The British Universities Cross Country Championships were at Leeds. There is an oddity in the rules that allows in depth universities to nominate teams for both an A and B race. As a student at the successful St Mary’s University Toby Loveridge has now twice found himself relegated to a B race when he could easily have commanded a first team spot in any other university. After a stirring performance in finishing third in the Northern Junior Championships he could have expected a premier team call up but instead he did his duty and predicably took the B race comfortably, as in 2012. Obviously a good result but watching one`s team mates collecting gold in the main event was little consolation. Toby now has something to prove and the character to deliver. In the A race Jai Vernon-McGuigan (Liverpool John Moores) was a creditable 28th while fellow Liverpool Pembroke Sefton colleague, Sean Kirkbride(Newcastle University), was 144th.
It was the same day as the schools cross country championships. The Merseyside at Wavertree saw Rosie Johnson pull off a stunning victory. The Year 10 girl was pitted against rivals from Years 11, 12 and 13 but destroyed the field to romp home an easy winner. Charlotte Mawdsley(Jun Girl) almost medalled finishing a gallant fourth. Three other LPS athletes were each respectively sixth, Matt Richardson(JB), Jonathan Bride (Int Boy) and James Grundy(Sen Boy) to keep alive hopes of selection for the inter-counties event. The best result from the Lancashires was Anna Hulme (JG) who was ninth and there were even competitors at the Greater Manchester Schools, James Loftus 9th and Kyle Nicholls 11th in the Senior Boys event.
Kirsty Longley was invited to the Alsager 5 mile road race as a Northern representative. This prestigious race attracted a huge field of 800 and Kirsty finished 95th, 16th lady to cross the line but better still second in the Over 35 category. She also ran at sub-6 minute mile pace to record a new club record of 29.30. It was a weekend which saw LPS athletes performing heroically everywhere.
Charles Gains
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