Both Alison Hopkins and Rob Wilson won individual bronze and the women won team silvers on a rainy afternoon at Fryent Country Park. Conditions underfoot were very wet and muddy in places but with severe weather affecting many other parts of the country, everyone at the 66th Liddiard Trophy might have fared a great deal worse than they actually did.
With nine victories and many other top three placings, Mike Barratt had an incredible record in the Liddiard. Before the start of the men’s race there was a round of applause in honour of both Mike and the home club QPH’s Frank Nolan who had also passed away recently.
Another fine run from Rob Wilson saw him come home third ahead of first veteran Angelo John (14th) and Mark Delahunty (21st). With Eamon Bradley (35th), Ian Leslie (37th), Steve Plested (40th), James O’Neill (43rd) and Rob Howells (47th) completing the scoring, the team came fourth behind Highgate, TVH and Hillingdon. In a rare cross country outing, Gary Stringer finished 50th and Alan Keeler was 51st.
In the women’s 3 miles race, Alison Hopkins led the team home behind two runners from Serpentine who comfortably won the team competition. With Fiona Kennedy (5th) and Carol Jones (11th) completing the scoring, ESM’s A team finished in second place ahead of Highgate’s women. Finishing as first B team in 5th place were Nikki Baker (14th), Mary Walsh (15th) and Jane Ruhland (17th).
This is QPH’s 125th year since their formation and all runners were presented with a commemorative badge at the end of their race to mark the anniversary.