The training partners both secured their places on the plane to compete in the European Cross Country Championships, while there were also impressive wins from Kari Hughes, Innes Fitzgerald and Michael Clarke at Sefton Park.
Every year the Liverpool Cross Challenge makes a different headline.
From Mo Farah’s victory in 2005 to the many victories of Andy Vernon and Jess Warner-Judd, the annual event has always attracted the UK’s best distance runners.
Since taking over from Margate in 2003 as the trials for the European Cross Country Championships, the importance of winning at Sefton Park has only increased and it has become one of the most important meetings on the domestic cross-country calendar.
Head-to-head battles on grass and mud are not uncommon at Sefton Park; 2014 saw a memorable showdown between Scotland’s Andrew Butchart and Callum Hawkins, and this year saw a similarly enthralling contest between training partners Scott Beattie and Rory Leonard (November 22).
Both Beatty and Leonard know each other well. Not only are they trained by Andy Hobdell at HOKA-sponsored Team Makou, but the pair also represent Morpeth Harriers AC.
Behind Tam Makou’s third training camp in Font Romeu last month. AW spent time with the group to learn more about the band and their activities – the couple arrived in Liverpool for one purpose. Secure their places on board next month’s Euro Cross in Lagoa, Portugal (December 14).
Leonard was fifth in last year’s Liverpool’s Cross Challenge to book a place – the top four in the senior and under-23s automatically qualify for Antalya, where he finished the highest British finish in ninth place in Turkey.
Biti, meanwhile, had extra motivation after missing out on last year’s Eurocross because his passport didn’t have the validity period to meet Turkish border rules. After failing to obtain an emergency passport, it meant Bitty could not travel to the championship in Antalya.
With that motivation at the back of his head, Beatty once again excelled at this year’s muddy Sefton Park course. The Brit had finished third in equally difficult conditions at the last edition, so such a clinical run, with only Leonard keeping his pace in the closing stages, was no surprise.
With such a large field, the start was slow and the lead pack bunched up. However, as the kilometers ticked by, Beatty and Leonard separated and opened a small gap with their other rivals at the halfway point.
They never looked back. Through twists and turns, it soon became a two-horse race between training partners. Although Leonard led the race in points, Beatty’s push was stronger in the last few kilometers and he clocked 23:50 over the 8km run, with Leonard not far behind in 24:04. Richard Slade (24:20) and Jacob Cann (24:22), who both impressed at the Cardiff Cross Challenge, also secured automatic selection for Portugal.
“It’s nice to get first and second,” Beattie told AW. “It took me a while to get out of that pack at first and back to Rory. He caused a lot of trouble. We already had an opening with the rest of the field, so we didn’t want to let anyone back in there.
Leonard, who beat Mo Farah’s British 10km record by six seconds in 27:38 in Valencia in January, added: “I think we both know we’re two of the best distance runners in the UK.
“So you can get to an event like today where we haven’t run a cross country race recently, for example. But we knew we’d still come out and have a good chance to finish 1-2. When I opened up the gap and Scott came back to me, I could feel how strong he was, so I just had to do what I needed to do to consolidate second place.”
Cari Hughes missed the Cardiff Cross Challenge earlier this month due to illness but masterfully raced the Poppy Tank by just two seconds at Sefton Park.
With the absence of reigning champion Kate Axford, the senior women’s race was fairly wide open on paper and Hughes, second to Axford at last year’s Liverpool Cross Challenge, seized the opportunity.
Similarly to the senior men, there was a large pack in the opening stages of the 8km race, with Hughes, Tank, Izzy Fry, Phoebe Anderson, Abbey Donnelly and Verity Ockenden split by the halfway mark.
The final stages proved to be a test of mental toughness and endurance, so it was no surprise to see Tank perform so well, given the Plymouth man finished fifth in the Cardiff Cross Challenge.
Hughes, however, produced the strongest shot and crossed the line first, with Liverpool looking in disbelief.
“Honestly, I’m in shock because I didn’t know what to expect,” Hughes told AW. “Before Cardiff I wasn’t 100% so I had to miss that and take some time to recover. I had a good workout last week so I was ready to go today. I was a bit confident in myself, so I’m delighted.
“I just had to settle down when it came down to the first lap. By the third lap I was in front and thinking “why not?”
“I had a really bad race in Antalya last year (Hughes was 37th) because two weeks after Liverpool I was really undercooked. So me and my trainer (Andrew Walling) will come up with a new plan this time to try and get myself in better shape.”
Matthew Ramsden produced a superb performance to win the men’s under-23 race, beating Joel Doye and Sam Hodgson by nine seconds in Liverpool.
Will Barnicoat, the two-time reigning European under-23 champion, was on the line-up but made a late decision not to race, giving others opportunities.
A total of eight boys went under 17 minutes over the 5.6km course, but Ramsden, who represents Blackburn Harriers AC, produced the best shot of the lot to win.
Megan Harris, who finished ninth in the 1500m final at this year’s British Athletics Championships, pipped Emily Parker to victory in the under-23 women’s race by six seconds.
The pair were the only two athletes to go under 19 minutes over the 5.6km Sefton Park course and were well ahead of the rest of the field in 18:46 and 18:52 respectively.
More to follow…
