Frosty conditions no match for hardy harriers
After a wet, mild and dismal Christmas, the festive weather finally arrived just as many were putting the decorations back in the attic. The snow and ice wreaked havoc on fixtures over the weekend with many fell and road races being postponed or cancelled.
Held on Saturday, before the worst of the weather, the Lancashire County Cross Country Championships went ahead as planned at Witton Park, Blackburn. With Horwich falling inside the Greater Manchester area, few members meet the entry requirements (birth or residency in Lancashire) meaning just three RMI Harriers were present, all senior men. They ran 5.6 miles with 666ft ascent, tackling a devilish climb on each of the four laps. Conditions were a lot tougher underfoot than the Red Rose match at the same venue in October, with one runner from Blackburn losing a shoe in the mire and another in the tangerine Blackpool vest going full length on the descent and emerging head to toe in sludge.
Luke Foley was in the mix at the business end of the race, with a 3rd place finish looking on the cards. Unfortunately, he got overhauled in the long sprint across the finish field, eventually placing 6th (34:14). Despite his understandable frustration, his high placing meant he qualified to wear a Lancashire vest at the inter-counties championships in Nottingham in March. Adrian Bramham ran in his first championship in RMI colours. He continued his flying start with the club, netting 3rd V60 and 48th overall (40:50). Sam Fairhurst was 16th with a time of 36:34.
Rob Jackson had to contend with a field of over 500 at Peel parkrun as runners from across Greater Manchester flocked to one of the only venues not to cancel. Considering the cold and icy patches, Jackson ran an exceptional time of 18:47 to once again finish 1st in his age category, 1st in age grading and 10th overall. Heaton parkrun hosted a mammoth field of over a thousand runners, with four Horwich members amongst them. Lindsey Brindle was 3rd female finisher, with a time of 20:05. Sean McMyler (21:23) celebrated his 60th attendance at Heaton. Jason Middleton clocked his fastest time at the venue for nearly a decade, with 25:00. Janet Middleton was just 3 seconds off a Heaton PB, with 32:03. Marcus Taylor snuck in the top 10 at Worsley Woods. His 19:06 saw him place 8th and 1st MV50 as he closes in on 50 parkruns. Two members went to extreme lengths to avoid the inclement weather, travelling as far south as possible. Nick Leigh (18:54, 3rd) was in Bognor Regis, West Sussex, whilst Miriam Harrison (27:57, 7th female) went to Sharpham Estate parkrun in Totnes, Devon. Paul Kaye (22:39) travelled to Nottingham for Rushcliffe parkrun, whilst Chris Charnley (23:13) and Gillian Smith (51:13) stayed local at Haigh Woodland park. Also at Haigh were siblings Matthew, Eve and Toby MacDonald, competing in their first ever parkrun. Matthew, an U13, set a blistering time of 22 minutes on his debut.
Written by Sam Fairhurst