Today's most viewed
Wirral AC win four out of nine cross-country team titles
WIRRAL AC had one of their most successful Merseyside Cross Country Championships in Sherdley Park, St Helens, winning four of the nine team titles.
The Under-15 Girls started the winning streak, ending Liverpool Harriers' 15-year monopoly of the trophy. Hannah Tarver produced a lifetime best to lead Wirral home in third, closely followed by the Duckers sisters, Clare and Katie, in 4th and 7th, with Nicole Haviland completing the count in 9th.
Within 20 minutes, the Under-15 Boys had matched them with a comfortable win from the hosts, St Helens Sutton AC. Max Jeffers, last year's Under-13 Champion, seized his opportunity to take the individual title ahead of more fancied rivals. Stephen Simpson was just out the medals in 4th, while Ben Costello had to settle for 5th after making a wrong turn when in the lead. Chris Wilson completed the count in 11th.
The combined Under-17 and Under-20 Women's race saw Wirral inflict another defeat on Liverpool Harriers with the counting four in the first six.
Charlotte O'Connell won the Under-20 title, though was surprisingly beaten into second place by four seconds by an Under-17, Rhea Ellis, of Southport Waterloo AC. Behind her, Rebecca Hannah and Georja Busetto took the silver and bronze Under-17 medals, while Gemma Lawlor completed the count in 6th and was the second Under-20 finisher.
The winning streak continued with the Under-17 Men retaining their title. Stephen Duckers won the bronze medal that just eluded him last year with Andrew Gawne (4th), Jon-Philip Seymour (6th) and Shaun Egan (7th) completing the count.
With Liverpool Harriers predictably dominating the Senior Men's race, Wirral had to settle for third behind Southport Waterloo. John Hunt, first up in 8th, narrowly lost his Over-40 title to Bernie Murphy (Liverpool Pembroke & Sefton Harriers). Mark Hulmston, Peter Scarrett and Steve Spence were never far apart, crossing the line to claim 15th, 16th and 17th places, respectively. Des McIvor and Tony Devoy returned to action to complete the count, with the latter taking the bronze medal as third Over-50.
In Under-20 Men, Tom Madden showed some impressive form as he took third place in his first year in the age group. Jordan Donnelly (6th), Matt Hughes (9th) and David Rampling (10th) made up the team that was second behind a strong Liverpool Harriers team.
Jeannette Fox, the lone Wirral competitor in the Senior Women's race, made her presence felt, winning the 35-44 Veteran age group when finishing in 7th, an improvement of five places over last year.
Both Under-13 teams were placed in their events . . .
The Girls took bronze led by Anna Gordon (13th) with Lauren Brett (24th), Amy Tarver (25th) and Lottie Lee (28th) completing the count.
The Boys just edged Southport Waterloo into third with Conor Flanagan (7th), Liam Gawne (11th), Andrew Desmond (15th ) and Matt Westby (17th).
3:40pm Tuesday 8th January 2008
Print 
Email this 
Comment
What are these links for?
If you liked this article and would like to share it with others on the web who might be searching for good content we've made it easy for you to do it.
At the bottom of all articles, you'll see links to six sites. These sites - commonly called 'social bookmark' or 'social news' sites - have large communities of web users who share and rate interesting, useful and fun things on the web.
Clicking the links will automatically add the address of the story you are reading to one of these sites, letting you share it with others. Each site will ask you to register to share stories. Registration is free and once a member, you can store, recommend and search for stories that interest you.
More on Digg
More on del.icio.us
More on Furl
More on reddit
More on NowPublic/
More on Yahoo!
