Saturdays Northern CC Champs on a fast but tough, Pontefract Racecourse, saw our Senior Men retain the team Champs for a third year, despite having people missing.
Roll on the National in 4 weeks and a hopeful Team Gold to go with Team wins at Greater Manchester, Cheshire, MACCL and Northerns, with the National to make a clean sweep of titles.
A great win for Jack Spark in the Under 13's. He teamed up with FREDDIE MEREDITH, JOSH COLQUHOUN-LYNN and ED LORD to retain the team title.
We also retained the U20 women’s team title due to fine performance from AINE CUNNINGHAM, JULIET DOWNS and CLAUDIA COWAN.
Our U13, U15, and U17 all finished 4th whilst the U15 girls B team finished 2nd in its category. Our highest place finishers were LARA CRAWFORD (7th), KATIE STRINGER (10TH) and JASMINE REED (13th) whilst our other counters were SARA CLOUGH, AVA CLOUGH,CARMEN SAFRANAUSKAS, NIAMH BOYD, IZZY BURKE, TAYLOR EDWARDS, AKIRA EDGSON, OLIVIA BROWN, LIBBY HILL, OLIVIA NOLAN, EMILY HALL, ALYSSA DAVEY and HANNAH WITCHALLS. Two years ago, we won both the U15 and U17 team race s and finished runners up in the U13’s and hope to be back amongst the medals next year.
In the U15 boy’s race we finished 11th team due to fine runs from WILL PARKER, ALEX JAMES, JAMES KNOCTON and CHARLIE TITTENSOR.
After an early battle with Leeds, our men consolidated and moved through strongly to higher places as Leeds fell away, leaving us with a comfortable win, in fact the position of our 10th or 11th racer would still have given us a win.
Nigel Martin had a great run in 5th as last year, just off from the top three, Luke Betts had a really strong run in 12th as did a fast finishing Euan Gilchrist in 15th. Close behind him were Phil Robertson and Callum Rowlinson, battling to the line in 21st and 22nd. Showing a young team coming through for another successful era to take us forward into the 2020's.
The men retained their title for the 3rd successive year, the first time the senior men have had such a string of success in this championship. Virtually all the winning team six counters improved on their finishing positions from last year’s championships.
Dan Kashi our 6th counter had to battle strongly to the line, as Gaz Raven and Matt Barnes were breathing down his neck, James Wignall was not far behind them too. Sam Aspinwall was finishing strongly and frustratingly missed a top 100 by a few seconds, whilst registering a 10k P.B. out there, and his placing could still have given us Team Gold.
There were also strong runs from other Veterans behind Gaz and Matt, from Steve McCarron, Richard Edwards, Matt Spragg, Olly Gaillemin, Mike Ashby, Steve Gavin and Paul Barrett.
Under 20 Women were strong again, with Aine Cunningham with a really strong finish in 12th and Juliet Downs a few strides behind in 13th, whilst Claudia Cowan starting to come back to fitness in 21st. Zara Thompson's placing backing them up, could still have given them a win. Moving on to try to retain their National title in 4 weeks.
No medals for the Senior Women, but top runs from Lancs Champ, Katie Hewison and Greater Manchester Champ Danielle Fegan, with Ellen Downs battling to a high place after recent illness. Because of missing athletes, Team Manager Clare McCarron stepped up to finish not far out of the top 100, despite still hurting from a recent broken toe. Sarah Goulden also ran strongly to show her recent more steady progression and strong running once. The team had a solid 6th place and not far from team medals, despite so many missing. There will be a large strong squad at the Nationals in 4 weeks and another Team Gold is looking likely.
N.B. I will send separate event details out to those guys I entered & are racing in 4 weeks, but look on ECCA website also.
If people want a minibus to Leeds, shout out now to gauge numbers, (+ volunteer driver), as I have to pay £15 for a parking pass and arrange with a driver to book the minibus.
