After a long, slow and weather stricken build, the cross-country season edged towards its climax on Saturday as the Northern Cross-Country Championships took place at Tatton Park, Cheshire.
The first Horwich Harriers off were Harrison Stokes and Mark Titmuss in the Under-17 boys’ race. Stokes was 14th (18mins 44secs) and Titmuss 84th (22:01) over 5.8km.
Next up were the club’s formidable U20 Women, who dominated the local leagues. Amelie Smethurst put in a sensational shift to sneak inside the top 20 (18th, 22:49), with Charlotte Wilkinson hot on her heels (24th, 23:30).
As she has so many times this season, Kitty Crossland shone in the U13 girls’ race, finishing 23rd in a field of more than 100. The U15 boys’ race saw Harry Yates finish 97th (15:50) and Charlie Cowburn 110th (16:25) over the 4km route.
Isaac Battye once again showed his class by placing 12th (25:49), less than 10 seconds outside the top 10, in the blisteringly fast 7.9km U20 men’s race. Helen Shan took on the senior women’s race, stopping the clock in a respectable 41:31.
Last on were the senior men, who had 11.75km to tackle on ground chewed up by a day’s hard racing. James Scott Farrington led the charge, after not missing much at the Northern Road Relays.
His 39:07 was good enough for 42nd place. Close behind him (39:20, 46th) was Joe Mercer. Ryan Snee must have felt a long way from the sun kissed streets of Malaga, but he showed he has carried through some of that magical marathon form with a pacy 42:01 (123rd).
Adrian Bramham’s mantelpiece will be sagging from the weight of trophies by now as he clinched second place V60 (48:16).
Club cross-country captain and race photographer, Michael Wilkinson, (53:49) had been there since the first race, as he often is, erecting the club tent, taking action shots and organising the troops.
After sundown on the same day, several Harriers took to the trails round Rivington for the Petzl Night Runner Trail 13-mile and Trail 10k races.
Adam MacDonald was mixing it for the podium places in the half marathon, until an untimely fall and unclear route marking led to him dropping to sixth (1:38:03). As it happened, last-minute route changes meant the racers only completed 12 miles.
That was still further than Kevin Newall (25th, 1:53:39) had run in several months, so he was glad to make it to the finish in one piece.
Elsewhere, the Meltham (Tough) 10k took place near Huddersfield on Sunday, January 26. Glyn Kay toughed it out to cross the line in 47:55. Layne Mercer took on the Stockport Daffodil 10k on the same day. His 41:36 was good enough for third MV55.
There are now three things guaranteed in this life: death, taxes, and Rob “the human metronome” Jackson finishing first in age grading at Peel Parkrun.
He was eighth overall last week, with a time of 18:48.
