LSARRC News 28th March 2017

Michelle Hook at the relays

The North of England men’s 12 stage Road Relays and ladies’ 6 stage Road Relays returned to Stanley Park on Saturday.  The event attracts the best clubs from all over the North of England and is a qualifying event for the National Finals. The men’s relay race is run over approximately 80 kilometres divided into 12 stages ,4 of 10km and 8 of 5km and run in and around Stanley Park. 

Late withdrawals meant Lytham had a slightly weakened team but performed well against tough opposition to finish as 52nd team from 69 teams starting the race.  Mike Toft was on the competitive first leg for Lytham and finished in 44th position with a time of 33:58 easily Lytham’s fastest long leg runner.  Rest of the team in order were Terry Hellings (22:21), Thomas Howarth (36:17), Andrew Draper (18:18, fastest short leg runner for Lytham), Neil Tate (38:09), Paul Veevers (18:31), Graham Webster (40:10), Andrew Unsworth (19:33), Ross McKelvie (19:10), Lee Morrison (21:35), Alan Elstone (22:04) and Ian Tate (21:15).

In the ladies’ 6 stage Road Relays. Lytham St Annes Road Runners fielded two teams with each team having to run four long legs and two short.

Terry Hellings at the relays

Taking the long legs in the 'A' Team were Mel Koth on Leg 1, 41:42 and Michelle Hook, running her first relay for LSARRC on Leg 4 in 40:36.   Mel led out finishing in 34th place and Michelle consolidated this to 26th.  Team 'A' short legs were done by Gillian Draper, Leg 2, 23:26; Felicity Wolohan, Leg 3 with the Club's fastest of 21:47; Claire England, Leg 5, 26:05 and Susan Hawitt, Leg 6, 25:46.  The team finished in 29th place from 50 top-class teams with a time of 2:59:22.  

For the 'B' team Alexandra Everest, 47:18, and Jacqui Murray, 53:06, took the long legs for while Olivia Johnson-Allen, 26:58, Laura Byrne, 29:24, Patricia Bullen, 29:34 and Ruth Bye, 25:59, took Legs 2, 3, 5 and 6 respectively.  The team finished 47th in 3:29:12.

Andy Draper at the relays

Sunday saw Lytham take over the organising of the Park View Junior parkrun.   74 young athletes completed the 2K course with LSARRC athletes finishing in 5 out of the first 6 places.  10 year old George Denye was first home in 7:13 breaking his own course record by 19 seconds.  Sophie Bohannon finished 2nd in her first junior parkrun setting a new girls’ course record of 7:46.  Many of the other Lytham juniors set personal best times including Morgan Pritchard (7:59, 4th),Eric Wrigley (8:27, 6th), Laura Bremner (8:28, 7th), Lewis Bentley (8:51, 11th), Lucy Bohannon (9:07, 16th), Amara Thorpe (9:08, 17th), Clemmie Tierney (9:48, 26th), Sophie Tate (12:09, 46th). Lucy Montgomery (9:34, 21st), Sebastien Koth-Wragg (12:03, 45th), Hebe Tierney (9:45, 25th) and Katie Bremner (10:11, 30th) ran well on their Junior parkrun debuts.  Also representing Lytham were Charlie Ormerod (8:06, 5th) and sisters Jessica (9:29, 20th) and Sydney Ramsden (8:55, 14th) both running  very close to their best times.

On Saturday four Lytham runners were lucky enough to take part in the fabulously located Coniston 14. This 14-mile race took place in warm sunshine with a backdrop of snow-capped mountains, and with plenty of local support along the route. On a hilly course Sylvia Gittins and Pam Binns were 6th and 7th respectively in the F65+ category. Pam Hardman was 25th in her F55+ category while Ruth Wheatley was 52nd in the F45+s.

Jo Goorney ran the Long Mynd Valleys English Championships Fell Race yesterday from Carding Mill Valley, Church Stretton, Shropshire.  The race was about 11 miles with 4500 feet of ascent.  The sting in the tail was that most of the ascent was in the last 4 miles with 3 very steep hills to get over.  There was perfect spring weather with blue sky and no wind although the heat and dehydration started to get to Jo on the second hill from the finish and she massively slowed.  She finished in 2:20:26 in 271st position out of 387 and 45th female.

LSARRC News 21st March 2017

Jacqui Murray and Laura Byrne - Trimpell 20

Lytham’s under 15 athlete Alicia Middlehurst was selected to represent Lancashire in the English Schools Cross Country Championships held at Norwich Show Ground on the 18th March.  All English counties are represented and the event attracts some of the best athletes in the country including the likes of Mo Farah and Paula Radcliffe in their early athletic careers.
Alicia ran well to complete the 3250m junior girls course in 12:07 for 125th place from a field of 344 and was 5th counter for the Lancashire team who finished 13th from the 44 counties represented.

Last week Fiona Geldard and Graham Webster completed the Silverstone Half Marathon. Fiona finished her race in 2hours and 12 minutes, whilst Graham finished his race in an impressive 1:31:52. Well done both of you.

This week was Lytham Hall 64th Parkrun, Lytham Had 15 runners competing in this race all completing their race within 33 minutes! The first lytham runner back was Paul Veevers in an impressive 17:41. Next back was Chris McCarthy in 19:25, Andrew Draper was next in 19:26, Morgan Pritchard in 21:57 and Graham Webster in 21:58. Gill Draper was next to finish in 22:51, Eric Wrigley and Terry Hellings both finished in 23:27, Kirsten Burnett in 24:16, earning her a new PB! Greg Oulton finished in 27:18, Stu Wharrier in 27:19, Pat Bullen in 28:01 and Jeremy McCandless in 29:20. Next to finisd was Penny Morrison in 32:02 and Sarah Bagshaw completed the Lytham Road Runner set in 32:46.

Joanna Goorney also competed in the Huddersfield parkrun in 20:09, coming in as first female! Neil Bayntun- Roberts also ran in Aldersham, finishing his race in 22:29.

Also on Saturday was the Cartmel 18k Trail Challenge. Two Lytham Runners ran this trail run. This was a very difficult course with steep hills, lots of mud and big puddles! Barbara Holmes was 2nd Female Vet 50 and finished her run in 1:54:02. Gerry Brown also ran finishing his run in 2:05:47.

Mike Toft - Trimpell 20

On Sunday was the annual Waters Wilmslow Half Marathon. The British weather typically took a turn for the worse towards the latter end of the week which meant the tail end of Storm Stella was hanging around for the race. 15mph winds and rain from about 30 mins into the race made for a chilly and challenging run on the ‘fast and flat’ course – which was anything but flat with a few nasty hills and a 387ft elevation gain across the 13.1 miles.

4 Lytham runners represented the club in the race. Chris McCarthy and Andy Draper, both in contention for the Lytham men’s club championship spot, had a superb race, with Chris achieving a 1 second personal best in 1:15:15 for 32nd place overall out of a field of 3114 runners. Chris was closely followed by Andy in 58th position overall and a time of 1:18:51. Great running guys!

The women were represented by Michelle Hook who achieved a 5+ minute PB in 1:36:25 for 51st female out of 1080, and Felicity Wolohan using the race as a last marathon-paced training run before the Manchester Marathon but still completing the course in a fantastic time of 1:37:20.

Mel Koth - Tirmpell 20

Also this Sunday was the Trimpell 20 mile race. This race is a fairly flat race, which is often used as a training run for marathon runners. This year Lytham had 8 runners, braving this long run in the miserable British weather. Mike toft was first Lytham runner back in 2:09:54, Neil Tate finished in 2 hours and 12 minutes, Graham Webster was next in 2:27:51 and Melanie Koth in 2:35:32, finishing 3 minutes faster than last year. Louise De-gier Flood finished in 2:54:59; Jacqui Murray and Laura Bryne both finished in 3:34:16 and Michelle Sheridan completed her race in 4:33:14.

LSARRC News 14th March 2017

George Denye

Ten-year-old George Denye set a new Lytham St Annes Road Runners’ junior 5K record on Sunday with an excellent time of 18:55 at the Fastrax 5K race in Barrowford. The race consists of one kilometre loops and lends itself to fast times with only a metre of climb on each loop, sweeping bends and a traffic free route. George finished 19th overall from 48, beating most adult competitors in his second of three weekend races.

Sydney Ramsden

George warmed up for the race the previous day by posting 19:11 in the Lytham Parkrun to finish fourth. After setting his record on Sunday he popped over to Abbey village to warm down in the Daffodil Doddle 2.2K junior race where he also won the JM10 category and finished fifth overall. George is eleven next month and shows tremendous promise for the future.


Sydney Ramsden was the only female junior in the Fastrax 5K, and she also ran well to finish the 9th female in 23:28. She also ran the Daffodil Doddle with sister Jess. Jess was the fourth in the J9 category in 9:51 while Sydney posted 10:28 to come 6th in the F12s.


Another club record was also broken on Sunday, this time for 10 miles in the FV55 category. Barbara Holmes made the short trip to Bispham for the very competitive Sweatshop 10 mile to finish 5th in her category in a time of 1:16:56 to beat the old record by 12 minutes, and to achieve a club diamond standard.

Barbara Holmes

Three Lytham road runners were amongst the 219 competitors in the 29th running of the 5.9 mile Roddlesworth Roller Trail Race. Starting on the periphery of Abbey Village, the route winds past Roddlesworth Reservoirs before heading up through Roddlesworth Woods, incorporating an ascent of more than 600 feet. On the return there are some fast downhill stretches before finishing back at the reservoirs.  Julia Rolfe was first female in the 50 and over age group finishing in 52:57 for 149th position, Colin Laidlaw (46:03) came 98th and Richard Storey (49:34) for 126th place.

Finally Felicity Wolohan ran the 20 mile event of the Wrexham festival of running on Sunday. On a mildly undulating course in good weather conditions Felicity set yet another personal best with 2:30:41 to come fourth in female 21-34 category, and 44th overall.

LSARRC News 7th March 2017

Men's team at Leigh XC

 The best men’s cross-country team Lytham St Annes Road Runners have fielded for many years on Saturday won the division 3 championship, and therefore promotion to the next level. Fourth on the day across all of the teams, Lytham were the top team in their division for the third consecutive race for an amazing second half of the season to just pip Glaxo Hoad Hill Harriers into second by a single point.

This final race of the winter season was at Leigh Sports Village on Saturday on a wet and sticky course. In a field of 199, LSARRC's leading runner Michael Toft, trying cross-country for the first time, finished 17th in 40:27 for the 10k. Joe Greenwood followed in 19th and 40:52, the second counter in the Lytham team.  Andrew Draper was 26th in 41:42; Thomas Howarth, 29th in 42:15; Paul Veevers, 41st in 42:52 and Neil Tate, who completed the counting runners, 66th in 44:55.  Also competing were Ross Mckelvie in 75th with a time of 45:48, Graham Webster, 127th in 49:02 and Terry Helllings, 140th in 50:07. The fact that these three did not count for the team shows the strength and depth in the team currently.

Mel Koth

 Joining the men in their celebrations were the senior women, who had already secured their own promotion from division two by confirming second place in the previous race. They also finished 4th in the V35, equal third in the V45 with a decision pending as to whether they or Clayton will take bronze and 4th in the V55. 

Five women made up teams in the seniors, V35 and V45. Jo Goorney, 7th in 23:08, Melanie Koth, 27th in 25:10 and Julia Rolfe, 75th 29:34, made up the senior team that was 10th out of 24 teams, and the V35 team which came 5th on the day.  Lytham’s second cross-country debutant was Patricia Bullen, who finished 122nd in 35:24 and counted in the V45 team.  Dawn Lock was 135th in 44:50.  In the individual awards for the season, Jo Goorney did exceptionally well to win silver in the V45 and bronze in the V35.

Junior girls at Leigh XC

Not to be outdone, Lytham juniors were also out in force for the fixture. The first race of the day was the under 11 girls where Lytham had four representatives.

First home for Lytham was Sophie Bohannon finishing in second place in a time of 6:01 for the 1800m race just 1 second behind the winner. In her first season of cross country Sophie has performed well all season to finish 2nd overall for a silver medal in the under 11 girls’ competition.  Also in their first season for Lytham were Jessica Ramsden (43rd), Hebe Tierney (52nd) and Amara Thorpe (59th) finishing as 6th team.

The under 11 boys team of George Denye (4th), Morgan Pritchard (31st) and Eric Wrigley (36th) finished as 6th team and with George confirming bronze medal for the season.

Lytham had 2 athletes in the under 13 girls race with Sydney Ramsden (43rd) getting the better of team mate Rebecca Tate (52nd).

Last event to include Lytham junior athletes was the under 15 girls’ 3000m race.  First home for Lytham and another making her debut was Alicia Middlehurst (5th in 11:21).  Completing the team and finishing as 4th under 15 girls team were Laura Bremner (26th), Lucy Bohannon (32nd) and Holly Anderson (36th). 

Elsewhere Felicity Wolohan ran the High Legh 10K in Lymm on Sunday in far from ideal conditions with plenty of rain and puddles. For these efforts Felicity earned a personal best time of 43.03 and came second lady, 60th overall.

Also running in poor weather, Sylvia Gittens claimed fourth place in the vet ladies 65-74 category in the Eastbourne half marathon with a time of 02:18:07.