A record club turn out ……………….Results eagerly awaited
Sixteen men and nine ladies battled the elements and the competition in the penultimate Mcr League XC race . Only Stockport on Sunday 11th February remains.
Going into this race , the men were joint second with Salford and Trafford , behind Sale and were top in the vets category .
The ladies were fifth before this race and second in the vets category.
We can now only await the results at www.bbresults.com
With the turnout of twenty five there was support around the course as men cheered on the ladies and the ladies then returned the compliment . Great to see and hear .It is what makes XC a very team based event .
We lost the services of Kate Ayres and Nicki Mowatt during the week. The former has studies to complete while Nicki was supporting her husbands blossoming political career .
With nine ladies running , the forecast was good : Sadly we lost Angela Mazierre early in the race , feeling light headed and faint : Providing we support the Stockport race well , we still hope to come second in the vets .
Sally Gilliver led the ladies home , with Katie Green not far behind. Super races by them both .
Jo Aves looked strong as third counter and I think then Sally Price completed the scoring.
Sally Maddock returning from injury came not far behind with Catriona Marshall and Penny Hinke battling out the next position ; Cat moved through the field well.
Louisa Gilbert completed her first XC race and first race since the Macc Half , after injury. Well done !
We hope Angela recovers soon .
No sooner had the men finished cheering the ladies home and they were on the line ready for the off . We were without Damian , Rob and Jeff but the team showed its strength in depth .
Mike Halman was first home in the mid teens , and Malcolm Fowler recovering from injury , was a couple of places behind . Tom was then just a place or two behind that. Stuart and Jim came through next and we awaited our final counter . Graham and Ray had been battling through the field and against each other but it was Ray who took the sixth counter . Good to have Graham back from injury.
Ian Smallwood had a super race and not far behind was the very consistent Steve Dempsey.
Gavin , debutants Mark Bale and Geoff Gilbert packed well , the latter being spurred on by ‘come on dad’ from initially Louisa and then the complete ladies cheer leaders. Whenever a Wilmslow runner was in sight , a great cheer was heard as our ladies roared them on .Well done ladies !
Ian Ashcroft was cheered by his harem with a beaming smile throughout .
Bragging rights between Roy and Simon were dampened when Roy was forced to drop out with injury . Good to see them both out in the mud of the winter .
Trevor had to battle hard to fend off competition in a sprint finish but held his place well
Well done to the twenty five that made up the Wlmslow team.
Pictures will be on the site in the next couple of days.
Keep those fingers crossed as we await the results. Can the men and ladies hang on to gain team honours ? Will individual honours be gained across all age categories by our runners ? What will the final race at Woodbank Park have in store ?
Good luck and good training to you all.
Nick.