Still feeling some life in his legs after Saturdays Cross Country Championships Tommy Harrison lined up at the start line of the Through The Villages race on Sunday 7th November. Starting and finishing at The Dresser’s Arms Wheelton 275 runners made their way through a tough 8.5 mile course taking in Brinscall, Abbey Village and Withnell.
Taking in lots of races at the moment and in some of the best form of his life Tommy turned it into something of a procession and stormed round winning in a time of 48 mins 41 secs. He was a minute and half clear of second spot !
Seasoned Harriers campaigners in Mark Wolstencroft and Chris Pickford from Bolton Harriers also made their way to Wheelton and both ran strongly. Mark has an incredible ‘engine’ and motored round in typical fashion coming home 18th in a time of 54 mins 28 secs. ‘Big Chris’ Pickford made a welcome return in the famous blue vest after suffering for quite a while now with niggling injuries. He will come out of the race in better shape for a top 40 finish in a time of 57 mins 55 secs.
Tommy commented from the victory podium “It went really well for me – I just got in a solid rhythm from the start and it was enough to pull away from the chasing pack on the second hill. By the time I got to Abbey Village I was well clear and could just concentrate on getting home. Felt better Sunday than Saturday which was weird and Villages is a tough race – it’s like 7 hills on steroids (7 hills is a tough run between Bolton and Bury). Mark and Chris ran well…Mark finished really strong and came flying down the last hill to the finish. It was nice to see Big Chris back in club colours as he has been missed around the group”.
