LSARRC News 13th August 2014

This week offered many options for road, track and trail racing in the Fylde and beyond both mid-week and at the weekend to attract the keener and more active competitors of Lytham St. Annes Road Runners Club.  

Vets were in the ascendancy come the weekend.  Sunday saw both the national British Masters AF Track and Field Championships and the Northern Vets 10K Road Championships.

Graham Webster, BMFA 5000m MV60 Bronze Medallist, pictured
third from left at Preston.

The Club's best sixty-year old Graham Webster travelled to Alexander Palace, Perry Barr, Birmingham to represent Northern Vets against competitors from Midlands, Southern, South West, Eastern and Welsh veteran associations.  Running in a race that included MV55s, 60s and 65s, Webster came fourth overall and third in his age group.

Wet windy weather depressed times but Webster, who's Age PB in better conditions is 18:51, still managed 19:26 to take away the MV60 bronze medal.



Early Stages of the Blackpool Air Show 10K, Simon Denye,
who finished 8th in 36:30, leading the group.

The Northern Vets 10K Championship, formerly a closed competition, this year opened to all in the guise of the Blackpool Air Show 10K.  Wet windy weather greeted competitors on the exposed Bispham cliffs course.  Organized from the Bispham Fire Station, runners started on the upper promenade opposite Red Bank Road and proceeded towards Cleveleys before turning to return for three miles on the flat lower sea wall.  A short steep climb took them back to finish 400m past the start.  



Brian Porter, fresh from the
Commonwealth Games



Neil Tate, 40:40 10K

Simon Denye was first of Lytham's runners finishing 8th and 2nd V40 in an excellent 36:30 for the 10k.  Neil Tate, a relatively new runner who is now verging on under 40 minute 10k times, took 40:40 and Sylvia Gittins, one of LSARRC's best FV65, managed a good 54:49.  Brian Porter, just back from helping at the Commonwealth Games, completed the 10K in 50:54.

Mid-week Simon Denye and Louisa Ruman took part in the last of the long-running Astley Park Trail Series organized by Chorley Athletics Club.  A large field of 265 finishers tackled this race, which, while not long at around 7k, is a demanding two-loop tour of the attractive and hilly park.  Starting by the eastern gate, it climbs steeply and tests competitors both on a mixture of surfaces from hard tarmac to softer earth and varying terrains including open playing fields and enclosed woodland.

First back in a competitive time of 23:50 was Leigh Harrier Neil Pendlebury.  Denye posted a good 26:56 for 9th place, sixth M40 and Ruman came in 203rd in 39:42, eleventh in her category.

A day later on Thursday 7th the popular Cuerden Valley Badger 10K was another final of a three-race series.  Five members of the Club raced this pleasant run which also offers a chance to help the Cuerden Valley Park Trust.  It's also another race that is quite a tough proposition. 

Horwich RMI's Richard Howarth set the standard with 34:51.  First Lytham runner back was Neil Tate in 26th position in 42:51 with brother Ian following in 64th and 46:58.  Peter Cruse finished in 50th place in 45:12.  The two Lytham ladies were both fourth in their age groups.  Melanie Koth, V35, who had a good run, finished 73rd in 48:12 and Julia Rolfe, V50, was 134th in 53:43.

  

On the same night one of the Clubs more outlying members Russ Chew was tempted by the Todmorden Park 5K which meets at the Hare and Hounds on the Burnley Road.  This race, in the typical hilly Yorkshire town, drew 89 competitors to run on a delightful warm evening.  An unattached runner Tom Collinge managed the course in 16:54.  Chew, who is working hard on his 5k sprinting technique, finished 49th in 22:14.

 

More information is now available for Lytham's foremost race the Green Drive Five which will reach its fifteen staging on Sunday 19th October.  Race HQ is as usual in the Lytham Primary School on Park View Road close to the race start in the historic Green Drive.  This flat accurate 5 mile course lends itself to good times and personal bests.  New this year is the bar-coded posters that enable anyone with a smart phone to access details with a quick swipe of the code.  Others can enter on line by visiting http://bookitzone.com/liz_boon/JC2FFX.