Order of Events
All event start at 12:30pm.
U11s 12:30
U13s
U15s
Senior Ladies and U17s 13:20
Senior Mens Race starts 14:00

11/10/2008 Witton Park, Blackburn

Draft Results
Photos

The weather gave a delightful intro to the new Cross-country season which kicked off at Blackburn’s Witton Park despite the ground conditions being decidedly ‘sticky’.

A enthusiastic group of Chorley AC athletes took up this early challenge with first on the line being young Ruth Whipp in the U11s were her determination and hard recent training merited her the best Chorley AC run of the day in 9th place(7:10), which was followed by Rhiannon Beaumont in the U13s with a solid 21st place(15:32).

Hopes were high in the U15s were Luke Betts did not disappoint with an excellent 6th(14:23) supported brilliantly by Ryan Sciacca 15th(15:12) in his first race, finishing with only one shoe and losing a few places as a result.

The senior men had the number 13 on their efforts finishing 13th team overall and 13th vets team. Paul Wareing 110th(50:11) was first home followed by Simon Townsend 133rd(52:46). Adrian Fairhurst 158th(56:23) stretched Barry Chester 159th(56:39) early on but Barry gradually clawed back the gap but lost out in the final stages of the race. Henry Minorcyzk had an amazingly good return to running in 175th(62:12) with his ‘new’ knee and was just ahead of Jonathan Betts who was encouraged into doing his first XC race and what a job he did in 179th(63:08) despite also wasting valuable time trying to recover his shoe – must be a thing with first time racers ! Phil McCullagh in 180th(63:15) pressed Jonathan with Michael Murray 181st(64:14) just behind being determined to finish despite an increasingly sore foot.

25/10/2008 Chesham, Bury

Draft Results


A fairly awful day greeted the Chorley AC runners for the second Cross-Country meeting at Chesham Park, Burnley.

The teams faced clawing mud round most of the 5 lap course where Chorley AC's men came 13th overall team and 13th vet team for the second week in a row. Paul Wareing was again the lead man in 100th place(45:58) chased hard by Paul Bass 104th(46:15). Roy Paul, had a good run in 122nd(48:28) with an excellent come-back race from Dave Taylor in 138th(50:11). The Chorley AC runners in packed together 156th, 157th and 158th and were in a tussle throughout the race headed by Eddie Murray(56:15) who started last in the field but worked his way through lap by lap then Barry Chester(56:42) and Phil McCullagh(56:51) who could not quite get on terms with the other two. Les Paul 163rd(67:01) was not too far behind with Michael Murray having to drop out with a sciatic nerve problem.

Earlier Ruth Whipp had a strong run in the U11s to finish 9th (7:12) and in the U13s a battle ensued between Lucy Croston 21st(12:24) having the narrowest 1 second margin on Rhiannon Beaumont 22nd(12:25). Tom Booth unfortunately suffered knee problems and had to pull out of the U17s when well placed, but the stars of the afternoon were undoubtedly the U15 team finishing in a superb 3rd position with Luke Betts leading in 7th(14:10), Ryan Sciacca 11th(14:31) and backed up by Michael Murray Jnr 27th(17:29). Statistically the best run of the day was Ruth Whipp ahead of Luke Betts and the best individual placings were Eddie Murray as 2nd vet 65 and Roy Paul's 6th vet 55.

15/11/2008 Leverhulme Park, Bolton

Draft Results
Photos

A nice afternoon and a nice course at Leverhulme Park, Bolton for the third Red Rose Cross Country event although the early Bolton v Arsenal football match made for travelling difficulties. Chorley AC were given the best possible start in the U11s by Ruth Whipp with a magnificent 5th place(5:36) with the best AC performance of the day followed by Lucy Croston in the U13s with her usual gutsy run in approx 21st(13:40) but omitted from the results in error. The U15 boys got their team act together again coming in 4th with Luke Betts 6th(15:36), Ryan Sciacca 15th(16:21) and Michael Murray Jnr suffering leg cramps 26th(20:11). Tom Booth put in another full run in the U17s in 27th(21:58). The men improved their team position to 12th although the vets did less well as 15th team. Paul Wareing came 89th(39:04) just ahead of newly studded Paul Bass 92nd(39:13). Roy Paul(wearing last years no !!) in 118th(41:25) and David Taylor 126th(42:06) held the middle ground with Barry Chester 151st(46:29), Michael Murray 157th(48:53), Phil McCullagh 159th(50:14) and Les Paul 162nd(58:49) following behind. Eddie Murray's chest went again forcing him to retire and Mike Coppin managed only one lap. However an unknown athlete with a Chorley AC vest finished very swiftly in about 30th place...we would love to know who you are and count you in the Chorley team !? The best senior positions were Roy Paul and brother Les in 6th Vet55 and Vet60 respectively with Barry Chester 7th Vet55.

20/12/2008 Marl Pits, Rossendale Location : BB4 7SW

Draft Results


Provisional Series Results


A cold, wet, muddy, windswept hill side in Rawtenstall was the location for the last of the Red Rose Cross Country 2008 events. Despite the conditions, Chorley AC athletes competed well with Luke Betts and Ryan Sciacca achieving the best of the day with 4th and 13th places respectively in the Under 15 boys race. Laura Livesey made a welcome return to competitive running and ran strongly to come 34th in the Ladies race. The men's race was led home again by the ever improving Shaun Wareing. Second home for Chorley AC was Simon Townsend (despite a fall and badly cut legs), followed by Paul Wareing, David Taylor, Henry Minorczyk and Michael Murray.

More information here.

6/2/2009 Presentation

The Red Rose Cross-Country presentations for 2008/09 saw one prize coming to Chorley AC where a deserving Luke Betts was 5th in the U15s with his efforts backed ably by Ryan Sciacca(13th) and Michael Murray to take the 4th U15 team place. Also in 5th place overall in the Vet55s was our Cross Country leader Barry Chester with the next best Club position being Ruth Whipp's hard fought 8th place. 2008/09 has been a building year for Chorley AC and it is very encouraging that 25 athletes raced in the club colours with 8 of them completing the series :- 58th Paul Wareing(13th Vet45), 86th David Taylor(18th Vet40), 110th Barry Chester(5th Vet55), 111th Michael Murray Snr(22nd Vet50), 113th Phil McCullagh(23rd Vet50) plus Luke, Ryan & Ruth. Overall the mens team came 9th as did the Vets team.

Congratulations to Luke and to all those other athletes who supported CAC over the season ; let us look forward to an even better performance in 2009/10.