This was a tale of two races. Although part of the Mid Lancs Cross Country League, this race was also a British Athletics Cross Challenge Race and as such, attracted some of the top athletes in the Country with the promise that the top runners would be selected for the European Cross Country Challenge in Bulgaria. Competition amongst the elite athletes at the front of the race was fierce, as was the speed in both the men's and womens' races and was awesome to watch. Then followed those athletes that we are used to seeing in local events and who we normally regard as being pretty good and today demonstrated the gap between those runners and those at International level.
The men's race was won by Callum Hawkins of Kilbarchan AAC in a time of 29:26. The Barlickers finished as follows:
140 James Craig 33:39
145 Chris Singleton 33:50
147 Nick Treitl 34:01
154 Marc Hartley 34:12
177 Ian Livesey 35:10
215 Lucas Payne 36:43
220 Luke Maude 36:53
317 Andrew Chew 40:01
329 Derek Walkden 40:31
366 Lee Edwards 41:50
396 Dave Halliday 43:12
496 James Stead 51:56
The ladies's race was very similar to the men's. The speed at the front was impressive and those women looked like they could hold their own in the average men's race.
The winning lady was Gemma Steel of Charnwood AC in a time of 26:58. The Barlick team finished as follows:
85 Sarah Tipler 32:06
148 Rachel Lowther 38:34
176 Emma Bailey 42:27
With Emma making up the team, the ladies have maybe once more secured the maximum points at this event.