|
Northern Cross Country Report
On Saturday Lancaster and Morecambe AC athletes travelled to a very muddy Witton Park, Blackburn to compete in the North of England Cross Country Championships. The course started off muddy and became worse throughout the day providing a tough course for all athletes many off whom finished the race running in their socks having lost their spikes in the mud.
Despite loosing her shoe in the mud, first back in the Under 13 girls for Lancaster and Morecambe was Mary Hodgson in 73rd. She was joined by Sarah Bell in 182nd. The Under 13 boys saw Rafi Scott improving on last year’s performance to finish in 171st closely followed by Patrick McGuinness in 175th.
In the U15 girls’ event Sarah Hodgson had an excellent race finishing the 4k course in 16th. With her was Paige Clinton who had a good race despite loosing her shoe to finish 110th. Christina Bell and Hannah Fleet managed to place 123rd and 125th respectively. The team should be pleased with their 15th place overall.
Three U15 boys from Lancaster and Morecambe toed the line. James Whitaker led the group home in 99th. He was joined by his name sake James Whittaker in 146th and Isaac Scott in 190th.
As expected the best team result came in the 6k U17 men’s class. Callum Mason had an excellent run holding out against some tough competition to place 32nd. Adam Bateson (43rd); Beau Smith (45th) and Liam McGuinness (63rd) also ran extremely well. The team were placed 6th which was particularly impressive as all four boys will still be in this age category next year.
The U20 Women’s event proved to be an exciting race as Hannah Bateson had the most impressive result of the day to win the silver medal loosing out to the eventual winner on the long run into the finishing tunnel. In her first year as a junior woman Annika Jarman should be pleased with her 5th place. With Lizzy Wignall in 32nd place this group of girls would be the envy of any club.
222 senior women lined up for their 8k race. Joanne Perry was the sole Lancaster and Morecambe athlete finishing a credible 166th.
Finally the Senior Men’s race proved to be tough as the two Lancaster and Morecambe athletes braved the mud for a 12km race. With 600 finishers Steve Perry was first back in 436th-only one place lower than last year. Also competing was Michael Peat who improved on last year’s result to finish in 476th place.
Sarah and Mary Hodgson were back in action on Sunday at the Kendal Winter League Fell Race at Staveley-in-Cartmel where Mary was 2nd in the U14 Girls’ race and Sarah was 4th in the U17 Girls’ race.
|
