Ryan Fairclough

For the second time this season, competitors in the Manx Gas Cross Challenge were greeted with better-than-expected conditions both underfoot and overhead. Glen Lough Camp Site in Glen Vine was the venue for Round 2 of the popular winter series last Sunday, and whilst the hilly and testing course was certainly boggy in places, it was reasonably firm most of the way round. The four stream crossings on each lap add interest and excitement to the course, and were comfortably negotiated by most of the athletes. A total of 110 competitors faced the starter, the highest entry so far in the 4-year history of the course. First away were the U9s over one lap of the top field, and Billy Kennaugh made his intentions clear with a lightning fast start. He was passed by William Draper halfway round the lap but managed to force his way ahead again to win by 4 seconds. Finlo Neale showed great improvement from the last round to take 3rd. In the girls’ race, Megan Lockwood took her second win in a row, ahead of Imogen Page in 2nd and a really brave effort by Leah Goddard in 3rd. The U11s raced over 1 full lap of the course, with the thrill of the steep hills and water crossings. Will Morris again proved too strong for his rivals in the boys’ race, showing great speed and skill throughout to win comfortably. The highlight of this race was the battle for 2nd place which went to Conor Davies by just 1 second from Jordan Cowin. The girls’ race was another exciting shootout between Katie Astin and Danielle Barton. Katie led narrowly through most of the lap, and then showed good speed over the final 300 metres in the top field to pull away and take victory by 7 seconds, reversing the result from Nobles Park. Aimee Cringle also ran very well to take 3rd. The U13B, U13G, U15G and Short Course competitors were next to go, all racing over 2 laps. The Short Course race featured 3 of the island’s best young middle distance track athletes. For a lap and a half, Conor Delanbanque matched strides with Tom Richmond, but on the second uphill drag Commonwealth Youth Games 800m competitor Richmond powered away impressively to take victory by 20 seconds. First female to finish, in 3rd place overall, was Rachael Franklin who is in great form at the moment. PDMS took victory in this round of the Team Challenge event as Onchan FC were unable to field a full team this time. Happiest competitor of the day was surely Shaun Moore. After numerous 2nd and 3rd place finishes over the past two seasons he finally took a well-deserved win in the U13B category, beating close rival Jak Morris by 10 seconds. Stephen Garrett and Alex Price were also not far behind, and look set to challenge strongly as the season goes on. Alice Ashe and Maxine Smalley were comfortable winners of the U13G and U15G races respectively. There were a number of notable absentees from the Senior races following the previous week’s Syd Quirk Half Marathon, but this helped to make the 6-lap Senior/Veteran Men’s race a cracking contest. In his first race since his Berlin Marathon heroics, Ed Gumbley headed the field for the first 2 laps before being passed by Andy Fox and Gianni Epifani. By lap 4, Epifani had opened up a 6 second advantage over Gumbley who had re-passed Fox – but behind this group Nigel Armstrong was closing in menacingly. Midway round lap 5 he had moved into 2nd place, just 3 seconds down on Epifani, and timed his effort to perfection by

outsprinting his rival on the 6th and final circuit of the top field to take a brilliant win by 3 seconds. The evergreen Andy Fox was delighted with his 3rd place finish ahead of Gumbley, who has had a break from training since Berlin. Chris Quine and Martin Malone completed the top 6. Gail Griffiths eased to victory in the 4-lap Senior/Veteran ladies race ahead of Ann Cain and welcome newcomer Georgia Hoch. Ryan Fairclough followed up his winning goal for Ramsey on Saturday with a strong run over 5 laps to win the Junior Men’s race, circulating in company with the leading group of Senior and Veteran men. Newcomer Matthew Taylor produced a most impressive run to beat Jordan Cain by 13 seconds in the U17M race. Polly Rogerson won the U17L race, looking particularly strong on the uphill section. She is developing into a very good athlete. Charley Taylor was well clear in the U15B race, giving the host club Western AC one of 4 wins on the day. Many thanks go to Western AC and all the officials for a superbly organised event, and to the Quayle family for the use of the excellent facilities at Glen Lough. The next round of the series will be hosted by Northern AC at Crossags Farm in Ramsey on Sunday 30th November. Sign on from 1pm for a 2pm start. All will be made welcome. David Griffiths 11th November 2008