Rossendale Harrier gets England call for World event (From Lancashire Telegraph)

Rossendale Harrier gets England call for World event

3:46pm Tuesday 2nd June 2009 in

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ROSSENDALE Harrier Ashley Kay has been selected to run for England at the World Youth Challenge on June 27 at Ostheim vor der Rhoen in Germany.

Ash is the current English Fell Champion in the U16 age bracket, but has advanced to the U18s this season.

The second round of the Championship was the Coiners Race at Mytholmroyd which was held at the beginning of May.

It doubled as the trial and he was third to secure his place.

Kay won his first England vest in October at the Home International in Edinburgh and will be hoping for better luck this time after being forced out of his debut with a hamstring injury.

The trip to Germany replaces that to Susa in Italy for the England juniors, and Kay missed out on that one last year despite a good performance in the trial, because he was too young.

While the Coiners Race was on the first Bank Holiday Monday of May, the second saw the athletes again in Championship action, this time in the Peak District.

The Shuttlingsloe Race at Wildboarclough in Cheshire would have been familiar to many of the runners as it was also in the calendar in 2008, and there was glorious weather for the runners and the visitors to the village fete.

Kay was below his best this time as he finished 12th, beaten by club-mate Jordan Beard in seventh and there were more Rossendale athletes on show in the U16s with Joe Johnson and Joseph Moores fifth and sixth, with Todmorden’s Sean Carey seventh.

However, it was the girls who caught the eye with Emma Spencer second for Pendle and Beckie Taylor giving Blackburn Harriers fourth.

It was a similar story in the U14s where Blackburn’s Sally Searson was third as our best boys, Pascal Dark from Dale and Pendle’s Declan Bulmer, were eighth and ninth.

Blackburn’s Polly Pearse was the pick of the East Lancashire girls in the U12s with fourth. Matthew and Beatrice Toman got first places in the U8 boys’ and U10 girls’ races.