Josh powers to Red Rose title

ATHLETICS STEVE DUXBURY

ROSSENDALE athlete Josh Whitehead clinched the Red Rose Cross Country League U17 Men’s title in the third fixture at Leverhulme Park, Bolton on Saturday.

He was pushed all the way to the finish by Bury AC’s Oliver Makinson, who crossed the line two seconds after Josh in 19min 12secs.

Josh led from the gun and dominated the race in wet and muddy conditions on the course, which included a short but stamina sapping hill and a stream crossing.

He doesn’t need to run at the final fixture at Marl Pits as final positions are calculated from the best of four runs, however he may go for a perfect score at Rossendale.

Josh’s next race will be at Sefton Park, Liverpool, where he will be up against the best in the country in the UK Cross Challenge fixture.

Young Matthew Mackay, coached by Graham Wright, will also figure on the start line at Liverpool after totally dominating the U15 Boys race with an emphatic win by 15 seconds over Blackburn’s Matthew Ramsden. The size of the winning margin over a very good athlete illustrates Matthew’s progress this season and it will be interesting to see how he fares against top quality opposition.

Rossendale’s U15s team aided by a fine third place for Ben Forrest and 16th for Joel Taylor, took the honours on Saturday over Blackburn but after three fixtures they are tying for first team so it will be down to the wire at Marl Pits on 3rd December.

The Harriers U15 Girls team were pushed into second place by a strong Leigh team after Lauryn Gregg finished in third place and Minnie Targett, tenth but an out-of-sorts Orla Holt could only finish in 18th place, setting up the decider for Marl Pits, where Lauryn could sig- nificantly enhance her overall result on a course that will suit her.

Joe Ormrod was Rossendale’s best-placed U11 Boys athlete with 15th place in a packed 81 strong field and for the girls an excellent run by Evie Taylor saw her finish in sixth place from 75 runners.

Joe Hopley, currently equal tenth in the overall standings and sixth at Bolton, led his U13 Boys team home into second place thanks to supporting runs from Maxwell Hereward, 13th and Oliver Swan, 16th.

The Girls’ best placed finisher was Holly Pegg in 16th spot from 68 runners.

The U17 Women’s title is there for the taking in the final fixture after another dominant win for the Harriers on Saturday.

Corinna Howorth ran strongly for a great third place followed by Amelia Chadfield in sixth and Ella Tinman in seventh. Sarah Goldswain also ran and took 14th spot.

Sophie Murphy, currently in fifth place in the U20 overall standings, was the leading Rossendale woman in 17th place followed by Lynne Berbatiotis in 30th and Hayley Corbishley 45th.

The U20 and also Senior Men’s title could be on the cards for Callum Davidson should he run to form on home turf in the final fixture.

On Saturday his race was dominated by international U23 runner, Joe Steward from East Cheshire Harriers. Joe was Inter Counties champion in 2015 and dominated on Saturday to win by over a minute and a half from Callum, himself an England Fell International, who put in an impressive performance against topclass opposition.

Rossendale’s team claimed an easy victory, their first of the season, over Bolton Utd Harriers with a fifth place for Grant Cunliffe, who is slowly coming into form, and Rob Webb in ninth, Dominic Walton, 15th, Ashley ●● Josh Whitehead on his way to victory at Leverhulme Park Holt, 24th and Nick Schofield, 26th and first over 50 veteran.

Nick clinched his over50s title on Saturday with his third category win after battling back from injury this season and will now set his sights on the Lancashire County Championships in January.

The Harriers veteran team – comprising Ashley Holt, Nick, Sean Molloy and Jon Tinman – were narrowly beaten into second place but it would require an outstanding performance to overtake Todmorden and Blackburn in the final fixture.

Meanwhile, in the Radcliffe half marathon, top woman was Lorraine Hopley (V40) of Rossendale Harriers who clocked 1hr 33mins 08secs.

Alan Lundberg-Bury (Rossendale Harriers) was seventh male 1:26:12. ●● Callum Davidson