Red Rose XC Leverhulme Park Bolton 15th Dec 2012
Pendle cross country runners were out on a difficult, sodden and boggy course at Leverhulme Park Bolton for the last of the Red Rose Cross Country League fixtures.
It was a difficult course under foot, due to the overnight rain and the sudden rise in temperature, making it heavy going under foot. Needless to say, the Pendle runners made short work of it, with all the runners putting in tremendous performances and achieving some great results.
First off for Pendle were Ruby Schofield and Ella Atkins in the U11 Girls race. They came 16th and 38th respectively with a strong finish from both girls.
Next to go Pendle were the U13 boys who had to negotiate one large loop and the boys did not disappoint with fantastic performances on a demanding course. Kai Atkins led the Pendle lads home with a strong run coming in 4th, closely followed by, with his best performance in the Red Rose fixtures, Joe Lonsdale who come in 7th position. Then not so far behind again were Jacob VanGeffen coming in 17th followed by Gregan Baker who was pipped on the line by Jacob after a fantastic sprint finish. Then if that wasn’t exciting enough finish, the next battle was between Timmy Barnes and Harry Schofield with Timmy just taking it from Harry coming in 23rd and 24th. So, some really good, exciting racing there and it looks like the U13 Boys, for their tremendous efforts over the series of races in the Red Rose League, have picked up the Bronze Team Medal but this has to be officially confirmed yet.
Not to be out done the U15 Boys ran next in the form of Matthew Barnes, James Marchant, Tiarnan Crorken and Tom Marchant. What an outstanding race this turned out to be with all 4 runners putting in fine performances. Matty and James went straight out to the front with James Wardle from Leigh Harriers to make a little break away group, followed closely by Tiarnan in the next group with Thomas just behind. After the first large lap Matty and James pulled away to make about a 10 second gap between the rest of the field to start the second lap. There was no way any one was going to catch these two, they worked together as a team and crossed the line together,arm in arm, to take joint first position. They were then followed shortly by Tiarnan and Thomas who showed great support for their team mates coming in 11th and 12th respectively. This support by Tiarnan and Thomas meant that Pendle AC U15 Boys team won the team prize on the day and won the U15 Boys Team Gold award over the whole series of races, but again this has to be officially confirmed. Well done lads great effort.
Last but not least Josh Ingham was out racing in the U17 race and finished strongly in 21st Position. Also in the same race were the senior ladies in the form of Janet and Faye who also put in good performances for Pendle.
Well done to all those athletes involved today on all your great performances.
Richard Marchant