Manchester Harriers Primary Schools Cross Countries 2015/16 - Race 3

Nine of our young athletes competed on Saturday for their schools. Well done to Maja & William for competing at this event and on this course for the first time. They would have learnt a lot from the experience. Underfoot conditions were a lot different, much heavier ground, than the first two races and so I knew times would be slower overall. Across the group the time differerentials were minimal, which indicates to me that the fitness of the group is improving. With faster conditions, I believe there would have been numerous PBs. I am delighted however to announce that Ted(Yr 3) got a PB of 0.05 secs and finished in his best position to date in 29th place. Well done Ted! Really well deserved.

Ava(Yr3) was our only competitor in the Yr3/4 girls race and put in another solid effort to finish in 32nd place. In the Yr 3/4 Boys race we also had Jack(Yr4) who achieved his best result to date coming an excellent 7th! He is learning how to run Cross Countries very quickly which is so nice to see. With time and training there can only be further improvement in the future. The outstanding result of the morning came from William(Yr3) who finished a fantastic 5th in his first race at this event. He too is learning all the time.

Underfoot conditions would not have helped Sofia(Yr6) who put in another good effort in the Yr 5/6 girls race to come 5th. She was followed in by Grace(Yr5) in 9th place, an absolutely superb effort from start to finish, Libby(Yr5) in 21st place and Maja(Yr6) in 38th place.

The children are at different stages of their development and with different training ages. They are all doing extremely well with an event that may or may not suit them in the future, but offers them excellent development at present. A lot of grit & determination and mental strength being demonstrated from very young ages.