Saturday 3rd March 2007

Results

The Cross Country season finished at the weekend with the last of the Mid Lancs XC races at Blackburn.

The weather was exemplary and Witton Park seems to be turning over a new leaf with none of its traditional mud, and in celebration the Organisers opted for four large laps rather than the normal two small and two large. However the athletes doing Chorley AC proud were the under 11s where Lucy Croston was 15th in the girls and the Daniels Bebbington and Jeffrey lead the boys in 4th(7:35) and 7th(7:45) followed closely by 14th Mathew Morris(8:20) and 15th(8:23) Daniel Gratton which earned them the first team. Unfortunately none of the seniors could match this performance with Andrew Holmes 11th(22:40) in the junior men and Janet Pound 47th(30:49) in the ladies. In the mens race Nathan Lawton was 79th(46:43), Eddie Murray in a good run 148th(62:57) trailed by Mike Coppin in 152nd(72:33). Nathan and his two vet 60 partners only managed 4th team in Division 4 with Eddie 9th vet 60, Mike 12th with Janet 13th lady vet 45.

Saturday 10th February 2007

Chorley’s turn for hosting a Mid-Lancs Cross Country race was very successfully staged by Chorley AC and Chorley Harriers jointly in Astley Park this weekend in weather that was wet but not torrential.

Over 1000 runners and friends were present of which nearly 600 ran coming from all corners of the North West of England which was an extremely good field during a school holiday period.

The 600 runners were more or less an even split between juniors and seniors which included 60 of whom were members of the Chorley Clubs (including the lady’s winner Vicky Gill) which again was good as so many had to forego running to marshal and organise. The different courses started in Parklands High School grounds before leading into Astley Park. It was a spectator friendly course where one could visit the runners at many points without having to walk far and seemed to be appreciated by all the runners and their supporters.

Thanks must be given to Chorley Borough Council who continue to be very generous in supporting this athletic use of Astley Park, Parklands school for allowing use of their pavilion and grounds and Lancashire College for providing the car parking ; without such local support such events would not be possible. Many thanks are also extended to all those Club members who marshaled and helped in the event and cleared up all the race markings from the course so well afterwards.

Chorley AC juniors had major successes in the competition with Ruth Whipp being 29th in the U11Gs in 8:45 and in the U11 boys Daniel Bebbington 3rd (6:39), Daniel Jeffrey 8th (6:59), James Field 14th (7:23), Ben Whipp 22nd (8:07) and Daniel Betts (8:16) being a magnificent 1st team.

In the under 13 boys Luke Betts was 24th (15:39), Adam Taylor 38th (19:21) and Lewis Wright 41st (20:00) all packing well. 15 year old Andrew Holmes was 11th in the under 17 men in 25:50 and Janet Pound 62nd (36:59) in the Ladies.

First counter in the men’s race was Nathan Lawton 74th (41:43) with Simon Townsend being gradually caught but not taken by David Taylor in 105th (45:08) and 106th (45:11) respectively followed by an excellent performance from Paul Wareing 135th (48:30) who has been injured for a bit and then Barry Chester 168th (54:42) holding off a good run from Eddie Murray 172nd (55:53).

The coming week’s races are two of the favorite off-road events with Parbold Hill on Saturday 17th Feb and Standish Hall Trail on Saturday 24th Feb before returning to the last mid-Lancs XC race at Blackburn on 3rd March.”

Report by Mike Coppin and Terry Dickenson

Thanks.pdf

Saturday 20th January 2007

Results

It was very heartening to have Chorley ACs juniors outnumber their seniors in the Mid Lancs Cross Country at Lancaster University at the weekend. It was a pleasant winter day despite the foul conditions underfoot where running downhill was far more difficult than up due to the depth of foot sinkage.

Anyway the under 11 boys and girls were magnificent especially with their shortage of training for those sort of conditions with Daniel Bebbington 4th, Daniel Jeffrey 12th, Ben Whipp 15th, James Field 22nd, Barney Morris 33rd and Lucy Croston 10th, Ruth Whipp 30th. It is really a pity that they do not have team awards for this age group as Chorley AC would be up near the top. The under 13 boys also had a good result with Luke Betts 20th, Adam Taylor 37th and Lewis Wright 43rd needing just one more counter for a team position. In the under 17’s Andrew Holmes seems to be running better again coming 6th(21:47).

Janet Pound was 57th lady(32:42) and 16th senior vet, whilst in the mens race David Taylor 124th(38:52), Barry Chester 177th(46:44), Eddie Murray 186th(50:28) and Mike Coppin 190th(55:17) gained 14th vet 40 team, 7th vet 50 team but with only 2 vet 60 counters Chorley’s overall 3rd position in the vet 60’s may have slipped.

The North of England XC Championships are at Heaton Park, Manchester next Saturday for those older than 13 starting at 11:30. The Club has pre-entered all the most probable CAC competitors(please check with Barry Chester on 01254.832009).

Saturday 25th November 2006

Results

The Mid Lancs. Cross Country race took place within the Reebok International selection race at Sefton Park in Liverpool on Saturday 25 November. The conditions were generally good except two areas of heavy mud on the undulating parkland course.
Six hardy Chorley AC athletes ventured to compete but were reduced further by captain Barry Chester having to pull out on the first lap with a hamstring problem.
Lucy Croston however gave the club a very good start in the under 11’s coming home 21st in 9 mins 40 secs in a quality field.
Veteran Janet Pound had another good race coming 54th overall in 35:28 and 17th vet.
John Swift(52:56), Eddie Murray(55:04) and Mike Coppin(64:16) made up the men's veteran team coming 164th, 170th & 176th respectively and 2nd team in Division 4, 3rd Vet 40 team in Division 3, 7th Vet 50 team and 3rd Vet 60 team. Club captain Barry Chester was delighted with the performance of the group.

Saturday 11th November 2006

Results

The second Mid-Lancs cross country race took place at Burnley's Townley park at the weekend and saw a 17 person turnout from Chorley AC. It was all a bit chaotic with no car parks and constant wind and rain so the athletes all had trouble in finding each other. The course conditions however were amazingly good with very little mud and the wind being the most troublesome factor. The rain mostly stayed off catching only the latter runners in the mens race who mercifully made it to the finish before the monsoon downpours that made driving home so difficult.

The under 11 boys had a really excellent team performance from Daniel Bebbington in 4th(7:31), Daniel Jeffery 8th(7:51) and James Field 24th(8:51) and was a good start to our day. Adam Taylor followed in 39th(15:21) position in the under 13 boys in his first race and is certainly going to progress in the future. Josh Metters set off rather too fast in the under 17 race and Laura Livesey was full of a cold both well positioned on their opening laps but were unable to sustain their efforts and sensibily pulled out. Janet Pound appeared to have a good race as 75th lady in 31:03. Nat Lawton who was visibly shaking before the senior race and also had to concede to a 'dnf' leaving Roy Paul who just ghosted through from the back as our first finisher in 175th(46:52) ahead of David Taylor 184th(47:36) and Paul Wareing 195th(48:11). Barry Chester in 218th(50:22) just escaped being caught by John Swift who started the race in last place on the first lap before 'catching fire' and powering passed over 50 competitors to 222nd(50:30) just in front of Henry Minorczyk 228th(50:56). Mike Coppin was disappointed in not being able to take Eddie Murray on one of Eddie's weaker days both finishing 264th and 265th in 58:31 and 61:36 with Les Paul just behind in 267th(69:40).

Star of the day was John Swift whose power performance gave him 1st vet 60 place with next best being the two junior Daniels in 4th and 8th.

Next saturday is the Red Rose XC fixture at Wilson's Playing Fields, Hyndburn....see you all there !

Under 11 Boys – approx 1.25 miles
4 Daniel Bebbington Chorley AC U11 M 00:07:31
8 Daniel Jeffrey Chorley AC U11 M 00:07:51
24 James Field Chorley AC U11 M 00:08:51

U13 Boys – 2 miles approx
39 Adam Taylor Chorley AC U13 M 00:15:21

Senior Women / Female Vets – approx 3.75 miles
13 Janet Pound Chorley AC V45 F 00:31:03

Senior Men and Veterans - 280 Finishers ( approx 6 miles)
188 Roy Paul Chorley AC V50 M 00:46:52
197 David Taylor Chorley AC V40 M 00:47:36
208 Paul Wareing Chorley AC V40 M 00:48:11
230 Barry Chester Chorley AC V50 M 00:50:22
234 John Swift Chorley AC V65 M 00:50:30
242 Henry Minorczyk Chorley AC V50 M 00:50:56
277 Eddie Murray Chorley AC V60 M 00:58:31
278 Mike Coppin Chorley AC V60 M 01:01:36
280 Leslie Paul Chorley AC V60 M 01:09:40


Saturday 14th October 2006

Results

The opening Mid Lancs. Cross-Country fixture took place at Worden Park on a perfect sunny day with a huge number of runners.

In the U13 boys, young Alex Snape was 33rd in 13mins 37 secs.

The club's best position was achieved by Andrew Holmes in the U17 boys in13th place. In the same race Josh Metters was wisely pulled out by his coach because of a hamstring twinge.

Laura Livesey ran to an excellent 17th place(27mins 58 secs) in the ladies.

A revelation in the mens race were two Chorley AC runners making their debuts, David Taylor came 125th(43:22) and Paul Wareing 180th (48:24).

Dave Kershaw having not competed for several years ran an excellent race to finish 141st (44:40) followed by Roy Paul 166th (47:11).

John Swift assiduously worked his way up to 9th vet 60, although a Vet 65, to finish 195th(50:31) closely tracked by fellow vet Eddie Murray in 214th place (54:15).

Les Paul ran well to pip Mike Coppin finishing in 219th place (58:54) and Mike in 220th (64:05).

Chorley AC men completed in the Open Senior, Vet40, Vet50 and Vet60 teams. The vet60 team was 3rd behind very strong teams from Clayton and Blackpool.