A return to the venue used for the MACCL in December meant that getting to St Helens was easy. Though parking was chaotic and expensive for those of us in the official carparks at £4.
The women's race was at 12.25 and the course already quite churned up. 1 small and 2 large laps was basically a reprise of the league race but with 238 runners.
Sally G ran strongly – her injury-free spell paying dividends. Sue Hool ran a sensible race – though I regret encouraging her when I got to her shoulder as that was the last I saw of her! Also had a tussle with one of your ex team-mates from Rochdale, Huma – unfortunately she was the stronger.
Clare coped well with her foot injury (- fat pad atrophy if you're interested)and Katy made up our team closely behind.
74 Sally Gilliver 31:45
106 Sue Hool 33:14
107 Kate Sutton 33:16
127 Clare Hawkes 34:13
140 Katy Green 34:42
17th out of 28 teams. We all enjoyed the atmosphere and were able to have a relaxed attitude as no medals were at stake! See you at the Nationals…
The men were somewhat depleted;
65 Malcolm Fowler 39:28
105 Rob Downs 40:50
594 Trevor Faulkner 66:06
Steve Vernon who has also been seen at BRTT won in 34:18. The longer course for the men involved an extra lap compared to us – good to watch the spectacle with their large numbers – 604 in total.
Kate Sutton
TRAAAACKK!! Malcolm (not looking depleted!) roars past the young guys
Rob not trying hard enough in the sunshine.
Photos thanks to Chris Heys of Sale.
What a pity there were so few WRC men: our three were outshon by our five ladies, who ran well and more than made a complete team. The venue provided an excellent event and course, and was well-within our backyard, but our men’s presence was lost in the crowd and all we came away with was lots of unused race numbers.
Yes a shame but with so many other commitments at present and a couple of late withdraws , these things sometimes happen.
One things for sure we will be very competitive at Wythenshawe and are now taking numbers for the Nationals .
Nick.
And numbers in the race overall were well down. I suspect that all clubs had difficulty raising teams with the many competing fixtures. And NOEAA didn’t make it easy by choosing a venue with little to offer in terms of parking, public transport or facilities.
I was talking to the guys from Stockport who of had the winner Steve Vernon as well as Bashir Hussain, Andy Nixon and Jamie Lomax but were 1 short of a team on the start line.
But the race itself was very well organised and great fun. It’s worth doing these big XC just for the spectacle of the mass start. Unfortunately I can’t make the Nationals but this was a good 2nd.
Rob
i think i’m converting late in life to actually enjoying cross country. if you can see beyond the mud and dirty washing it’s a great day out; chance to mix with some inspiring athletes, get a hard workout and enjoy the team spirit (and i don’t just mean that which comes out of kate’s famous flask).
tremendous atmosphere at an event like this, i loved it.
£4 to park on the approach road was a bit of a surprise but that said i did get in and out without problems.
Clare
The sun truly shines on the righteous!
Hi Malcolm,its Huma i would like to run the Wilmslow Half with my husband,please would you let me know if you have any places.Thanks Huma