Press Report Sept 17th 2023 from Nick Budd

With Autumn drawing in Saturday 16^th September saw the resumption of the Cross Country season and there was a large turnout of Congleton Harriers at Weston Hall near Crewe for the 1^st race in the North Staffs Cross Country League competition. For both the Open and Women’s category races, the course follows a slightly undulating route with enough climb to get the runners heart pumping across open pasture with the former being just shy of five miles and the latter just shy of three miles in distance. For both teams there were a mixture of old faces but with a few new participants trying out cross country for the first time.

In the Open Category, Stuart Rider was first back finishing 52^nd out of 235 runners in 30:46, followed by Anthony Allan, making a welcome return to competition following injury who was 55^th in 30:53, Chris Moss, 67^th in 31:29, James Broad, 7^th in 31:56, Ian Stanway, 110^th in 33:21, Richard Blankley, 132^nd in              34:52, Dean Windsor, 186^th in 37:39, Alex Robinson, 197^th in 38:38, Nick Budd, 207^th in 39:29 and Stephen Canning, 235^th in 47:21. For Ian, Richard and Alex this was their first cross country run as a Harrier.

In the Female category, Hannah Harding, in her first cross country outing was 42^nd out of 215 runners in 22:00, followed by Char Wood, 62^nd in 22:56, Polly Kennerley64th in 22:56, Ellie Dick, 67^th in 23:09, Sarah Proudmore, 75^th in 23:29, Georgie Budd, 91^st in 24:15, Suzie Roebuck 112^th in 25:50, Debbie Hill, 127^th in 26:18, Donna Charlesworth-Simpson, 130^th in 26:27, Poppy Prentice, 158^th in 27:44 and Christine Gilligan, 159^th in 27:51. Hannah, Donna and Poppy were the three Harriers running their first cross country race.

On Sunday 17^th Ian Ball was the solitary Harrier at the Altringham 10k and finished 1067^th out of 2149 runners in 63:48.

The weekend before saw Harriers competing in two separate Half Marathons. There were 1145 at the Capesthorne Hall half and Emma Weston, was 124^th in 1:33:27, Martin Sands, was 253rd in 1:43:44, Hannah Harding, was 257^th in 1:43:28, Kelly Marshall, was 370^th in 1:50:41, Lucy Hulme, was 372^nd in 1:50:41, Donna Charlesworth-Simpson, was 441^st in 1:54:13, David Bloor, was 537^th in 1:58:13, Linda Fairbrother, was 538^th in 1:58:14, Nicky Glover, was 913^th in 2:22:06, Nicky Glover, was 913^th in 2:22:06 and Sarah Richards, was 994^th in 2:29:00. Emma had a fine run finishing 1^st in the F50 age category with David and Donna also achieving age category placements, finishing 2^nd and 3^rd in their respective F55 and M70 categories.

Further afield, amongst the 60,000 at the Great North Run were four Harriers. As ever, this is one of the best supported races in the world, both in terms of runner participation and the unbroken wall-to-wall support from spectators along every inch of the route.

Vic Maguire, was 11,197^th in 2:02:32, Nigel Poole, was 18,604^th in 2:15:28, Louise Roberts, was 18,606^th in 2:15:29 and Nigel Wright, was 37,373^rd in 3:01:12.

At the start of the month Emily Nott took part in the RBRC one mile on-track race finishing 3^rd out of 14 in a time of 5:26.

There was also a few longer distance events at the start of September. Trish Ryan took part in the first leg of the Ring O' Fire coastal ultra-marathon which overall takes runners on an 135 mile journey around the Isle of Anglesey, North Wales. The race is staged over three consecutive days and follows the rugged and spectacular Anglesey Coastal Path. On the Holyhead to Amlwch leg, covering 35.7 miles and 1850 ft ascent Trish Ryan finished in 09:33:00.

A bit closer to home seven Harriers took on the 35 mile, 5560 ft ascent Gritstone Grind Trail Race which is a 35 mile event that takes place in the southwest corner of the Peak District starting in Kidsgrove and ending in Disley and which takes in well-known local landmarks such as Mow Cop, Teggs Nose, The Cloud, White Nancy and with a run through Lyme Park. Sarah-Louise Proudmore, was 86^th in 9:02:53, Vic Maguire, was 94^th in 9:13:15, Michael Stanley, was 95^th in 9:16:05, Dean Windsor, was 103^rd in 9:31:48, Ian Stanway, was 105^th in 9:34:47, Iain Thacker, was 141^st in 10:44:48, Clare Flint, was 142^nd in 10:44:48.

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.