Lancashire Cross Country Champion- six times!
by David Griffiths - 14 January 2012
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Sarah leads Melanie Hyder in the under 13 girls race in 2006. This photo was taken in the early stages of the race, but already Sarah and Melanie are well clear of the rest of the field (photo Murray Lambden for www.manxathletics.com) It is a great achievement to win one county cross country title. To win two titles is outstanding. But to win six titles in seven years, across four different age groups, is a truly exceptional performance. That is exactly what Manx Harrier Sarah Astin has achieved at Blackburn’s Witton Park since 2006, and it is a record that surely deserves to be recognised. Sarah made her debut in the event in 2006 as a first-year under 13, and although she had performed extremely well as a relative newcomer in local events it remained to be seen how she would get on against the leading Lancashire runners. We soon found out! Right from the start, Sarah and Melanie Hyder of Dallam Running Club (who has since competed in international fell running events) stretched well away from the rest of the field, and by the time they reached the saucer climb they were still locked together. There was still nothing in it when they arrived back in the bottom field, until Sarah produced an impressive turn of speed to pull five seconds clear of her rival in the final dash for the line. They both finished nearly a minute clear of the bronze medalist! It was a terrific debut performance by Sarah, who became the first athlete from the Isle of Man to win the under 13 girls title in the Lancashire championships. It was a doubly golden day for Sarah as, along with her teammates Emily Ashe, Lauren Whelan and Caitriona Cox, she also struck gold in the team race.
The gold medal winning under 13 girls team in 2006. Left to right Emily Ashe, Sarah Astin, Lauren Whelan, Caitriona Cox (photo Murray Lambden for www.manxathletics.com) < By the following year, 2007, Sarah’s progress had ensured that she was well-known not only in Lancashire but also further afield. She started the under 13 race as the clear favourite to retain her title, especially as Melanie Hyder had moved up into the next age group. And what a performance Sarah produced! It was one of the muddiest days in the history of the Lancashire championships, but that didn’t matter to Sarah who made it all look very easy while many of her rivals floundered. Before the athletes had even completed their lap round the bottom field Sarah had already opened up a substantial advantage over the rest of the field, and she continued to run superbly up the saucer and down the long and very muddy descent. By the time she crossed the finishing line Sarah was 30 seconds clear of the silver medalist, a hugely convincing winning margin in a race of around three kilometres. Her time was only bettered by two of the under 13 boys who ran the same course!
Sarah is way out in front on her way to retaining her under 13 girls title in 2007. She also appears to be recycling some of the Christmas tree decorations! (photo Murray Lambden for www.manxathletics.com) / Moving into the under 15 age group in 2008, Sarah was again the favourite to win the title even though she was in her first year in the age group, and she did so in spectacular style. After an injury had prevented her from competing on the track throughout the whole of the 2007 summer season, Sarah was now fully fit and raring to go. Here is what I wrote about the race at the time: “Keith Gerrard and Sarah Astin were both absolutely magnificent yet again. The tactics of both were very simple – head down from the gun and demoralise the rest of the field very early in the race. Simple those tactics may be, but to carry them out requires a lot of talent and a lot of confidence. Keith and Sarah have both qualities in abundance. Sarah has an astonishing record at the Lancashire championships; three appearances, three wins, and every one more convincing. Two years ago she won the under 13 race by five seconds in a sprint finish. Last year, she retained the under 13 title by a 30 second margin. This time, in her first year as an under 15, she won by an incredible margin of 53 seconds. Indeed, Keith’s and Sarah’s victory margins on Saturday were the two biggest of the day across all categories! Sarah has clearly fully recovered from her injury setback that caused her to miss the entire track season last summer and is now running better than ever.”
Sarah’s biggest ever margin of victory came in the 2008 event, when she won the under 15 girls race by 53 seconds in her first year in the age group. The pack behind her can just be seen descending though the fields in the far distant background! (photo Murray Lambden for www.manxathletics.com) / The 2009 championships saw the only blemish to Sarah’s Lancashire record, following several months out of action with another injury problem. Throughout the six months leading up to the championships Sarah had been unable to do any meaningful training, yet still managed to finish in fourth place in the under 15 girls race, using a mixture of natural talent and memory to see her through! The course was frozen and dangerously rutted in places, so it perhaps wasn’t a bad thing that Sarah was not at full speed on this occasion. Normal service was resumed in 2010 though. This was the never to be forgotten year when the entire course was covered with snow, which was a beautiful sight for the spectators but tough for the athletes to run on. Sarah was again up against Melanie Hyder, the athlete who had run her close on her debut back in 2006, but once again it was Sarah who came out on top. This is how I reported the race: “The under 17 women's race produced the first gold medal of the day for the club, courtesy of yet another superb run by Sarah Astin. Sarah was up against a very good athlete, Melanie Hyder, who is an outstanding fell runner and also very good over the country. Sarah established a lead of about 40 metres by the first saucer climb, a gap which had stretched slightly by the same place on the second lap but was not yet a winning lead. However, Sarah ran really strongly up the hill to increase the gap, and her lead had grown to a comfortable 17 seconds at the line. This was Sarah’s fourth Lancashire championship in the five years she has competed in the event, a fabulous record. Her only blemish was last year when she was coming back from a long injury layoff. Even then she was fourth having hardly run for six months! There were really gritty and determined runs also from Polly Rogerson and Caitriona Cox who finished 11th and 13th respectively, and along with Sarah they picked up the bronze medal for the team.”
Sarah was so relaxed on her way to winning the under 17 women’s title in 2010 that she fell asleep during the race! Either that or she was blinded by the sun reflecting off the snow (photo Ian Astin)
Sarah’s dominance of these championships continued in 2011 in her second year in the under 17 age group. She made a steady start to the race, running in close company with her friend and rival Beckie Taylor of Blackburn Harriers in the early stages before really turning up the wick. By the end of the first full lap Sarah had pulled clear, and continued to stretch her lead with every stride on the second and final lap. Her winning margin was a very convincing 42 seconds, and as usual she looked extremely relaxed and comfortable throughout the race.
Sarah glides easily through the Witton Park mud on the way to retaining her under 17 women’s title in 2011. The race was run concurrently with the under 17 men, several of whom Sarah beat. Her nearest rival Beckie Taylor can be seen in the background in the blue vest (photo Ian Astin) < And so we move onto the 2012 championships, with Sarah now in her first year in the under 20 age group. Since 2010, the under 20 race has been run concurrently with the senior race over the same distance, giving Sarah the opportunity to measure her performance against the best senior cross country runners in Lancashire as well as against athletes from her own age group. The race was over a distance of 6.9 kilometres, Sarah’s longest cross country race to date, and she rose to the challenge with a typically classy display. On the first of the three laps she ran in a pack of four athletes, a few seconds clear of her nearest under 20 rival Beckie Taylor. By lap two, Sarah had dropped a little off the leading three seniors but was still running strongly up the notorious saucer hill, and on the third and final lap she consolidated her overall fourth position. She finished 18 seconds clear of Taylor to take her first Lancashire under 20 title, and her sixth title in seven years in all. What a record! There was an added bonus for Sarah this year, as with the under 20s now being included in the scoring for the senior teams, she was part of the first team from the Isle of Man to win the gold medal in the women’s team event at the Lancashire championships, along with Rebecca Wallace and Gail Griffiths.
Same place as 2011, even deeper mud!! Sarah on her way to winning the 2012 under 20 title, despite appearing to have lost her right foot and ankle! (photo Ian Astin)
The gold medal winning Manx Harriers senior women’s team in 2012. Left to right Sarah Astin, Rebecca Wallace, Gail Griffiths (photo David Griffiths) < It really is an amazing record that Sarah has built up in the Lancashire Cross Country Championships since 2006, and one of which she should be extremely proud. It should perhaps be added that the quality of competition in her age group over the years has not been as high as in the age group above her, in which her sister Gemma has regularly been up against three of the best athletes in the country. But year-in and year-out, Sarah has convincingly beaten every athlete she has been up against, and has also achieved many very high finishes in the English National, English Schools and Inter Counties championships. These results prove that Sarah is a cross country runner of extremely high class, one of the best ever produced by the Isle of Man. Over the last few years, Sarah has often been plagued with injury and illness problems in the second half of the winter, which has affected her performances in some of the big UK cross country races and on the track in the summer. If she can put this all behind her, then this could be the year when she really shines on the track as well as on the mud. Sarah has achieved so much already in her athletics career, and her Lancashire Cross Country performances really are second to none!
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