Impressive results were certainly the order of the day for the Harriers’ family in reviewing the overall picture for 2017 and none more so than Jack Morris for the seniors and Abigail Pawlett in the junior rankings.
Morris showed who was boss by going right through the card in the Manchester and district cross country league by winning all five of the senior men’s races at the league meetings during the winter season which usually cited approximately 400 runners per event although he had to sprint to the finish in the penultimate meeting in order to maintain a clean sheet of individual wins.
Very few individuals take all the cross country league honours for the season and our intrepid competitor then proceeded to translate his efforts to the roads and managed to sew up two further events in a back to back format in December.
First off was the annual Hoka One One Stockport ten mile race with an easy win over second placed club mate and former winner Jack Nixon and then the following weekend saw Morris enjoying some winter sunshine by taking to the winner’s rostrum in the annual Lanzarote international half marathon in just a shade over 70 minutes for his efforts.
Club junior athlete Freya Murdoch continues to impress in the Stockport primary schools’ cross country league and has now extended her remit to include the Manchester Cross Country League as well as the recently run British Athletics Cross Challenge at Liverpool and continues to fly the flag for the club with first position finishes a plenty.
North Eastern County Cross Country Championship accolades were given out in the form of the sword of honour which was presented to the winner at Redcar racecourse and that award went to Stockport Harrier Jack Martin (qualification by birth area) and it is noted that his brother Patrick also accepted the winner’s honour two years previously at Sedgefield in December 2015 which was interspersed by Jonathan Taylor of Morpeth Harriers in 2016.
To the track and field department and top national honours came the way of Stockport’s Abigail Pawlett in her speciality discipline being “combined events” with a top national under 15’s ranking which also extends to first class honours in no less than three other individual events being the 75 metres hurdles and 100 metres as well as the 60 metre hurdles indoor event and she now moves up an age group for the 2018 season and along with the company of 2nd placed Emily Misantoni also from Stockport harriers, who takes the silver ranking in the longer distance of 800 metres and both competitors will hopefully continue to prosper in their new age group category.
The aforementioned athletes helped to secure a team double first in the youth development track and field league with the upper age group team being promoted from division two to division one and the lower age group having been in division one now take their seats at the high table in the premier league and the glorious results came the way of the Harriers in no small part through the excellent management skills of manager Carl Doodson and his assembled team of helpers and officials.
A celebration of the double team success will be incorporated into the Annual Club Presentation Evening which will be taking place at Stockport County’s Edgeley park facility on Saturday the 20th January for which further details can be found on this website.
Stockport’s super vet Louise Rudd continued to churn out gold medals almost factory style and took the honours in the world masters championships in Daegu, Korea at 800, 1500 and 3000 metres and then followed it up with a double first in the 800 and 1500 metre events at the European Masters’ Championships in Aarhus, Denmark.
Meanwhile, senior Harrier Elle Vernon was selected to represent the country in the recent annual Spar European cross country championships in Samorin in Western Slovakia and enjoyed team gold for her efforts whilst her husband, former English cross country champion Steve, continues to churn out outstanding international athletes through the hugely successful New Balance elite coaching programme who are all enjoying the new facilities at Woodbank Park Stadium.
With the newly established clubhouse and improved equipment facilities it should be coming up roses in 2018 for the Harriers’ family of athletes and the new suite of buildings now enables lectures, talks and coaching ventures to take place out of the elements.