LSARRC News 7th July 2014

Sue Samme donned her Great Britain track suit to present the awards at the club’s junior presentation evening last Thursday night. Sue, who it still a prolific club runner, ran at the highest level as a junior herself, holding junior national records and competing for Great Britain in 1986 at the World Road Relay Championships in Japan. Hollie Winstanley, Rosie Taylor, Rebecca Tate, Georgia Norman, Olivia Aberra, Simon Holt, Farron O’Higgins, Harry Booth, Ella Moulding and Chloe Norman were all presented with Mid Lancs Cross Country League Badges. Cross Country Club Champions were; U11B Simon Holt, U11G Hollie Winstanley and U13G Ella Moulding. Track & Field Club Champions were; U11B Simon Holt, U11G Georgia Norman, U13B James Nicholas, U13G Hollie Winstanley, U15G Chloe Norman and U20G Layla Foley. Winner of the Junior Handicap Trophy was Spencer Unsworth with Charlotte Thomson in 2nd and Kallum Illingworth 3rd. The Coaches Cup, awarded by the club’s coaches to the athlete who has shown outstanding dedication to athletics during the year, was presented to Chloe Norman.

On Saturday night, Simon Denye ran the 2nd race in the Catforth 5k series. After a tiring week of training, Simon completed the course in 18:36 for 13th place. The winner was Stuart Robinson of Salford Harriers in a time of 15:30 and there were 70 runners.

Start of the St Annes Carnival 5k

The big event of the weekend was the eighth running of the St. Anne's Carnival 5K and 1500m Fun Run, held under peerless blue skies with bright sunshine enhancing the colourful holiday scene. Host club Lytham St. Annes RRC had ten members running in the 5k, nearly half of them members of the Junior Section under the age of twenty and fifteen of the younger junior members in the Fun Run.

Andy Draper in the Carnival 5k

Neighbouring clubs provided the winners. Wesham's impressive Rob Danson took first place sixteen seconds ahead of second and Blackpool Wyre & Fylde had a clean sweep of the women's competition and the team prizes. Emily Japp finished a clear winner in 16th overall and a good 18:45.

Andrew Draper was Lytham's first finisher in 11th place putting in a strong run to finish in 18:17. Next in and second team member, rapidly climbing through the results lists, was Neil Tate nearly achieving his aim of an under 19 minute finish with 19:06 and 23rd place. Three places back was Lytham's exceptional sixty-year old Graham Webster, 26th in 19:34 who also took the MV60 prize. Draper, Tate and Webster made up Lytham's team that was third.

Arriving at the line in a storming finish was LSARRC's fourth finisher Mark Selby in 30th place and 20:38. Second sixty-year old was Terry Hellings, 37th in 21:52, who was followed in by two MV50s Steve Quarmby, 39th in 22:04 and Russ Chew, 41st in 22:15. Also running well were Greg Oulton, pleased with his continuing improvement, 22:44 in 46th place, Richard Stanier, 51st in 23:04 and Jeremy McCandless, 84th with a PB of 27:15, cutting 1:14 from his previous best.

Most remarkable about this race was the prominence of young talent. A very young Lytham team consisting of thirteen-year old Ella Moulding, seventeen-year old Layla Foley and eighteen-year old Phillipa Wood finished second team to BWFAC. Ella Moulding finished stylishly after an excellent race in a good-for-age time of 20:47, 32nd. Layla Foley, took the U20 prize in 40th position and 22:15. Phillipa Wood St Annes Carnival 1500m Fun Run had 69 finishers and was also well represented with Juniors from LSARR. Simon Holt was the first home for the club in 5th place with a time of 5:49, closely followed by Lius Eunson in 6th place in 5:42 and Harry Fellows in 7th place in 5:55. First junior female home for LSARR was Chloe Norman in 10 place and a time of 6:01. Rebecca Tate was 12th in 6:01, Georgia Norman 15th in 6:56, Isla Gordon 16th in 6:51, Olivia Aberra 18th in 6:53, Luke Tate 19th in 6:55, Redford Boulton-Baines 20th in 7:12, Carmen Cole 23rd in7:26, Sydney Ramsden 25th in 7:28, Connor Norman 27th in 7:40, Stuart Wharrier 36th in 8:15 and Charlotte Thompson 41st in 8:28.

Also on Sunday, was the Southport Half Marathon which attracted nearly 900 runners. Sylvia Gittins had a good run finishing in 553rd place in a time of 2:00:30.