The girls who outnumbered the boys 7:6, were the first to tackle this reasonably flat course (1 small lap followed by 2 large laps 6.1k) Michaela Shaw was first A&T lady in a very respectable 29.32 followed just over a minute later by Sue Hopkins with another solid performance. Next came Michelle Fairclough Jodie Wagstaff (making her debut on the country) & Carole Baines who all finished within 3 seconds of each other after a great battle. Lyndsey Carter & Abbie Eckersley completed the line up both running well
Next it was the turn of the men, this time 4 large laps (9.7k) Simon Ford was first A&T man (again) despite following Coach Chan’s instructions to race at 85%. Yours truly (Mark Riches) was next in fact I even stayed with Simon for some of the first lap! Mark Ruscoe was next vowing never to drink so much again the night before a race. He was followed by drinking buddy & x-country debutant Paul Jackson who was closely followed by Steve Foster who had another strong run. Paul Basnett completed the line up with another gutsy performance
Everyone missed ‘Brenda’s café’ & we just posed for a couple of photos (see link below, which includes photos from this race along with Heaton Park & Witton Park) before deciding to hit the road. I remembered what had been agreed before the race that the boys should put the tent away. Now you would think that this would be easy for Mark Ruscoe & Paul Jackson after their exploits in the hills of Sedbergh but this did NOT prove to be the case. A small crowd had gathered & it was beginning to get dark by the time the tent was safely in its way too small bag
Link to photos - by Joanne Riches
http://www3.snapfish.co.uk/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=1798757006/a=84051317_84051317/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=snapfishuk/
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