Tameside Primary Schools Cross Country Champs
Saturday 2nd March at East Cheshire Harriers AC
Eager pupils converged on the Richmond Street track for the Primary School Cross Country races.This event also acts as the qualifiers for the team to represent Tameside in the Greater Mnachester Primary Schools Cross Country,with usually top ten finishers in the u11 to take those places.
The event was blessed with glorious sunshine and having had a week of dry weather the ground was in excellent condition for running.Plenty of parents came along to support and the atmosphere was very positive.Some schools had obviously trained and were used to the event whilst others were perhaps less confident but were going to do their best to accept the challenge cross country provides.The lead runners are likely to be already at clubs with one or two not runners but multi sports /games players who regularly have some form of running as part of training for sport.At this point it is worth pointing pupils who have completed the race to train at an Athletics club,even if they are a games player as it will benefit fitness levels if under the guidance of qualified coaches.
In the u9 girls race, the title was taken was by Christie Allen of Gee Cross Holy Trinity (She finished 2nd last year in the same race) which helped school to take the team title. In the u9 Boys race, it was another individual win for Gee Cross Holy Trinity with Joshua Rowson taking the win which helped his school take 3rd place in the team event. In the u11 girl’s event, Tess Mchugh of Our Lady of Mount Carmel took the title out-sprinting her fellow class mate Abbie O’Neil. This backed up by a 15th place for Eve Chadderton helped Our Lady of Mount Carmel (Good luck to them in the Indoor Athletics competition at the Greater Manchester Winter School Games) take the u11 girl’s team title. Honors in the u11 boy’s event went to Charlie Hobson of St Christopher’s with the team event being won by Arlies.
U9 Girls (Individual) u9 Girls (Team)
1st - Christie Allen (Gee Cross Holy Trinity) 1st – Gee Cross Holy Trinity (12 points)
2nd - Ellie Crave (Rosehill) 2nd – St Josephs RC (19 points)
3rd – Rose Dunn (St Josephs RC) 3rd – Rosehill (63 points)
U9 Boys (Individual) u9 Boys (Team)
1st – Joshua Rowson (Gee Cross Holy Trinity) 1st – St Josephs (24 points)
2nd - Craig Mopandala (Holy Trinity) 2nd – Russell Scott (29 points)
3rd – Harrision Bowers (Gorse Hall) 3rd – Gee Cross Holy Trinity (38 points)
U11 Girls (Individual) u11 Girls (Team)
1st – Tess Mchugh – (Our Lady of Mount Carmel) 1st - Our Lady of Mount Carmel (18 points)
2nd – Abbie O’Neil (Our Lady of Mount Carmel) 2nd - St Joseph’s RC (29 points)
3rd – Holly Jackson (St Christophers) 3rd – St James RC (37 points)
U11 Boys (Individual) u11 Boys (Team)
1st – Charlie Hobson (St Christophers) 1st – Arlies (39 points)
2nd - Callum Brierly (Hollingworth) 2nd – Broadbent Fold (49 points)
3rd – Ashley Mayers (Our Lady of Mount Carmel) 3rd – Russell Scott (61 points)
A big thank you to all the volunteers from East Cheshire Harriers who helped to make the event an excellent one.
Half a dozen volunteers from NCA, Hyde , Audenshaw and Ashton Sixth form acted as hares and sweepers who followed the back markers to encourage and deal with any minor problems.
Members of ECH such as Eddie Shaw (starter) kept the event flowing and everything was completed in a little over an hour.The course was set out superbly with starting gates and clear course directions , spectators were well out of the way of runners but could see from many vantage points.The East Cheshire members should be congratulated on their committment and top quality participation in enabling a very smooth running event.The whole thing was overseen by Athletics development Officer for Tameside , Blake Ellis assisted by Dave Noble and ECH memebrs.
It was nice to see not only Primary Link Teachers supporting their pupils but also Heads and Deputies, Secondary sector take note.Where these Senior staff were in evidence then those schools had a strong performance.
