Halligan turns on the gas

This years Isle of Man Cross Country Championships which included round five of the Manx Gas Challenge produced no major shocks but did provide some excellent races for the many spectators watching.

The Senior men’s title went to pre-race favourite John Halligan who moved in behind Tony Okell on the opening lap with Manx Fell Runner Simon Skillicorn, Andy Fox, Darren Gray and Paul Sheard all in close contention, by lap two Halligan had moved to the front with Okell second and Skillicorn now clear of the pack in third. With a lap to go Halligan was in complete control and went on to win by just over 30 seconds from Okell who in turn had a six second advantage over Skillicorn, completing the top six was Fox in forth who came under a little pressure in the closing stages from a very fast finishing Darren Gray finishing just 4 seconds behind in fifth, Paul Sheard completed the top six.

Manx Harriers could have had a complete a clean sweep of the team medals if only one over team member had turned out, as it was they took the gold and the silver team awards with the Isle of Man veterans taking the bronze.

The ladies race was a closely fought contest between Jacqui Fletcher and Natalie Wood with Sarah Nelson a little of the pace in third, on the final lap Wood edged to the front and won by just 7 seconds from Fletcher, Nelson mean while had come under serious pressure from Gail Musson both Ladies sprinting for the line with Nelson just taking it.

Manx Harriers again dominated and took all the team medals.

One of the most interesting race’s of the day was the under 15 boys, Queen Elizabeth High School had entered all the junior races in strong numbers and in the absence of few Harriers Athletes due to illness it was Louis Morris one of these entrees  who took the crown by just 2 seconds from one of the pre-race favourites Tom Bateson, In third place but only running as a guest was Andrew Kaighin from Stroud AC who had come back to the island to visit his Grand parents in Laxey and wished to test himself against local talent. With Kaighin running as a guest it was Jordan Cain who took the bronze medal with the QE 2 team taking honours in team event.

Manx Harriers girls filled the top five places in the under 15 girls race with Gemma Astin taking the title from Nicola Cooil second and Rachael Franklin third Harriers also took the team award with QE2 runners up.

Andrew Newton had a comfortable win in the under 17 boys race as did Ciara Kaneen in the girls race another comfortable winner was James Eccles in the Junior mens race.

Tom Kelly was put under tremendous pressure in the under 13 boys race and not by the runner-up but by the under 13 girls Lancashire County Champion Sarah Astin starting and running the same distance as the boys, Astin only just failed by 1 second to beat Kelly with Jack Callaghan a further thirty odd seconds behind in third, Jake Nathan from Western AC completed the boys line up as did Caitriona Cox second and Hannah Scarlett third in the girls. Charley Taylor overtook Jack Garrett in final 100 metres to win the under 11 boys by just 1 second, Alexander Price from Onchan School did the same to Jordan Lee to take the bronze medal, Lee along with Taylor, Luke Smith and Connor Casey had the consolation of taking the team gold from Manx Harriers. Alexandra Ross had a runaway victory in the Girls under 11 race from Sinead Kaneen and Laura Cain completing a Manx Harriers one two three.

Will Morris from the Western Club gave pre-race favourite a shock in the under 9 boys race he pushed Joseph Morling of Manx Harriers all the way to the finish line and because he entered on the day was not entitled to the silver medal as entries had closed a week earlier, so Terence George who finished third took the silver and Owen Dudley from Onchan school the bronze. The battle in the under 9 girls was a far closer affair with Sosanna Cox just getting the better of Rebecca Nathan by 1 second with Katie Astin from Ashley Hill School taking the bronze.

The only none championship event on the day was the Short course race won by Robbie Lambie with Steve Bennett second, Lewis Veale carried his PDMS team home in third place to take a commanding lead in the Workshop Challenge with one round to go.