th 13:13) and Amy English (35th in 13:58) soon followed by the boys duo of Issac Dickinson (14th in 12:28) and Matthew Carroll (33rd in 14:38).
In the u15s, Kate Sutcliffe battled valiantly against a wealth of local runners to take home 7th (12:56) leading home a quartet including Alicia Woods (15th in 13:32), Emily Williamson (27th in 14:53) and Katelyn Swift (34th in 18:12) to take 5th team on the day. In the boys race Nicholas Usher led home his teammates James Read (21st in 14:49), Daniel Dewhurst (33rd in 15:41), Oliver Farrer (40th in 16:51) and Daniel Rathbone (43rd in 19:06) to claim 6th team on the day.
In the under 17s, a notably fiercely competitive age group each year, saw another set of strong performances led by Pheobe Lucas (11th in 16:57) and Bethany Swift (18th in 29:26). In the junior men’s race Oliver Sutcliffe was edged from the podium in final metres to take 4th in 22:44, quickly followed by Jake Dickinson (9th in 23:39), Mark Roberts (10th in 23:49), Se Loughlin (16th in 25:32) and Michael Kain (18th in 26:12) to take home 3rd team on the day. With individual confidence and self belief building each week, it wont be long before both of these teams join the mix for top spot in the year ahead.
The senior ladies, having failed to score a team point in the last 18 months, started the rebuild and promotion chase by taking 6th team on the day, 4th for the division. Rosie Johnson enjoyed her return to the northern courses leading the team from the front to take 2nd overall in 25:08 followed by debutants Martine Lucas (18th in 29:16), Laura Purdy (66th in 32:40) and Victoria Gilbody (134th in 40:11). Aiden Read (154th in 48:20) led home the trio of senior men also including John Dickinson (160th in 49:12) and Dan Gilbody (232nd in 56:37).
Full results : https://www.race-results.co.uk/results/2019/ml192.pdf
Report by Dan Gilbody
Comments are closed.