Senior men thrive in mud at Centre Vale
THE Todmorden fixture in the Red Rose Cross Country League is one of the toughest of the four league fixtures and Saturday’s event was no different this year with extremely muddy sections of the course for all age groups.
However, there were some of the best results for the season so far at Centre
Vale Park, especially for the senior men, who haven’t been at their best, but placed second team on Saturday to boost their overall league placing.
Harry Hopkinson made a difference for the U11 boys with sixth from a total of 48 finishers but they haven’t turned out their best team all season so finished in seventh place from eight teams with Arthur Grenfell and Harry Walker in 22nd and 24th places respectively. Jacob Stacey and Cole Marsden also ran.
The conditions certainly suited Alice Carr who had another great run, finishing in third place from 55 runners which puts her in overall third place with one fixture to come and thanks to her and Holly Nicholls and Evie Halliwell, who were 13th and 14th, they are also in third place in the team competition and not too far behind Chorley who are currently lying in second place.
Other runners were Iona Bell, AilaThompson, Millie Ellison and Rosie Bacon.
The U13 Boys enjoyed their best performance of the season with fourth out of the five teams and improved performances from Francis Vidler in tenth place, Alfie Walker in 12th and Thomas Smith in 22nd. Elliot Webster and Toby Steel also ran.
Ruby Cleaver was a little under the weather after a recent illness but Matilda Duffy ran well on her season’s debut to take 14th place from 40 runners in the girl’s race and Xara Lewis also had a good run for 17th spot.
Eliza Boon, Georgia Halliwell and Poppy Hopkinson also ran.
Both the U15 boys and U15 girls are effectively out of the overall team awards having failed to finish teams in the league although Daisy Halewood had another fine run to take sixth place on Saturday with Evie Hargreaves in ninth place.
Peter Williams and James Boyd ran for the boys.
The U17 men are still in the lead with our home fixture at Marl Pits to come in December but they have to finish a team there to confirm top spot and take the title. Will Curry is currently lying in third after his fifth place on Saturday and Joe Ormrod is in equal fourth place after a below par performance to take seventh place but I’m sure he will wish to prove his obvious quality on home ground.
Natalie Murphy, making her season’s debut in 35th place from 108 runners, was a welcome addition to the women’s team who finished in ninth place from the 14 teams. Abi Thompson, Joanne Cleaver and Sara Steel also ran.
The senior men needed a good performance to overtake Bury and go into second spot in the overall standings and they did just that on a tough four lap course with muddy inclines in each of them.
Blackburn’s Ben Fish led his team home in first place and Stephen Corbishley was the first of the Harriers with ninth place, followed nine seconds later by Jon Cleaver. Joe Hopley had a fine run to take tenth place and first U20 runner and Sean Greenwood, making his season’s debut in cross country followed close by in 11th.
With Ben Kirkman in 14th place the battle for first team on the day was looking promising but unfortunately Matty Harris lost a shoe with one lap remaining and, although he produced a heroic performance to finish the race, his 19th place was no reflection of his ability and the Harriers had to settle for second, just 12 points behind their rivals.
It was by far their best performance of the season and one that should give them confidence for their home fixture in December. The vets finished in third place and Jon Cleaver looks to have cemented his second place in the over 40 category but Mervyn Keys has already won the over 60 category without running at Rossendale.