Lancashire Cross Country Championships 2016
The
Manx Harriers cross country team enjoyed a stellar day at the Lancashire
Championships held at Witton Park in Blackburn on Saturday
9th January. For the first
time in the Club’s 24 years competing at this event the medal tally reached
double figures, and by the end of the afternoon no fewer than 13 medals (four
gold, four silver, five bronze) were on their way back to the Isle of Man. Many
of the athletes can now look forward to Lancashire selections at the Inter
Counties Championship in March. The
athletes enjoyed a welcome few hours of fine weather, and although the course
was very heavy underfoot it was not quite as muddy as had been feared.

Macy
Hiller got the day off to a perfect start with a brilliant run to win the
silver medal in a field of 52 in the under-11 girls race over 1.8 kilometres.
Judging the pace intelligently and running strongly throughout, she passed
several rivals in the second half of the race and finished in great style to
come through into second place. Macy is an extremely promising athlete and will
still be in this age group next year.
For
the first time in six years the Club fielded a team of four athletes in the 3
kilometre u13 girls’ event. The race over one full lap of the course included
the famous ‘saucer’ hill, and all four girls ran extremely well. Holly Burgess
was 12th, Jodie Vaughan 26th, Amelia Brockbanks 39th
and Aimee Christian 40th. The latter two are relative newcomers to
the sport and helped the team to fifth place in the team race.

The
first gold medal of the day came in the u17 men’s race courtesy of a
wonderfully mature run from David Mullarkey in his first year in the age group.
Last year’s silver medallist in the u15 boys’ race, David demonstrated his
great progress with a high class performance over two laps of the course, a
distance of 5.6 kilometres. Having held back a little in the early stages he
eased smoothly away from the rest of the field, executing a superb climb of the
hill on the second lap that helped him to an 18-second victory margin. The only
other Manx winner of the U17 men’s title at this event was Keith Gerrard in
2003, and David is a worthy successor.
George
Dickinson and Alex Bell both ran solid races to finish in 12th and
13th positions respectively and should be pleased with their
performances. Together with David they took a hard-earned bronze medal in the
team race.
Laura
Dickinson also ran very well, finishing in an excellent seventh place in the
u17 women’s race over the same distance. George, Alex and Laura will all be in
the same age group again next year.
The
women’s race, combining junior (u20), senior and veteran athletes followed.
This proved to be an outstanding success for Manx Harriers, and for the first
time ever at these championships in any race, the Club provided the first two
athletes across the line.
 
Katie
Astin had never raced a distance of 6.7 kilometres before, but demonstrated
great strength, skill and pace judgement to dominate the race. She ran with the
leading pack on the first of three laps before forging into the lead in the
early stages of lap two. By the time she reached the top of the ‘saucer’ for
the second time she held a 50-metre lead over teammate Karen Shimmin, looking
composed and in complete control.
Katie
extended her lead a little more on the final circuit to come home with 17
seconds to spare, a magnificent performance in her first year as a junior. This
was her first gold medal at these championships having previously won three
silvers in the younger age groups. The only athlete to previously win this race
as a junior was Katie’s eldest sister Gemma in 2010..

Karen
Shimmin’s performance was a revelation. Best known as a triathlete, Karen
finished 15th in this race
in 2015 as a relative novice at cross
country. To finish second this time and take the silver medal behind her
teammate was an amazing achievement and reward for a great deal of dedication.
It was a wonderful run.

Gail
Griffiths ran with all her usual determination to finish in tenth place overall
and take the gold medal in the 50 age group by a big margin. It was her sixth
age group gold medal in the past seven years. There was also an excellent run
from Caroline Mayers who took the bronze medal in the very competitive 40 age
group to finish 15th overall.

The
women’s team were convincing champions for the fourth time in five years, an
incredible achievement that demonstrates the strength in depth of women’s
distance running on the Isle of Man.
It
was also a very good day for the men’s team, who took the team bronze medal
with a series of quality performances. Only twice in the last 18 years have the
team failed to get onto the podium.
There
was a great race-long tussle between friendly rivals Andy Barron and Alan
Corlett following the early retirement of Kevin Loundes. In and around the top
ten of the 149-strong field throughout the four-lap 9.8 kilometres race, both
produced runs of real quality. Andy opened up a six-second margin in the
closing stages to take a terrific seventh place, with Alan superbly holding off
former champion Ben Fish in a sprint finish to take eighth spot.
Mike
Garrett took 26th place and the silver medal in the 45 age group
with another great run, and Gianni Epifani won the bronze medal in the 40 age
group with a fine 41st place finish. The other two team scorers were
Stephen Garrett in 55th place (12th junior) and Richard
Highfield in 68th.
The
other finishers were Joe Ricciardi in 76th (15th junior),
Andy Watson 77th, Andy Fox 91st and Chris Quine 96th.
Andy Fox, who has organised every Manx Harriers trip to the event since 1993,
took a popular silver medal in the 55 age group, and was part of the bronze
medal winning veteran team along with Mike Garrett, Gianni Epifani and Andy
Watson.
There
were also three athletes from Northern AC and one from Western AC competing,
and they too performed extremely well. Lydia Morris (sixth in the u13 girls),
Lorna Spiers (fifth in the u15 girls) and Western AC’s Rhys Owen (sixth in the
u15 boys) can all look forward to Inter Counties selections, and TJ Phair was
16th in the u13 boys’ race.
Thanks
to David Griffiths for this report
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