ECCA English CC Champs., Alton Towers

Alton Towers Mudfest

Photo by Alan Mead

In some of the muddiest conditions ever encountered in the English National Cross Country Championships, courses had to be shortened and the timetable adapted as the medical room became so crowded that further races could not be countenanced until sprains and hypothermia among the younger age groups had been dealt with. Overnight sleet and snow had melted to produce a morass that was difficult to stand up in - and that was just the club tent area! The course owners had wanted to pull the plug on the whole event early on in the day, concerned that with the prevailing conditions the event would give them bad publicity.

Full credit to the officials who managed to keep things going in such atrocious conditions.

In the Senior men's race mudlark Steve Vernon of Stockport was untouchable, although Blackheath's Mike Skinner gave him a bit of pressure early on. For road and track specialists it was a nightmare.

Phil Wicks had an excellent run for 7th. He'd been secretly hoping for a top five place but didn't enjoy running on that surface at all. Running the majority of the race in pain from a recurring shin problem, James Kelly was a hero with his 54th while Sören Lindner (144th) and Will Cockerell (169th) kept us in the hunt for a top ten team place.

But, sadly, David Anderson pulled out after the top sections of the course where he was occupying a forward placing and a possible 7th to 9th team slot became 19th. Earlier it was a toss-up as to whether Dave was going to run at all as he was suffering from a cold, but he courageously gave his support to the team and it just didn't work out.

On finishing, James Fairbourn vowed that he was going to erase the afternoon from his memory but seemed to cheer up after a couple of doughnuts, while our final scorer Malachi Byansi, who only decided to run his first cross country of the winter a few days earlier, regretted his decision before he reached the starting line.

Our only runner in the women's race was Sam Amend who drove all the way up on the morning of the race after flying into the UK the afternoon before. She placed 93rd.

Men. 1 S Vernon (Stockport) 35:11; 2 M Skinner (Blackheath &B) 35:32; 3 T Lancashire (Bolton U) 35:59; 7 P Wicks 36:25; 54 J Kelly 38:42; 144 S Lindner 40:53; 169 W Cockerell 41:21; 236 J Fairbourn 42:57; 724 M Byansi 50:58; 729 R Harding M45 51:01; 847 A Lang 53:19; 1098 Don Anderson 59:42; dnf David Anderson; 1302 finished.

Teams:

Six to score - 1 Leeds City 188; 2 Tipton H 235; 3 Bedford &C 272; 19 Belgrave H 1334; 95 teams closed in.

Nine to score - 1 Leeds City 419; 2 Tipton H 578; 3 Notts AC 584; 16 Belgrave H 4008; 34 teams closed in.

Women. 1 L Damen (Winchester) 23:09; 2 H Dean (Hallamshire) 23:52; 3 L Yelling (Bedford &C) 23:56; 93 S Amend 28:28; 552 finiushed.

Restored from the club's earlier website, belgraveharriers.com, and published here as originally written.