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Craven athletes shine in the National Cross-Country Championships
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| Victoria Wilkinson of Skipton |
Craven athletes Matthew Watson of Sough and Victoria Wilkinson of Skipton both finished in an excellent 11th position in the National Cross-Country Championships at Alton Towers on Saturday.
Watson spent most of the race running in eighth position before losing three places in the final stages of the race while trying to get past lapped runners.
Nevertheless it was an impressive performance by Watson of Bingley Harriers on a tough hilly course in a high quality field of over 1200 runners. He will now look to raise his game for the Inter-Counties Championships on March 15, which serves as the GB trial for the World Cross-Country Championships in Edinburgh on March 30.
Wilkinson, also in the colours of Bingley Harriers, ran particularly well in a women's race of exceptional quality, beating athletes who have recently placed highly at world level.
Like Watson, Wilkinson's next outing will be at the Inter-Counties Championships in Nottingham, where she should challenge for a top placing.
Continuing to improve and a talent to keep an eye on is Joe Mercer. Skipton AC's sole representative in the senior men's race finished in 119th place.
Mercer ran for much of the race alongside Skipton athlete Lee Athersmith of Bingley Harriers. Athersmith finished in 121st place.
In the junior races, Skipton AC's Under 15 Boys ran well to finish 18th in the team rankings in a race with 347 finishers. Billy Pinder led the team home to finish 62nd, followed by Joel Griffith in 116th place, Will Crisp in 234th and Robbie Swift in 234th. Peter Messenger did a great job backing them up.
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| Matthew Watson of Sough |
Skipton's plans were upset when consistent team scorer Alex Sinclair was injured playing rugby in a school session and was hospitalised.
Medal winners at the proceeding Yorkshire Championships and only just missing out in the ensuing North Of England Championships, Skipton's U-15 boys had hitherto been viewed as serious contenders for at least a top ten position in the National.
Skipton AC's U-13 boys also put in creditable performances. Jack Beetham came a notable 51st in a field of 353, a fine achievement in a race of this calibre.
Beetham, despite being badly boxed in for much of the way, eventually managed to find some daylight and finish within half a minute of a top six placing. He was backed up by William Peryer who crossed the line in 224th and Joe Brown, 286th, but could have done with a fourth runner to register a team placing. While the majority of Craven''s athletes were doing battle around Alton Towers, Long Preston's Mary Wilkinson was testing her speed in a race double-header in Ireland.
Representing her sponsors Puma Sportswear Mary first took to the streets of Armagh over 3km and produced a strong run to finish tenth in a high calibre international field with athletes from countries including Poland, USA, South Africa, Italy and Finland as well as the Home Countries.
Just two days later the same athletes challenged again over a 6km cross-country course, and the extra distance allowed Mary's endurance strength to show as she this time claimed eighth place ahead of several athletes who had finished ahead of her in the shorter event.
Mary will next travel to Ethiopia where she will once again be flying the British flag in the Great Ethiopian Women's Run, an annual 5km road race held in the country's capital Addis Ababa, an event which she has contested for the last two years.
Meanwhile, with the summer track and field season fairly imminent three Skipton AC members Will Crisp, Fiona Jordan and Jack Beetham eminently achieved selection following arduous trials at Selby for the North Yorkshire team to contest this Sunday's Yorkshire & Humberside Sports Hall athletics finals at Halifax.
2:06pm Thursday 28th February 2008
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