LSARRC News 8th July 2013

The Lytham Club did not disappoint both entrants and keen onlookers with its staging of the annual St Anne’s Carnival 5k and Fun Run on Sunday. Nineteen of the one hundred and fifty seven finishers in the seventh running of the race were from home club Lytham St. Annes RRC and between them they took away four prizes.

An energetic start to the Carnival 5k

The race starts near the end of the inner walk and races along the pavement to Fairhaven Lake before returning to follow the sea wall and finish close to St. Anne's Pier leading competitors through the best of St. Anne's tourist attractions.  The flat accurately-measured course, coupled with Sunday's windless conditions was ripe for record-breaking and, although not with the absolute fastest finishing time, Salford Harriers' Eric Crowther undercut last year's winning time and set a record for the revised course of 16:25.

Peter Cruse, on his way to winning the 1st V50 prize at
the Carnival 5k.

LSARRC's star competitor Emily Hargreaves managed a creditable under 20 minute finish for second place and 32nd overall.  On holiday from her Austrian home, she had been in the lead at the Fairhaven end of the course only to lose out on the return by just four seconds.
Finishing first for Lytham was Peter Cruse whose 19th place and 18:49 won him the Men's Veteran over 50 prize.  Five places back a trio of Lytham members was led in by Oliver Hirsh who celebrated the anniversary of his return to running by cutting 1 minute 41 seconds and twelve places from his 2012 performance.  Thomas Howarth was third club member back in 25th and 19:34, one place ahead of Graham Webster in 19:36.  Webster, a regular age category winner, took the V60 prize.  The fourth club winner was Pam Binns who finished first FV65 in 28:11 – a PB and a 3^rd Gold Standard run for Binns who is mining a rich vein of form in her running. One 5k in a weekend satisfies most runners but Mark Willett took advantage of back-to-back races to manage 19:18 and 19:56 on successive days at the Catforth and Carnival 5ks. Also competing was club member Andy Sneddon, who is making a return after 6 frustrating months of injury. Sneddon ran the course in a
29.33, bettering last year’s time by 43 seconds. 

The juniors get started on the Fun Run

Lytham runners made up an even larger proportion of the Fun Run.  Representing a huge 15% of the finishers, the seventeen finishers were all within the top half and made for an impressive achievement for the Junior section of the Club.  Eight-year old Simon Holt finished the approximate one mile course in 5:56, quite an achievement for his age and promising real running talent.  James Nicholas took 6:15, Archie Haase 6:21 and Archie Dowds, 6:31 - all good times.  Hollie Winstanley was the Club's first girl in 6:57 with Chloe Norman 7:00 and Rebecca Tate the next two to finish.

At Bamber Bridge on Thursday Thomas Haworth raced in the Cuerden Valley Badger 10k trail race, crossing the finishing line for the club in a very credible 13^th position from a field of 183 competitors. He finished in 41.05.