Senior team impress in Pontefract
WHILST Storm Corrie battered the country a hardy band of Harriers travelled over to Pontefract to run in the North of England Cross Country Championships and, for the senior men’s team it proved to be one of their best performances for many years.
The undulating course inside Pontefract racecourse was mercifully dry underfoot but extremely windy and the earlier races had the worst of the conditions but it didn’t put off U13 Toby Steel who has raced in most of the club’s fixtures throughout the season. Ruby Cleaver, who is at the bottom of the U13 age group, made a welcome return to form and finished strongly in 78th position from a total of
117 runners.
Some 91 runners lined up for the U17 Men’s race, which was won by Chorley’s Jacob Deacon who will be a Lancashire team mate of Joe
Ormrod’s in the Inter Counties Championships in March and it augers well for the county team as Blackburn’s David Holman finished 12th, Clayton’s Will Walker 17th and Joe 24th, great
performances by all. Will Curry also ran and finished in 50th position.
Joe Hopley finished in 45th place in a field of 73 runners after 33mins 20secs of running, much of it buffeted by the wind and, for Ben Kirkman it was a tough day as he placed 64th after 36mins 25secs.
Ribble Valley’s Eleanor Bolton won the senior women’s race and Joanne Cleaver was the first Harrier home in 155th place from a total of 262 runners, Christine Smith was 243rd and Sara Steel was 255th.
The Harriers fielded eight of the 517 senior men in the last race of the day which was won by Derby’s Hugo Milner as the wind dropped slightly but the task was a big one as they raced over 12.2 kilometres, the longest cross country of the season.
Stephen Corbishley was the first of the valley team home in 87th place with a time of 47mins 59secs followed closely in 90th place by Matty Harris with 48mins 07secs and Jon Cleaver with 48mins 40secs.
Rob Webb showed a welcome return to form,
although not back to his best by any means, with 118th place in 49secs 17secs, Sean Greenwood recorded 50mins 32secs for 146th place and Andy Grenfell completed the team in 158th place with 50mins 50secs.
Matthew Clawson and Chris Snell also ran and finished in 257th and 266th places respectively.
Salford Harriers enjoyed a narrow victory over Leeds City in the team stakes and Rossendale claimed ninth place, their best team performance for many years and a major achievement to finish as the first Lancashire club.
Saturday’s fixture apart from the U11s who have their last one in two week’s time, also marked the final fixture in the club’s cross country championship and Jon Cleaver cemented his senior and veteran’s wins over a season where he has shown remarkable consistency.
Joanne Cleaver also claimed the senior lady’s title on Saturday and Joe Hopley and Joe Ormrod also finished as champions in the U20 and U17 age groups.