The Red Rose Cross Country League 2019 started here at Leigh, heavy rain had made the course very muddy and difficult but on the day the sun was shining and so were Leigh’s young athletes. This was match one of four and a good start to the series was a must for the Leigh Team.
The U11 boys kicked off the day’s racing and Leigh’s Thomas Amaral ran a brilliant race (his first cross country) he finished by throwing himself over the line in a contest for first place – sadly he was given second place but the same time as the winner as the margin was so close! During the League Series he was placed 2nd (Leigh), 3rd (Bolton) and 1st (Rossendale) giving him 6 points out of the four meetings and 1st place in the League. Cillian Clarke and James Howarth Linton have shown great team spirit by competing for their club in all four race meetings with 24 points (7th) and 45 points (13th) respectively; Daniel Cartwright clocked up 32 points for 32nd place as he had supported his team in 3 out of 4 matches. The U11 boys team finished 3rd overall out of ten clubs from around Greater Manchester and other neighbouring counties.
The U11 girls started extremely promising with Gabriella Taylor finishing in 2nd place at Leigh, going on to finish 2nd (Bolton) 1st (Todmorden) and 1st (Rossendale), all were well fought races with her wins at Todmorden and Rossendale being very impressive! The team finished in 1st place at Leigh with 20 points (Taylor, Hodgkinson and Cash). In the overall positions after racing in at least 3 out of 4 meetings, good team support came from Freya Cash 15th, Scarlett Jarvis 28th, Francesca Chung and Olivia Copper joint 47th. The Leigh team finished a very creditable 3rd overall.
The U13 boys saw Ethan Davies always in the top ten – 9th Leigh, 7th Bolton, 5th Todmorden and 6th Rossendale clocking 18 points for 6th overall place. Always not far behind was Sam Barlow – 10th Leigh, 9th Bolton, 11th Todmorden and 14th Rossendale, giving him 30 points for 8th place overall. William Cooper was joint 31st place with 108 points, Lyndon Higgins 36th place with 123 points and Kieryn Blagg 45th with 156 points with all of these boys competing at all four meetings. The Leigh U13 boys team finished in 5th place.
In the U13 girls team, Jasmine Barlow finished 14th overall with 22nd Leigh, 8th Todmorden and 11th Rossendale, with good support from Poppy Matter 19th overall, 36th Leigh, 18th Bolton, 17th Todmorden and 20th Rossendale. Georgina Hilton placed 25th overall with 23rd Leigh, 35th Bolton, 20th Todmorden and 20th Rossendale; Sophie Turton raced in three out of four races and finished 35th overall with 34th Leigh, 36th Bolton and 36th Todmorden. Emma Bowden also won an overall place finishing in 40th place with 46th Leigh, 38th Todmorden and 38th Rossendale. The Leigh girls finished 5th overall team.
Daniel Sydall was the only U15 boy to complete the series finishing 16th overall with 17th Leigh, 18th Bolton and 16th Todmorden. The U15 girls finished in 3rd place overall with 104 points. Nieve Robinson placed 6th overall with 6th Leigh, 10th Bolton, 6th Todmorden and 8th Rossendale. She was supported by Lily Edwards who placed 13th overall with 12th Leigh, 16th Bolton, 11th Todmorden and 16th Rossendale. In 19th place overall was Melissa Ince – 11th Leigh, 23rd Bolton and 22nd Todmorden; no far behind in 21st overall place was Madison Davies who placed 27th Leigh, 37th Bolton, 18th Todmorden and 21st Rossendale. The Leigh U15 girls team finished 3rd overall in a very hard category.
Joel Denton was Leigh’s only overall placing in the U17s finishing the series in 7th place; Joel was never out of the top ten with placings of 7th Leigh, 6th Bolton, 10th Todmorden and 7th Rossendale. The U17s girls saw just 2 Leigh girls finish the series with an overall position; Rebecca Pollitt was joint 8th with 10th Leigh, 6th Bolton and 6th Rossendale, whilst Katy Morley finished in 13th overall place with 12th Leigh, 13th Bolton (after a heavy fall) and 15th Todmorden.
Katie Sanderson was Leigh’s first overall finisher in the senior category, closing the series in 42nd place, she ran 49th Leigh, 41st Bolton, 42nd Todmorden and 40th Rossendale. There was great rivalry between the Leigh ladies and next runner for Leigh was Rachel Hodgkinson in 47th overall position – 51st Leigh, 44th Todmorden and 52nd Rossendale; Rachel Pollitt was next in 57th overall place – 71st Leigh, 57th Bolton and 65th Todmorden. Diane Denney as always completed the series with 151st Leigh, 137th Bolton and 118th Rossendale. The Leigh Senior Ladies finished in 11th place overall.
The senior men’s category was highly contested between the Leigh runners with Richard Smith being placed 18th overall with 24th position at Bolton, Todmorden and Rossendale. Harry Read was placed 63rd overall with 119th Leigh, 81st Bolton and 71st Rossendale; Dave Pollitt finished in 70th overall position 124th Leigh, 132nd Bolton, 99th Todmorden and 85th Rossendale. Garry Sanderson was 89th overall – 159th Leigh, 161st Bolton, 123rd Todmorden and 109th Rossendale.
A full list of prize winner will be displayed on the notice board at the club and on this site as soon as they are declared. The Red Rose Presentation Night is Friday 7th February 2020 at Horwich RMI Social Club 239 Ramsbottom Road, Horwich BL6 5NH.
All results https://www.race-results.co.uk/results/2019/
All rules regarding the Red Rose presentation winners https://redrosecrosscountry.co.uk/rules/