Eight Harriers join county set

●● Rob Webb ATHLETICS STEVE DUXBURY

EIGHT Rossendale Harriers represented Lancashire in the Inter Counties Cross Country Championships at Prestwold Hall in Loughborough on Saturday and there were some excellent results despite the exceptionally muddy conditions.

The athletes qualified to run for their county at the Lancashire championships in early January and Saturday’s race, apart from the English Schools event, marks the end of a long, hard cross country season and is also a top quality event, incorporating the final fixture of the UK Cross Challenge series.

Josh Whitehead has had a mixed season and has struggled to maintain consistency but his performance on Saturday will give him some confidence as he was Lancashire’s fifth counter in the team of eight U20 Men.

Josh finished the 8K course in 87th place from 174 runners in 34mins 24secs after Preston’s Nathan Dunn had got the day off to a great start for Lancashire by winning a silver medal.

Joe Ormrod finished in 227th position from a total of 301 runners in the U13 Boys race and was Lancashire’s sixth counter in the team of eight, still a very good run against some of the best young athletes in the country.

Joe has had a busy season, running in both the Northern and National championships as had U17 Matthew Mackay but it wasn’t to be his day, as he had to pull out of his race at the midpoint suffering from a suspected virus. Matty was disappointed as he was easily ●● Callum Davidson the team’s best runner but he can console himself by the fact that he has another year in his age group and he has achieved so much this year in any case.

The U15 Boys race saw Lancashire champion, Joel Taylor leading his team home to seventh from 42 counties and crossed the line in 20th place from 303 runners, an exceptional performance from the young Harrier.

Equally impressive was Max Cunningham who finished third Lancashire counter and in 55th position despite only qualifying for the team after an impressive performance in the Northern Championships.

Minnie Targett finished outside of the qualifying places for the U17s but was picked for the U20 team and, running confidently in the awful conditions, she exceeded all expectations by finishing as the fifth Lancashire counter in 127th place from 170 runners. Again, this will give her confidence for the forthcoming fell season.

Rob Webb and Callum Davidson, who was a late substitute for the nine strong Senior Men’s squad, were optimistic as they were part of one of the strongest Lancashire teams for several years but by the end of the races the course was a sea of mud for almost all of the 12 kilometre course.

In the end only four points separated Middlesex and the Red Rose county for the gold medal but a second place was a very welcome reward for their efforts.

The icing on the cake however, came when the calculations were made for the award of the Len Beavan trophy, presented to the county, in this case Lancashire, that finished nine runners in the Senior Men’s race with the least number of points.

Hampshire’s Mahamed Mahamed made light of the conditions as he crossed the finish line with a huge cushion of almost 50 seconds over second place after 42mins 23secs, a dominating performance.

Lancashire’s men packed well with six men in the first 50 of the 284 runners. Blackburn’s Rob Warner was the first of the Lancs men in 16th place and Callum 57th and Rob 110th, all excellent performances.

Lancashire’s team also contained Ollie Lockley and Alan Corlett from the Isle of Man, Tim Raines and Chris Arthur, Blackburn and Gary Priestley and Chris Livesey from Salford Harriers. discover if he would be charged over a late-night incident outside a Bristol bar last September.

He rejoined England in New Zealand only once he had indicated a not guilty plea to affray at Bristol Magistrates Court last month.

Stokes learned on Monday, after a hearing at Bristol Crown Court, that he will face trial in August on a charge of affray alongside two other men, and now England have announced Anderson will once again be Joe Root’s deputy for a two-match campaign ●● James Anderson and Stuart Broad look on during England nets in New Zealand