Brown bags debut glory

OLDHAM and Royton Harriers had plenty to smile about in the latest South-East Lancashire Cross-Country League fixture at Clayton Vale, Manchester.

The performance of the day belonged to Chris Brown. In his first race in the under-11s category, Brown ran superbly to win in a time of eight minutes three seconds.

Club-mates Luke Brierley finished seventh, Joseph Kershaw was eighth and Jack Pritchard 10th as Oldham clinched second place overall in the team event.

The under-13s’ boys finished first overall after Adam Howard led Rob Smith home in a Harriers one-two. Christopher Hague (11th) and Matthew Lofthouse (13th) also performed with great credit.

Meanwhile, Jacob Ragan and Mike Smith, in fifth and sixth respectively, gave a good account of themselves in the under-15s race for boys.

Jane Augsburger was the top female performer, finishing third in the girls under-17 race.

In the under-11 girls’ race, Megan Whitworth was 10th and Holly Sutcliffe 12th, while Jane Courtnall finished strongly to take 10th in the under-15 girls’ event.

The senior men’s team put in a decent performance finish ninth overall.

Daniel Timperley crossed the line in 30th, and he was followed by John Hudson (53rd), Dave Smith (58th), Simon Smith (61st), Karl Smith (75th), and Darren Mannings (79th.)