This year (2025) the Championships were held at Betley, just south of Crewe, on a bitterly cold but thankfully dry day. Especial thanks are due to the all the marshals and other officials for their gallant work, and also to the organisers for such a well-run event.
The turn-out by the Harriers was exceptional: we fielded 45 runners which is double the number competing last year. We had good representation in every race and gained medals from U13 up to V55. The Club’s performance led one of the organisers to remark that “Something is going on at Macclesfield with the endurance runners”.
We had two individual victories in the Boys U15 and U17 with very mature solo runs from Jake Ireland and Michael Wood respectively. Jake was joined on the podium by Thomas Wood and George O’Donnell, adding a comfortable team gold to their growing medal collection. Reuben Lawrance finished in 13th providing a very valuable back-up should it have been needed. Cain Taylor, Matthew Walker and Jared Dickinson finished in 4th, 5th and 6th to complete a team victory in the U17s. The U13s showed similar promise with Gus Fisher taking individual bronze. Alex Irvine and Henry Talbot joined Gus to finish 4th team missing medals by the narrowest of margins. Ethan Beran, Toby Lawrance and Oscar Furness packed well to beat Vale Royal as the best B team with strong support from George Allen. The U11 boys were under strength due to illness, but Lewis Furness, Archie Guest, William Ford and Liam Labrosse performed well to finish 5th team.
Sadly we had fewer ladies competing than in the Leagues, but Martha Wood was a strong 7th in the U13s, as was Bella Talbot in the U11s. The best female performances came in the day’s penultimate race: Karen Heppenstall took bronze in a very strong Ladies V45 field and Olivia Lloyd-Jones took Silver in the U20s race.
The Harriers’ packing in the men’s races was exceptional: no less than six Senior men finished within about two minutes, with five of them fighting it out for most of the race. Sam Pendrill showed his strength and his consistent training was rewarded by being our first Senior home in 16th. New member Paul “I used to run a bit when I was younger” Roberts gained Bronze in the V40s. He was joined by Mark Walker (V45 5th), Matt Lynas (V55 1st) and Jim Pendrill (V50 10th) to take the Vets team Bronze. Last but definitely not least Joseph Allen and Will Nettle continue to develop well and finished 8th and 10th in the U20s with hopefully one if not both being selected for the Inter-Counties.
Our next cross-country fixture is the Manchester Cross-Country league at Tatton this coming Saturday, 11th January. This is followed by the Northerns (25th January) and the Nationals (22nd February). If you are unsure how to enter these events, lose no time in contacting Emma Lord, the Club CC Manager. Well done and best wishes to all our Inter-Counties qualifiers who will be in action on 8th March, and congratulations to all our cross-country athletes for a great club performance in the Cheshire Championships.
Full times & results – CLICK HERE.
Lots of photos on CLICK HERE (Race Photos)
