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

 

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