Well, the seniors turned out the blue and white hoops on Saturday for the seniors English Champs race, but we had a sea on blue and white hoops of Bingley for the junior races on Sunday. The race routes were wet underfoot and very muddy, not helped by them heavy footed seniors on Saturday, but our juniors made light work of these conditions (must be the hard work put by Andy Nicoll and the team on a Saturday morning).
We had runners in all the races from the U8’s through to the U16’s, but no entrants in the U18 races, a total of 20 runners. In the U8’s, 2 girls ran with Lilly Smith taking the honours on the day with a great run to take 2nd Girls in the U8’s race. In the U10’s race we had 6 runners (4 boys and 2 girls) with Curtis Hanson leading them home in an overall 42nd position, closely followed by the rest of the team. In the U12’s we had 3 boys running with Jonathan Sutcliffe leading them home in overall 32nd place.
The weather turned for the U14’s and U16’s races, heavy wind and rain arrived, just on queue for the return leg of the U14’s race and the whole of the U16’s race. This didn’t deter the older juniors with 2 boys and 3 girls in the U14 race. Alex Stewart lead home Reuben Mantle in 11th and 15th place overall, with Olivia Roper leading home Lucy Miller and Katie Smith in 39th, 46th and 49th respectively. The U16’s went out in the worse weather of the day, with the race organisers insisting they all take the required FRA safety kit. So, bum bags packed we had 2 boys and 2 girls. After a tough race, Matthew Merrick proved is training is paying off with a great 9th overall, Vicki Merrick finish in 28th, Abigail White 44th and Bryan Bradley in 46th.
Overall, a great day on the fells in some very muddy conditions. Full results can be found here: http://www.ukresults.net/2014/pendjunpr.html/pendjun.html