Holmfirth Harriers’ Lewis Byram produced an impressive performance in the English Cross Country Championships held at Parliament Hill Fields in London.
The premier event on the cross country calendar, the best athletes in England fight it out for national honours.
This year it was the turn of the southern region to host the event on Hampstead Heath and a record number of 5,283 runners competed.
Holmfirth Harriers were represented in every one of the eight junior age groups and both senior men’s and women’s races.
The best result for the Harriers came from the junior section in the Under 17 men’s race where Byram found the mud and hills to his liking.
Holding back for the first short 2km lap, Byram moved through the field throughout the longer 4km lap and with 500 metres to go was lying in sixth, but the final steep muddy descent allowed him to pass two more athletes and close the gap on the two athletes ahead and he was thrilled with his fourth place just five seconds behind the silver medalist – he completed the 6km course in 20 minutes 54 seconds.
Competing in his first National event Chris Law was next home for the Under 17 team finishing in 112th position in 23.36, while Alex Robinson ran strongly to come home in 140th in 24.08 and Lavell Pierre completed the team finishing in 190th, a great effort as he later required treatment for a spike injury, as the boys finished 11th in the team rankings.
The Byram family provided excitement in the Under 17 girls race with Erica, like older brother Lewis, came through the field to finish inside the top 30 in 23rd completing the 5km course in 23.53.
Sister Lucy was just 30 seconds behind with a strong run in 46th and Daisy Smith was thrilled to have survived the mud in 233rd in 32.19.
Both Under 15 races featured record fields of close to 400.
In the girls’ race Genevieve Durrans and Ellie Sunman ran well to come home in 253rd and 296th respectively, while in the boys’ Harry Shelbourne finished 257th and Nicky Farquhar 296th.
The Under 13 races both featured fields 395 in the boys and 433 in the girls.
Callum Durrans had a strong run to finish in 194th in the boys’ race, the last of the junior events, while Alice Shelbourne was also a lone Holmfirth representative in the girls’ battling the mud and finished in 402nd.
In the Under 20s races Lucy Farquhar was first home in the women’s race running strongly in 62nd place 27.34 for this 6km distance, and Ruby Sykes was just inside 30 minutes finishing in 29.54 in 96th place.
In the Under 20 men’s race over 10km Kai Sunman was first back for Holmfirth in 117th place in 40.05, Eddie Hinchliffe next back in 151st in 42.14 and Robert Hinchcliffe-Smith 170th in 44.15.
The ladies were somewhat thin on the ground due to injury, but those that did turn out put in good performances.
Helen Berry had an outstanding run, moving through the field with each kilometre of the 8km event, and putting in a final effort to ensure a top 20 spot in 32.36 which was an improvement of 20 places from last year’s and her best position to date.
Veteran Lesley Ewart had a super run for 334th place in 41.02, with fellow veteran Helen Pettit 382nd in 41:47 – the race was won by Lilian Partridge of winning club Aldershot, Farnham & District in 30.07.
Just seven men from Holmfirth made the trip to compete alongside 2,000 athletes in the biggest race of the season.
The National title has eluded some of the biggest names in English athletics and it was Sale Harriers’ Charlie Hulson who won over the 12km course in 39.12.
Richard Smith, fresh from winning the Wombwell 5k last weekend, who led the Holmfirth contingent for most of the race before being overtaken in the closing stages by his teammate Richard Anderson.
Anderson was 130th (44.06) and Smith was 137th (44.14).
Dave Turnbull found it tough going in the mud to finish 238th (45.50) as did Craig Boggon in 504th (49.22).
Veteran John Ewart was next home in 1,094th (55.49) followed by Andy Hauser in 1234th (57.24) and club road secretary veteran John Philpott, in his first ever Nationals, was in 1,898th (82.36). With the first six to count, the men’s team were 50th out of 145 teams.
