Seven local cross country runners dug deep to run in heavy conditions at the English National Cross-Country Championships on Saturday.
Six Manx Harriers runners and one Northern AC travelled to London for the Championships which were held at Parliament Hill.
The conditions were extremely testing throughout the day, with the course getting progressively heavier as the day went on.
Dig Deep
Seamus Hall (Manx Harriers) finished in a terrific 58th place out of 318 runners in the U13 Boys race, which is the highest placing ever achieved by a runner from the Isle of Man in the U13 Boys race at the event.
His result compares very favourably with historical results as only Andrew Newton (61st in 2004) and David Mullarkey (64th in 2015) have finished higher in this category.
Next up was Laura Dickinson (Manx Harriers) in the Senior Women’s race which had close to 1,000 competitors, and she finished in a very good 244th place.
Laura made her debut in the National on the same course as a first-year Under 13 in 2012, and the only National she has ever missed since then was last year’s one which was postponed to September.
National Championships
Sam Perry (Northern AC) achieved the highest placing of the day by the Manx contingent with an excellent 32nd in the U20 Men’s race over 10 kilometres, which for a middle-distance specialist was a fine effort over a long tough course.
The Senior Men’s race had close to 2,000 competitors over a distance of 12 kilometres, and as it was the final race of the day it had the worst underfoot conditions.
Three Manx Harriers runners battled away with great tenacity, with Stephen Garrett 850th, Jamie Hayes 1213th and Paul Rodgers 1254th.
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