Lancashire Cross Country - the good, the bad and the ugly

This week has been one of recovering from last weekend's race. I have done a couple of sessions on the cross trainer and a couple of runs as well. There has been quite few comments already on the Lancashire Cross Country - I thought I would note a few personal thoughts:

The good:
Six medals
Three in the the top seven in the senior race
Eight runners receiving letters for possible Inter Counties selection - hopefully we will have at least four in action at Nottingham
Gemma Astin - won by a mile
Young athletes experiencing off Island competition for the first time
Overall organisation - everything ran to time
Quick results on the day
Hot showers - less runners and less muddy this year so probably not used as much
£2 for a hot drink and home made cake in the cafe afterwards - bargain! Not quite textbook recovery food but very nice!
Our arrangements - all seemed to run very smoothly on the day both there and back (except for one small problem - see comments below re Flybe)
Local media coverage - do the Blackburn and Blackpool runners manage the same level of publicity in their local press


The bad (disappointing):
Keith not winning as expected. I don't think his heart was in it - last year he had a 15m lead after 800m last year
No senior womens team
Not enough younger lads in our teams
Injury to Mike Garrett - before and during the race!
The turnout in some of the age-groups
Too many vets and not enough seniors - 65% vets in the senior race
My shoelace coming undone - twice
Small turnouts from some clubs
Flybe - trying to charge for hold baggage when these where already included in what was an expensive fare


The ugly:
The underfoot conditions - only ever a foot plant from serious injury on certain parts of the course.



This is a great event as it is a level where we can be competitive. Whilst Backburn do a great job with hosting the event, it would be nice to see it return to another venue at some point - Lancaster was used several times in the past and was a popular course.

Manx Harriers provide a great subsidy for the trip. However, I would like to see the club select some of the junior teams and give more of the funding for the trip to help the younger athletes. I am sure this would encourage more of them to go rather than just asking "who wants to go " as we do at the moment and hopefully provide more teams and possible medals in the younger age groups.