ANDY
FOX REPORTS ON THE NATIONAL
CROSS COUNTRY
On
Saturday 21st. Feb a number
of local athletes took part
in the English National
cross country championships
at Temple Newsam just outside
Leeds.
The
course was a tough mixture
of agricultural and farm
land with 2 big hills on
each lap together with a
hill of less gradient. There
was a muddy section of about
800m on the 3.7km lap. As
the men ran 3 laps of the
course this proved taxing
to say the least as the
races wore on.
The
first to compete for the
locals were the under 15
boys. Andrew Newton ran
a fine race to finish in
61st. place out of the 300
boys who completed the race.
He set off steadily and
came past many athletes
on the last hill and finishing
straight. He ran a very
mature race and is certainly
showing much promise for
the future. Young Lee Butterworth
also ran in this category
and produced a good run.
He found the start a little
quick but came through well
on the hills to pass many
of the athletes who had
set off more quickly. Lee
and Andrew will have learnt
much from their debut in
the event.

Lee
Butterworth (ML)
Next
to race was Keith Gerrard.
His season has already been
a revelation to the UK and
England selectors and his
race on Saturday was to
be equally impressive. Tom
Humphries set off at a tremendous
pace chased only by Phil
McGlory of Liverpool Harriers.
Both young men are 2 years
older than Keith. The athlete
leading the chasing group
early on wore "red
and yellow" as in the
quote from last year’s commentary.
Keith led the chasing pack
of 8 runners and observers
were a little concerned
that he might do all the
work for this group and
pay the price later in the
race. Quickly though the
group whittled down to 5
and then 3 as Keith was
left vying for 3rd. place
with Sharland and Jacobs,
both of Ipswich Harriers
and both believed to be
too old to compete for Great
Britain in the world Cross
Country Champs this year.
So the race progressed as
McGlory and Humphries tried
to break each other up front,
Gerrard, Sharland and Jacobs
did likewise and at the
same time pulled away from
the rest of the pack.
As
the raced moved into the
last mile McGlory was clear
from Humphries with Sharland
third Keith fourth and Jacobs
5th. So it stayed until
the final 200m straight
when Jacobs managed to get
ahead of Keith. The Manx
lad came 5th. on the day
but was the first of all
athletes his age or up to
17 months older. A fantastic
achievement that must fill
him full of confidence for
the future. Keith’s next
target will be the Inter
Counties Champs. and World
Cross trial. where he will
hopefully be able to secure
a place in the GB team as
his performance on Saturday
suggests this is well within
his scope. A few athletes
who sat out of the race
in Leeds will be present
at Nottingham in March but
Keith’s targets will no
doubt remain as high as
ever.
The
Seniors saw mixed fortunes
as one would expect from
a group who had been up
since 5.30 in the morning,
travelled hundreds of miles,
been on their feet supporting
others for 4 hours and then
got ready to compete!!!!
Having
said that some fine performnces
were noted. Darren Gray
set off very quickly and
held on to finish in 200th.
place. This means he is
the 5th. highest local finisher
in the History of the event
behind Graham CLarke, Gianni Epifani (twice)
Andy Fox (twice) and Chris
Quine (once) who have managed
to get into the top 200.
Darren left Andy Fox, a
disappointed 343 and Andy
Cannell 350 way behind on
the day. This was Cannell’s
debut in the event and he
will have learnt a tremendous
amount from it. It is also
a debut for an athlete from
the Island from any other
club apart from Manx Harriers!!!
Nick Percival showed he
is coming back to form to
run on strongly to finish
in 539 with Chris Quine,
making a last minute decision
to run, finished in 545.
Dave Newton ran the race
for the first time since
1988 and came home in a
placing 723 out of the 1,394
finishers.
So
the national is over for
another year. Some great
performances were achieved
by the locals on the day
and no doubt the athletes
are fired up for the races
left this winter and then
to prepare and better themselves
in next year’s big race.
One thing you can rest assured
of is that manxathletics.com
will carry full results
and reports once again.
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