Tony masters Cross Country with an Elle of a performance, whilst Se smashes the course record.
Winter is definitely here! The mud, rain, frost and big coats are out in force. Of course this also means it’s cross country season, so get out the Daz stain removal kits or extra strength aerial automatic because those lovely white vests with a black and red stripe are going to be mud splattered very soon.
The season was barely underway when Tony O’Brien was picked for the England masters team in Dublin, where he secured a 5th place finish helping England to a team gold. Another fabulous achievement that the club shouldn’t take for granted.
Liverpool Cross Challenge – Sefton Park
On 26th November the annual cross challenge took place at Sefton Park. This year the club was represented by many athletes. We were delighted to see our Under 11s, U13s, U15, U17, U20 and seniors proudly wear the vest. There were many stand out performances from the younger athletes, particularly as for some it was only their 1st or 2nd event. Mathew Bennet, came home in 26th place in the U11 Boys whilst Isabelle Gall and Sienna Hendley both in their 1st ever race finished strongly in the U11 girls race. Once again we had a quartet of U13 girls, all of whom ploughed through the mud to put in a gigantic effort. Gabby Taylor, Hattie Loughrey, Millie Oliver and Daisy Wells all performed well.
We also had a quarter of U13 boys with William Roberts and Tom Freeman leading the way. Super performances by twins Fin and Zack Roach (who took a tumble but pulled himself up defiantly to finish).
Hayden Grant, Daniel Liggat and Daniel Proctor all finished in the top 100 in the very strong U15 boys race whilst Sarah Yates completed the U15 age group, again finishing in the top half of a very strong field.
Megan Lloyd was last lady standing in the U17 women race after injuries to Iris Davidson and Erin Frost forced them to pull out mid race. Thankfully both or ok after being patched up.
Zack Dickinson, James Read and Oliver Farrer completed our youth set up, all finishing withing 7 places of each other in a highly competitive event.
Se Loughlin, competing in the junior men event continued his improving season with a top 3rd finish in a star studded field.
The senior men event read like a who’s who of British Athletics and so it was amazing to have 21! athletes representing the club. Stand out performances from Ross Harrison, Tony O’Brien, Olly Sutcliffe and Tom Fair but it was equally pleasing to see Mark Wynne and Kev Usher battle it out at the finish line and for Andrew Foster to make his Cros Country comeback having an impressive run.
We had four ladies in the senior women event with the stand out performance of the day from Elle Anderson who effortlessly powered home in sub 30 minutes. Kirsty Longley finished shortly after followed Chloe Leather. Sharon Roberts brought the ladies team home in the muddiest part of the day.
Finally, this weekend saw Se Loughlin smash the Ormskirk Park Run record with a time of 15:24. Se, who has been running for 4 years had his 1st ever run at Ormskirk Park Run, so he was delighted to take the record.
