The Greater Manchester cross country championships took place on Saturday 7th January at Leverhulme Park in Bolton. The fixture was re-arranged from December due to bad weather. Athletes were in for a proper cross county challenge with mud, hills and a river crossing which was a highlight for spectators (as you can imagine).
Emilia Platt was the highest ECH placing on the day finishing a brilliant 2nd place in the under 20 women’s race gaining automatic qualification for the Inter County Championships in March. Aliesha Smith and Megan Lewis both ran well to finish 10th and 11th respectively which was good enough for the team to finish 3rd overall.
In the under 13 girls race excellent performances came from Demi Baxter 9th, Imogen McBurnie 28th and Erin Royle 32nd which placed them 4th in the team standings. Well done to Marshall Fleet 27th in the under 15 boys, Ava Royle 27th in under 15 girls and Callum Fricker 9th in the under 20 men’s race; all performing well.
The final race of the day was the senior men’s over 10km. Team ECH finished a fantastic 2nd team with Joe Hudak 8th, Gavin Browne 9th, Robin Horner 22nd and Gareth Raven 23rd making up the team. Other great performances and back-up came from Liam Browne 28th, Jonathan Aust 38th, Darren Smith 46th, Dennis Thomas 57th and James Hartshorne 58th.
Well done to all involved.
Photo inset – Senior Men’s team before the race (minus Gareth Raven)