'Muddy hell' can't stop Vernon in the National
Steve Vernon (8110) leads early-on at Alton Towers
All national champs are important, but in the UK the English ‘National’ has always held captive XC fans, as the big one when it comes to cross country. Part of the kudos and history that surrounds the race lies in its unpredictability…
This could come in many forms – the weather, the course, the form of the runners. Today’s incalculable was the course (described by those there as a “muddy hell”), and as these pictures show there was a bit of mud about – though today’s reduced 10km for the men is still a far cry from the 9 mile mudbaths of the 70’s and 80’s.
The National at Alton Towers - muddy...
One man who has been rounding into form since Christmas, and likes the mud, is Steve Vernon. The powerful Stockport-man held a relatively low-profile prior to his excellent run in Edinburgh in early January, and after a strong run for second in the ‘Northerns’ a couple of weeks back, Vernon hit the money today in Alton Towers and turned the tables on Tom Lancashire, who could only finish third.
Steve Vernon (centre) at the recent Northern Champs
Seasoned GB international Mike Skinner was second, some 21 seconds back on Vernon.
During a drama-filled afternoon of furiously competitive running, both the men’s and women’s races were reduced, each by 2km. The reasons behind this were health ans safety, after a number of athletes failed to cope the conditions and a broken ankle was reported at the bottom of the course.
In the women’s race winner of the Euro XC Trials back in October, Louise Damen, took the win, though there were only 7 seconds covering all of the first three runners. Hatti Dean was second and Liz Yelling continued her comeback after the birth of her daughter last year to finish a strong third.
Liz Yelling leads Hatti Dean
Charlotte Purdue, running in the junior women’s race, took a narrow win after her recent all-conquering runs in the senior ranks. Other winners were Jonny Hay (junior men) and Emilia Gorecka in the U17 women’s race.
Brief summary now online at Athletics Weekly, with full results here. Some shots are now on Facebook courtesy of Jerry Watson, with plenty more image links to follow as they appear.
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