The weather was kind last weekend in Manchester for the first South East lancs Cross Country fixture…well it didn’t rain at least. The venue was Heaton Park and once again the course didn’t disappoint with its mixture of hills, mud and woodland trails. The mud was not as bad as it could have been and was certainly better than what will be facing the athletes in the Red Rose at Leverhulme Park next Saturday (26th October)
Participation from Leigh Harriers was a little on the low side for such a prestigious event but we still managed to field 8 athletes in different age groups.
First up was the under 13 boys race over a distance of 3K and Leigh had 3 runners in the top 15. Ethan Davies was 3rd closely followed by Sam Barlow with William Cooper in 13th. A great team effort earning them the 2nd team overall.
In the under 13 girls race on the same course as the boys, Leigh had a solo runner in Jasmine Barlow who came in a creditable 7th place.
The under 15 girls raced on a 4.5K course and once again Leigh only had one runner. This time it was Melissa Ince who managed 4th place in a close run race with less than 20 seconds separating the top 4.
The mens race involved over 200 runners and was the usual 3 big laps covering a total distance of 10K. Leigh men had 3 runners competing on the day and had we mustered one more then we may have done well in the team event as well. First home for Leigh was Rob Thorpe in 12th place, another fine performance in his 3rd cross country of the season. He was followed 40 seconds later by Dave Smith in 17th (4th V40) in his first cross country of the season and just happy he “Completed” the course. Last for Leigh but most certainly not least was Allister Goulding in 43rd (5th V50)
Full results can be found here – https://www.race-results.co.uk/results/2019/sel191.pdf
Next fixture is Bolton in the Red Rose on Saturday 26th! Lets get as many runners out as possible!