Tatton Park, 25 January 2025
Preston Senior Ladies achieve their best team score on record to finish 4th in the Northern Cross Country Championships.
After storm Eowyn, the cross country races made for a pleasant, dry, calm, sunny day. The course being mainly flat and firm underfoot this was made for the speedier cross country runners with barely a hill in sight.
Preston Harriers took a team of 14 Senior athletes to these Championships and whilst the Senior Men unfortunately did not have enough runners to field a full team the Ladies had more than the required number.
The Ladies were first up in the Senior races of the day, running 7.9k. It was immediately evident that this was a fast course with the speed at which these ladies started! As the race settled into its natural rhythm Emma McColm continued her amazing form and led the way for Preston finishing 15th in a time of 29:35, followed by Hannah Jacobsen just returning from injury in 19th with 29:58, Nicola Sutton (FV35) 22nd overall, 3rd in her age group with 30:03, and Katie Littlefair finishing 83rd in 33:57. Next across the line was Charlotte Gregory 34:50, Catherine Mitchell (FV45) 39:26, Zowie Purnell (FV40) 42:06, Julie Tyrer (FV45) 49:00 and Sue Wickham (FV60) 53:45 bringing all the Harriers home. This squad of Ladies all ran incredibly well, topped off with the 1st 4 counters making up the team which finished 4th team overall. A terrific accomplishment in such a quality field of runners from across the North and one for the record books with this being the best team score for Preston Ladies in these Championships!
Next it was the turn of the Senior Men with just 5 Harriers turning out to represent the club. Their race was 11.75k, longer than the average cross country race but this didn’t deter Patrick Brown who was first home for the Harriers running strong and finishing 51st in 39:28 in this elite field of athletes. Next home was Steve Hallas (MV50) 220th overall, 12th in his age category with 46:20, Followed by David Lea (MV60), 288th overall and 4th in his age category in 49:48, Paul Jeffries (MV50) was next in 54:20 and Chris Wales (MV50) 57:41.
All in all, a great day in this terrific venue and with Preston Ladies taking 4th team spot at these Champs and recently taking 3rd team spot in the Northern 10k Champs it is looking like a good year for the Preston Harriers Women!
A successful day also for the juniors with Matt Clark winning the U17 Men’s race and Preston H., Albert Yates, Harry Hopkinson, Freddy Cheyne and Jack Turner, were the winning team in the U13 Boys.
Cathy Flitcroft