Fylde coast clubs excel in county cross country

Blackpool Wyre & Fylde AC’s U13 girls won gold, their U15 girls bronze and the U11 girls finished just outside the medals in fourth place.

There were individual medals for members of the two clubs in the U15s’ race: Lytham St Annes Road Runners’ Ella Moulding gained gold and Benjamin Preddy of BWF won bronze.

They put up a game show on one of the North West’s toughest courses, made harder by the energy-sapping mud.

First on the podium were the BWF U13 girls. Caitlyn Preddy was fifth in 13:55 for the 3.2k course.

Holly Winstanley was 10th in 14:31, Lily-Mae Gray 16th in 14:57 and Lucy Tickle 18th in 15:28. They made up the gold-medal team, with fellow team members Charlotte Barnes, 30th in 16:26, and Poppy Hughes, 43rd in 19:13 also receiving team medals.

Under-15 girls Danielle Whipp, eighth in 16:54, Jessica Jackson, 16th in 17:28, Taylor Holland, 24th in 18:55 and Kate Jenkinson, 19:10, won bronze. Starring for Lytham in the same race was talented Ella Moulding, who beat 29 U15 girls and half of the U15 boys in the same race to finish in the gold medal position in 15:15 for the 3.8k course, a comfortable 16 seconds ahead of her nearest rival.

The U11 girls’ team, running 1.8k, were unlucky to finish just outside the medals in fourth.

The team comprised Bethany Whipp, fourth in 7:38, Felicity Barnes, sixth in 7:42, Grace Blincow, 33rd in 8:44, and Holly Tickle, 46th in 9:17.

Blackpool’s individual medal winner was U15B runner Benjamin Preddy, who finished the same course in 13:41 for bronze, 19 seconds behind the winner. George Robinson was 19th in 15:45 and Jack Tickle, 24th in 16:26.

Other BWFAC boys taking part were James Smith, eighth in 12:47, Jamie Jackson, 27th in 14:35, and Bruno Eaves, 31st in 15:01 in the U13B race, and U11 boys Alex Maude, fourth in 7:27, and Johnny Goodacre, 14th in 7:53.

Four other Lytham Juniors braved the conditions. Morgan Pritchard, fresh from his Liverpool Cross Challenge success, was 26th U11B in 6:23, while U11 girl Sydney Ramsden ran well for 8:30 and 30th place in the largest junior field of 52.

Rebecca Tate ran the U13 girls’ one-lap 3.2k race, including her first climb up the ‘Saucer’, and finished 36th in 17:24, with Georgia Norman was 42nd in 18:31.

U15 Chloe Norman was 21st in 18:13.