Northern Cross Country Championships Manchester - 27th January 2007

There were some excellent performances from the nineteen Richmond and Zetland athletes competing at the Northern Cross Country Championships, held at Heaton Park, Manchester on Saturday 27th January, where the course was extremely muddy and therefore very challenging.

Fergus Roberts (centre)

Performances of the day went to Fergus Roberts and Marc Scott in the under 13 Boy’s race. By finishing an amazing 2nd overall, Fergus set the standard for the day and Marc was close behind in a fabulous 7th place. Paul Harmsworth made up the trio of runners in this age group, also putting in a strong performance to take 110th position from over 160 runners in the field. The Under 13 Girls also had high hopes, after Maddy Winzer became the Yorkshire Champion just 2 weeks earlier at Skipton, but things didn’t quite go according to plan on this occasion. Following a fall on a hill during the race, Maddy finished further down the field that she would have liked in 25th place, which is still a great achievement against stiff opposition. Amy Coulson produced another strong performance by crossing the line in 77th overall, showing she is constantly improving, while team mate Gaby Rawdin had a good run to take 156th place from over 189 competitors.

In the Under 17 Women’s race, Jo Adams was the top Harrier on the day, claiming 56th place in the event and producing a fine performance. Her sister Rosie finished slightly further down the field, with a brave run in 89th position and is coping well within this age group and Jane Thornton turned in a good, solid run to take 109th overall. Jenny Fenwick was the sole representative in the Under 20 Women’s event and showed great determination to tackle the mud and hills to cross the line in a well-deserved 51st place.

The senior women only had 2 representatives on this occasion due to other races, commitments and training, but Kelley Haniver and Fiona Hughes flew the flag admirably. Kelley performing strongly on this occasion, having a better run than the Yorkshires and claimed a pleasing 57th place, while Fiona had a great result, crossing the line in 192nd position from a field of over 274 participants. Two familiar faces went head to head in the Under 15 Boys competition, in the form of Sam Wood and Thomas Allen, who are always difficult to separate on performance in training. Sam got ahead in this instance, taking the honours in 38th overall, while Thomas was only 13 seconds behind and promptly took an excellent 57th place.

The Under 17 Men’s field had over 170 runners taking part and amongst them was Doug Roberts, who has put in some top performances recently. The competition was strong, but he held his own in his first year in this age group by completing the course in 39th position and was always well up with the pace. The Senior Men’s field was the largest of the day, boasting over 650 runners, with four of them belonging to the Richmond and Zetland team. First home was Jon Orange, producing another outstanding run to complete the course in 76th, which will have ranked him high amongst the other MV40 athletes. Next was Shaun Purkiss, crossing the line strongly in an excellent 216th position and within the top third of all competitors. Darren Cox enjoyed his outing to Manchester and took a well-earned 413th place after a solid run, while Neil Piper once again performed well and no doubt finished well up in the MV60 category by finishing in 610th position and ensuring that plenty of hardy competitors finished behind him.

RZH Results: Under 13 Boys – 2nd Fergus Roberts, 7th Marc Scott & 110th Paul Harmsworth. Under 13 Girls – 25th Maddy Winzer, 77th Amy Coulson & 156th Gaby Rawdin. Under 17 Women – 56th Jo Adams, 89th Rosie Adams & 109th Jane Thornton. Under 20 Women – 51st Jenny Fenwick. Senior/Vet Women – 57th Kelley Haniver & 192nd Fiona Hughes. Under 15 Boys – 38th Sam Wood & 57th Thomas Allen. Under 17 Men – 39th Doug Roberts. Senior/Vet Men – 76th Jon Orange, 216th Shaun Purkiss, 413th Darren Cox & 610th Neil Piper.