Greater Manchester Cross Country Championships, Sunday 12th December
The big performance of the week came on Sunday, when Manchester-based Harrier Elsey Davies comfortably won the women’s Greater Manchester county cross country championship title, finishing a good two minutes ahead of her nearest rival over a tough course of mud, trail, gravel, and water.
Telford 10km road race, Sunday 12th December
On the road a small group of Harriers took on the fast Telford 10k, with Joe Monk first to cross the line in 30:22, taking 37th place. Next in was Scottish athlete Mhairi MacLennan in 33:46, taking 6th place in the women’s category. Just a few minutes back was Carla Davies, who continues to go from strength to strength after a difficult period of injuries, crossing the line in 36:06. She was followed by Steve Hallas who, by his own standards, had a disappointing performance as he suffered the effects of ill health, crossing the line in 39:50. Alan Metcalf brough the team home in 40:52.
Longridge Christmas pudding 7 mile road race
Closer to the home, the popular Longridge Christmas pudding 7 mile race was staged with its usual mix of killer hills, including the much loathed Jeffrey Hill, and cold weather. Preston was well represented with seven runners competing on the day, the first of whom to cross the line was Jason Parker who completed the course in 43:46 to finish in 7th place. Philip Marsden was next Harrier over the line, finishing in 12th place (45:57), just ahead of training partner David Parkinson who took 15th (46:41). The remaining Harriers were Dougie Potter (49:12), Andrew Acklam (52:55), Steve Townhill (53:06) and Paul Jeffries (53:24).
USA Based Harriers
Earlier in the week two of Preston’s US based athletes were in action at the Blue Demon Holiday Invitational in Chicago, Illinois, where Matthew Wigelsworth ran a 600 metre PB of 1:20.65 to finish 4th in the senior men’s race and Alex Bernstein finished 9th in the weighted throw with a throw of 15.71.