County success for junior Chorley athletes

Daniel Lilley, Lydia Wilcock and Olivia Leigh were selected to represent Lancashire at the Inter-County Cross Country Championships in Loughborough on March 11th.

Facing tough competition from across the UK, all athletes put in strong performances to finish in the top third of their age categories, with Lydia Wilcock first home for Lancashire in the U17 women’s race.

Inter Counties: U17W: Lydia Wilcock (67th), U13G: Olivia Leigh (85th), U13B: Daniel Lilley (82nd).

Kian Davies and Olivia Leigh also competed for Lancashire at the English Schools’ Cross Country Championships in Norwich on Saturday.

Finishing off a successful cross-country season, Kian Davies finished a credible 76th in the Intermediate Boys race.

Olivia Leigh was 180th in the junior girls’ race with another year of competing in this age category to come.

March 11th also saw a team of 10 Under 11 Chorley athletes compete for Lancashire at the North West Regional Sports Hall Championships, including Abbey Riley, Alayana Ahmed, Blythe Cordwell, Chloe Molyneux, Lauren Waddington, Lucy Poole, Megan Leigh, Oliver Palk, Ryan Leigh and Sam Prince.

Strong individual performances resulted in first place for the Lancashire girls and second place for the boys.

The Under 15 and Under 13 competition followed on Saturday. Chorley athletes included Annabel Stewart, Rhian Williams, Ellie Leigh, Ethan Downes and Daniel Lilley, who stepped in last minute to help the county team secure second place.

Ethan Downes blew the competition away winning the sprint event by over half a lap.

Chorley Athletic and Triathlon Club athletes competed in the 29th Roddesworth Roller.

First back from the club was John Horrocks in a time of 35:38, and eighth overall, with junior George Norris not far behind in 10th.

Jordan Swift, Phil Iddon, Mick Hancock and Chris Charnley all finished in the top 40.

Juniors Lewis Tliey, Nick Gkikas, Bill Beckett and Paul Bass all ran well to attain top 80 positions, followed by Phil McCullagh and Adrian Smith.

Chorley’s A team came second. Alison Fowler was the only lady club member to complete the course, coming 205th overall.

Popular as ever, the Daffodil Doddle had a 200 strong entry of youngsters aged from three to 16. Olivia Leigh had a superb run and was first girl back, and second overall by only four seconds. Bethany Reid was third girl and Oliver Platt was first Chorley boy back in 11th overall.

Other top 30 finishers included Emma Moogan, Alex Glew and Amber Boardman.

Martha Singleton finished 33rd, just in front of Megan Leigh and Amy Heaton. The rest of the Chorley team of Robert Kellett, Emily Reid, Annabel Stewart, Thomas Young, Erin Boardman, Tom Gilkes, William Tansey, Liam Platt, Benjy Glew, Mia Odlum, Ellie Leigh, Louisa Stewart, Charles Linfoot, Lewis Mercer, Grace Howard, Layla Alton, Milly Leigh, Sophie Ashworth, Christina Stewart, Jack McCann, Joseph Glew,Max Odlum, Alice Gilkes, Megan Ashworth, Grace Collings and Ellie Gkikas packed the remainder of the finishers.

Both races were organised by Abbey Village School and CATC. Chorley junior George Norris was first back for the club (12th place) in the wet and windy Trotters 5 trail race. Phil Iddon was two minutes behind and just in front of Jonny Bromilon. First back for the ladies was Lara Dickinson, followed by Jane Bowles.

Completing the pack were Simon Townsend and Paul Jackson.