Manchester Xc League / Race Report / Heaton park

Manchester Xc League / Race Report / Heaton park

Saturday 16th January 2016

Only 1 day before the race we still had a very limited squad, not even enough to form the necessary team of 6 senior men and 4 vets that would count towards our promotional prospects !

The course was a nice contrast to the mud bath of Boggart Hole Clough but equally challenging but highly runnable and each of the 3 laps (2 miles each) ending with a steep, challenging hill up into the finish area.

Interesting to note that there were no ladies competing from the club ? !

Whilst Joe and Gareth ran against the competition, 3 harriers “battled hard” against each other in a bid to claim bragging rights of the clubs “king of the Vet 45-49 age category” ! The trio ran within 5-10 seconds of each other for all 3 laps. David Jackson lived “in the shadows” for almost 38 minutes and only made his bid on the final 300m hill. Only 7 seconds in the end split Martyn Bell, Dave Jackson and Dave Milliken !!!

Final positions out of 329 finishers:

Joe Mercer – 11th
Gary Booth 20th (3rd Vets 40-44 cat)
Martyn Bell – 50th (5th vets 45-49 cat)
David Jackson – 52nd (6th vets 45-49 cat)
David Milliken – 53rd (7th vets 45-49 cat)
Andy Ford – 94th
Gary Chadderton – 170th (14th vets 50-55 cat)
Doug Fleming – 177th (7th vets 55-59 cat)
Mark Swindell – 252nd (39th vets 45-49 cat)
Eddie Simpson – 296th (45th vets 45-49 cat)
Lawrence Pinnell – 299th (47th vets 45-49 cat)
Gordon stone ? cant see name mentioned or position?

Team Position for this Match

1. Trafford
2. Salford A
3. Sale H
4. East Cheshire
5. Horwich RMI Harriers

Overall a great result for the club and even with a much weakened team we still finished 5th team in Division 1, never mind division 3 !

More comprehensive details can be found on the following website: – http://maccl.co.uk/

The “cumulative” match scores (4 completed so far) will be released by Wednesday 20th January – this information will then allow us to assess exactly what we need to do as a team to secure our promotion into Division 2 for next year. Results for Saturday’s race can be found on the link below.

http://www.race-results.co.uk/results/2016/maccl154.htm

The last match of the season will be held at Wythenshawe Park, Manchester, M23 0PH on Saturday 13th February.

UnK