Young runners take part in national championships

Lancaster and Morecambe ACs U13G team of Mia Brayshaw, Kirsty Maher and Maddie Hutton.

First to run were the U13 boys, who had the strength in depth to enter two teams.

Tobias Swarbrick had an outstanding run for the A team, completing the 2k course to return to the handover area in fourth position.

With Jack Collett and Jacob Preston completing the trio the team finished in 46th position.

The B team showed a clean pair of heels to a number of A teams with Thomas McGrattan leading off.

Fabian Schiller should be pleased with a solid second leg, moving the team 14 places through the field and with 11-year-old Archie Honeysett on the final leg the team finished in 86th.

Kirsty Maher made a good start for the U13 girls. Mia Brayshaw, in her first national event, ran a confident second leg and handed over to Maddie Hutton who overtook a total of 17 athletes to bring the team home in 62nd place.

Phoebe Hayashi, also competing on the national stage for the first time, ran a solid first leg for the U15G, handing over to Kirsty Hamilton.

Despite only being 14 this was Kirsty’s fourth national relay championship and as always had a good run for the team. Handing over to Larissa Hannam the team finished in 53rd spot.

The best result of the day was in the U15 boys where Matthew Knowles gave the team an excellent start handing over to Lukas Eichmeyer.

With Rhys Ashton on the final leg the team took 22nd position.

Having watched the club’s emerging talent it was then time for the Senior Men to race.

The format for this race was 4x5K. With more than 200 clubs toeing the line the first leg was always going to be tough but David Brown made an excellent start, handing over in 84th.

Isaac Scott took the second lap with an impressive run moving the club into 74th.

With Mark Gardner on the third laps and Mark Leadbeatter on the glory lap the team finished in 65th position.

Team Manager Lisa Preston said: “All the teams were competitive today and with many of the athletes still relatively young we were thrilled that so many of the teams finished in the top half of the fields.”