Thank you to Cathy Flitcroft and Wesley Wilkinson for their words below, and also their stellar spirit and camaraderie at a XC challenging event held at Lancaster's Ryelands Park.
Saturday 9th December saw the Harriers out in force at the latest Mid Lancs cross country race in Lancaster on a course which would be best described as mud, glorious mud.
Whilst the weather itself wasnt too bad for the ladies' race with the rain holding off, unfortunately it took a turn for the worse after the start of the men's race with gusty winds and driving rain of a biblical nature descending. However, neither mud nor weather could dampen the Harriers' spirit.
The ladies' squad was depleted compared to the previous event in Liverpool yet a hardy 11 athletes put in a fantastic day's work. With first time runs for Catherine Mitchell and Becky Maughan, the squad came away triumphant in securing team wins as the 1st A team, 1st B team, 1st F35 team, 1st F45 team and 3rd F55 team.
A number of ladies also secured individual honours: Emma McColm 2nd overall (just 8 secs behind the winner), Jamie Robinson 1st F35, Cathy Flitcroft 1st F55 and Marion Hesketh 2nd F65.
That said, every member of the squad played their part with those not scoring points for the team preventing other teams scoring vital points. There's also a further shout out to Jamie Robinson who has agreed to be the ladies cross country vice captain.
In the men's race the course was now a mud bath as a result of 400 pairs of feet pummeling the course before them together with fresh rainfall. Wes Wilkinson was 1st home for Preston in 15th position closely followed by Max Holden in 21st (5th in U20 age category), with Luke Suffolk (U20) and Matthew Sowerby also finishing in top 30.
In the men's team results, Preston finished 4th with Peter Gibson and Steve Hallas added to the above to make up the A team. With the B team also finishing in 4th overall.
In the Vets categories, the men finished 5th in both the M40 and M50 with Alan Appleby in particular having a storming run to finish 2nd in the M70 category.
The next fixture is in sunny Blackpool on Saturday 13th January, so watch this space for further details.