This year's Northern Young Athletes 5k Championships were held on a pleasantly mild morning at Birkenhead Park. At the end of a very long season, Trafford were able to turn out good teams in both male age groups - Under 17 and Under 15.

 

After a gruelling race, Xav O'Hare managed a sprint finish to take the Northern title in a fast 15.47. Xav's season began with an England mountain vest, but was blighted with injuries mid way through. It was good to see him ending his Under 17 career in style. Following him home in 6th place in 16.51 was Jack Wilkinson. Another athlete who has had his season limited by injuries, Jack managed an excellent final race. Not far behind was Cynog Williams in a solid 10th place in a time of 17.14. As a result, Trafford won the team race by an outstanding 43 points.

 

Inspired by watching the Under 17 victory, the Trafford Under 15 team set off in their event soon afterwards. Even though they did not feature among the leading individuals, they still managed to win the team race by 26 points. All 4 athletes produced 5k personal bests, which is quite an achievement. First home for the team was Alex Bailey in 9th place (17.16), followed by Joe Mangan 11th (17.53), Theo Symons Treacher 12th (17.57) and Joe Bentall 19th (18.28).

 

The end of a long but satisfying and successful winter season.

 

Neil Canham