The running club has recently seen some fantastic performances both on road and off road at some of the mid lancs and the BUCS cross country races. The first race of the season for the Green Drive 5 mile road race stayed dry with great conditions for running.
With the first male runner Tom Roethenbaugh finishing in 6th place overall in a time of 27 minutes 52 seconds the other runners quickly followed. Fantastic performances in particular were made by Tom Greaves and Laura Sullivan who won their junior male and female categories, and it was great to see some new faces racing with the club for the first time.Hyndburn was a hilly, hard start to the cross country season but the runners still produced some fantastic results with the men’s team coming in 28th place overall and the women’s in 23rd.
Some fantastic individual performances were seen once again with Tom Roethenbaugh coming in 12th place overall and Tilly McCarthy running into 31st place overall but 5th place in the under 20’s women’s category. Despite some unfortunate injuries with Jack Okell twisting his ankle on some tree roots it was great to see everyone pushing themselves and running some fantastic times as per usual. With struggles in the past to get a women’s team down to the cross country races it has been great to see so much enthusiasm from the women to compete this year with Kaylea Haynes, Jesslyn Gillepsie and Laura Lewis running some great races alongside Tilly.
The Liverpool Cross Country was a real exciting moment for the Lancaster runners with a hyped up atmosphere due to the large range of athletes competing not only for Mid Lancs cross country points but also for places in the European Cross Country Championships. With fantastic individual performances all round it was great to see some good team results with Tom Roethenbaugh, Tom Greaves, Jack Okell, Danni Tarrant, Nicholas Barton and Yu Chi Lai making up a particularly strong men’s team for the race, with Tilly McCarthy, Rebecca McLean, Kaylea Haynes, Bethany Bloor and Laura Lewis running some great races for the women. The Lancaster 315 also saw real success for the runners locally with Tilly McCarthy running a particularly strong race for the women into second place.
Despite an injury Tom Roethenbaugh performed well running into 4th place for the men, whilst former Lancaster University Running Club member Phil Robertson, who has now returned to the club for a short while, ran into 2nd place. BUCS, however, will be argued by the runners to have been the best racing weekend of the year so far with the event being held this year down in Brighton. With both a men’s A and B team alongside the women, this was the opportunity for the Running Club to get a good amount of runners down to a cross country event.
The women’s event saw Laura Sullivan run a fantastic race as the first woman in, with Tom Roethenbaugh first in the men’s A race, and Ben Francis first in the men’s B race. With amazing performances all round the team has to be congratulated on their success. With the men’s cross country team now looking to push up to the next league division in the mid lancs league, it will be interesting to see where the next couple of races at Blackpool and here in Lancaster will leave us. If anyone would like to support us at the Lancaster Mid Lancs cross country it is to be held at Rylands Park on Saturday Week 8, more details to be found on the Lancaster University Running Club Facebook page.
