Press Report July 9th 2023 from Nick Budd

Annie Rogan chose a nice but tough little fell race as her first outing as a Congleton Harrier when she took part in the Langley Fete fell race on the first day of the month. Whilst relatively short for a fell race at 3.1 miles it does contain a rather steep climb up from the grounds of the fete past the reservoirs and up to the quarry at Teggs Nose before a short run round to the visitor centre and a fast dash back down to the fete. Out of the 43 runners Annie finished 40^th in a time of 38.01.

Later in the same week there was a decent turn out of Harriers at the popular Mobberley Round the Runway event. It’s an interesting 5 mile run round the perimeter of the airport across some gently undulating footpaths with a good view of the landings and take-off to distract the runners.  

Out of the 313 runners Chris Moss, was 18^th in 31:30, Melanie Worthington, was 73^rd in 36:39, Linda Fairbrother, was 151^st in 41:15, Nigel Poole, was 161^st in 41:51, Paul Crean, was 186^th in 44:14, Rob Parkin, was 195^th in 44:48, Andrea Whiteley, was 242^nd in 47:37, Trish Ryan, was 243^rd in 47:37. Mel Worthington picked up first place in the F50 category and Chris Moss and Nigel Poole were 3^rd in the M50 and M65 categories.

Mobberley (along with a gently paced park run on the Saturday) was just a gentle warm up for Chris Moss who was the sole Harrier at the Cheadle 4 on the Sunday. As its name implies it’s a 4 mile race which starts off flat before roughly a mile of steep ascent, a mile of continuous descent and a flat final mile. The warmup must have been effective as he finished 1^st in the M50 category, 16^th overall out of 182 runners in a time of 24.40.

The Wilmslow 10k, however, was the main attraction for many of the club on the same Sunday with 24 amongst the 2520 runners.

Emily Nott, was 223^rd in 38:42, Richard Blankley, was 371^st in 41:18, Graham Cooper, was 586^th in 44:19, Ian Stanway, was 625^th in 44:49, Danny Jackson, was 650^th in 45:08, Michael Stanley, was 822^nd in 47:19, Ellie Dick, was 916^th in 48:21, Linda Fairbrother, was 980^th in 49:01, Iain Thacker, was 1088^th in 50:26, Ryan Moss, was 1138^th in 51:02, Jackie Moss, was 1163^rd in 51:24, David Bloor, was 1167^th in 51:25, Nigel Poole, was 1285^th in 52:37, Mark Bowyer, was 1398^th in 54:43, Trish Ryan, was 1483^rd in 54:44, Andrea Whiteley, was 1484^th in 54:45, Rob Parkin, was 1529^th in 55:33, Nicola Glover, was 1571^st in 56:00, Poppy Prentice, was 1704^th in 57:37, Ross Oldroyd, was 1776^th in 58:30, Elaine Statham, was 2018^th in 62:34, Katherine Clarke, was 2313^th in 70:30, Ceri Bestwick, was 2351^st in 72:14, Petra Thacker, was 2376^th in 74:00.

Four of the Harriers posted new personal bests: Emily Nott, Ellie Dick, Jackie Moss and Andrea Whiteley. The race was also a first outing as a Harrier for Poppy Prentice and it was another age category win for Elaine Statham in the F75 category.

If interested in joining us, there are club runs on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday with most runs setting off from the Leisure Centre. The club is always keen to see new members whether you are a speedy racer or more of a social runner. So, if you are thinking of thinking of joining then just come along to one of the regular/ club runs for a few weeks and try us out for size; you will be made to feel more than welcome with no obligation to join. You can find full details on our Congleton Harriers website: Congleton-harriers.co.uk. You can also connect with the club on Facebook where details of club activities are posted regularly.