Greater Manchester Cross Country Champs 2023
The Greater Manchester (GM) XC Champs took place on 16th December 2023 at Wythenshawe Park. This race forms the trials to gain selection to represent GM at the Inter County Cross Country Championships in March 2024. Top 4 would guarantee selection.
Tough conditions were in order but this didn’t stop ECH athletes from putting in excellent performances. Firstly in the under 13 boys race, Oliver Mannion had a terrific run to finish 2nd with Matthew Bailey coming home in 7th place. In the under 13 girls all four athletes performed well with Demi Baxter 11th, Imogen McBurnie 16th, Erin McMahon 19th and Molly Holness 20th.
Marshall Fleet 8th, Alfie Manser 11th, Oliver Walker 14th, Nathan Dunn 15th and Sam Horner 27th made up the under 15 boys team who all ran brilliantly. In the under 15 girls race Meadow Wright 13th and Anna Rooke 24th put in strong performances.
Cole Wright finished 17th in the under 17 men’s race with Maria Rooke 14th and Harri-Ann Fleet 20th in the women’s race. Michael Obi and Callum Fricker raced hard to finish 12th and 14th respectively in the junior men’s race. Emilia Platt was the highlight of the day bringing home the gold medal in the junior women’s race winning by nearly 45 seconds. Imogen Gush worked hard to finish 10th in the same race.
In the Senior Women’s race all 3 ECH representatives ran well with Katie Kay 14th, Hayley Simpson 17th and Megan Lewis 25th. In the Senior Men’s race Joe Hudak was first home in a brilliant 5th place closely followed by much improved Michael Holness having a superb run in 8th. Gareth Raven 13th, Nigel Malkin 20th, Robin Horner 29th, Jacob Taylor 36th and James Hartshorne 51st completed the team.