ALEX’S NEWSPAPER REPORT

For the week ending 4^th February 2012

Conditions could not have been better on Saturday for the 110^th Northern Athletics Cross Country Championships held at Pontefract Park in Yorkshire at the race course. A circuitous route had been laid out over 4km on the rough undulating ground inside the horse racing track but the going was firm and the skies were clear ahead of the cold weather due the following week. The ladies race kicked off over two laps making for 5.3 miles of running. The Wesham women were short of a team but that did not stop Sarah Sherratt putting everything into her run and she finished 88^th in 38:08. Team captain Tracey Hulme had a good run and she was 150^th with 41:58. There were 235 runners.

The senior men’s race was 3 laps totalling 7.9 miles with the eventual course longer than the guideline 12km due to arrangements with the park. Wesham had enough runners for two teams and Rob Danson moved up to the quality of a regional championship with an excellent run to finish 121^st in 46:05. Lee Barlow is training hard for his next marathon attempt and his strength showed as he came through over the final half lap to finish 260^th in 49:54. Alex Rowe was struggling with his strained ankle and after a good start fell back to 272^nd with a time of 50:10. John Collier put in his usual gutsy performance and he finished 366^th in 52:34. Gary Moore was armed with a sparkling new pair of spikes and he had the run of his life to finish 439^th in 55:04, a great run. Close behind Russell Mabbett was happy to follow through his marathon training with a solid run to clock 55:37 in 456^th position and he brought the Wesham men’s team home in 34^th position, a reasonable result out of 53 teams that completed. John Bertenshaw is now back to running and he had one of his first outings on the country to come in 480^th in 56:29. Alan Glasgow was right on his heels in 485^th place with a competent run in 56:37. Mark Midgley was 500^th in 57:02 with his usual strong run and Dave Preston thoroughly enjoyed the experience finishing 649^th in 1:05:36. Brian Porter came in 658^th in 1:06:53 and Dave Young was 681^st in 1:14:27.

Wesham fielded a small team in the popular Chernobyl 10k in Preston on Sunday where over 550 runners were greeted with fair weather conditions and a reasonable quality of competition along the old tramway, the river bank and the streets of Lostock Hall. The Wesham ladies had a competitive squad and Carmel Sullivan excelled with 4^th position and 1^st W45 in 42:09, 83^rd overall. Nicola Unsworth was 13^th woman and 7^th W40 in 134^th place with a time of 45:18. Sara Ward completed the Wesham women’s team with 48:14 for 25^th woman and 209^th overall. The team faced some stiff competition and were 2^nd behind Southport who had brought along a crack team but this was still a great result for the Wesham ladies. Outside the scoring team Sue Jones was 95^th woman and 422bd overall with 57:12 and Claire Stephenson was 115^th with a tremendous run in 59:22 in 460^th place overall.

The Wesham men were lead by Alan Hudson who finished 2^nd M60 and 41^st overall just over a minute behind Blackburn’s Evan Cook in 39:25, a minute slower than last year due to his ensuing foot injury where he would have given his rival a good run for his money previously. Alan Taylor wearing the prestigious number 1 finished 123^rd in 44:51, with Paul Carter getting back some of his previous form with a promising 51:13 for 297^th place. Dave Jones was 16^th M60 and 418^th in 56:49.

Written by: Alex Rowe

Submitted: 2^nd February 2012

Edited by: Brenda J Earnshaw WRR Editor