LSARRC News 10th March 2020

Liz Abott - 1st lady at Inverness HM

On Sunday 8th March Lytham’s Liz Abbott returned to Inverness to defend the half marathon title she won in 2019.   She did so successfully finishing as first female in a very competitive race with an excellent time of 77:53. The route starts alongside the banks of the River Ness near the centre of Inverness and takes in many of the city’s icons. A warm Highland welcome awaits all runners as they approach the finish line on entering Queen’s Park Stadium at Inverness Sports Centre.

Joanna Goorney at the UK Inter Counties
Cross Country Championships

On Saturday, Joanna Goorney travelled to Prestwold Hall, Loughborough for the UK Inter Counties Cross Country Championships representing Lancashire in the Senior Women’s race.  Unusual for cross country, the distance was the same for both the senior men and women at 10k but in actual fact it was over 11k with some very tough muddy sections.  Joanna finished in 193rd place in 55:25.

LSARRC ladies at the Red Hot Toddy 10k

Also, at the weekend, Sylvia Gittins, Pam Binns and Kirsten Burnett travelled to Todmorden for the Red Hot Toddy 10k.  This challenging but friendly club race starts with over 1300 feet of ascent before sweeping back down into the picturesque town.  Pam and Sylvia took 1st and 2nd FV70 category prizes with 66:52 and 67:45, while Kirsten finished in 59:14.

Parkrun News.
Alistair Leivers was first at the Lytham Hall parkrun with a personal best time of 16:30. Followed by Chris McCarthy and Ross McKelvie in 2nd and 3rd.  Gill Draper also ran a pb time of 19:46 for 2nd female spot.  Andrew Draper, Neil Tate, Chris Bowker, Claire Markham, Stephen Wise, Jason Sheridan, Elizabeth Canavan, Adrian Sargent, Maria Tierney, Jen Trohear, Trevor Roberts, Bob Clough, Sarah Cook, Graham Young, Robert Park and Julie Wiseman.

Around the country, Pamela Binns and Sylvia Gittins completed the Blackpool parkrun held at Stanley Park.  Heidi Haigh and Claire England finished the Fleetwood Promenade parkrun.  Jonathon Ladd was a tourist runner at the Stretford parkrun, G Browne was at Inverness, Sue Henry at Millom parkrun, Jennifer Hill was at Preston and Andrew Mullaney at the Woodhouse Moor parkun.

Junior News
6 of Lytham’s junior athletes ran in the Lytham Hall 5k parkrun on Saturday and first home for Lytham juniors was Matthew Holton continuing his excellent recent form to finish 16th overall, 1st in his JM11-14 age group and equalling his persona best time of 19:50.  Also finishing 1st in the age categories were sister and brother Maddy and Freddie Markham who finished 27th and 1st JW15-17 and 91st and 1st JM10 in 21:31 and 24:55 respectively.  Also representing Lytham juniors were Morgan Pritchard 34th in 22:00, Adhamh Holton 60th in 23:48 and Charlie Ormerod 80th in 24:30.

Lytham’s young athletes were out in force again at Sunday’s Park View junior 2k parkrun with 13 taking part.  Lytham athletes filled the first 4 places with Matthew Holton taking first place in 7:22, his 4th consecutive personal best time for this event.  Jayden Richardson finished in 2nd place and as 1st in JM10 age group with a time of 7:24, just 2 seconds behind his team mate.  Also running a personal best time was Oliver Thomson finishing 3rd in 7:45 with Archie Belfield 4th in 7:56.  Also representing Lytham were Oscar Drysdale 6th in 8:21, Roman Holmes 10th in 9:02, Georgina Andrews 13th in 9:43 and 2nd in her JW10 age category, Kiefer Richardson 16th in 10:07, Adam Jackson 18th in 10:11, James McAfee 21st in 10:28, Evie Alker 23rd in 10:32, Lewis Ames 26th in 11:01 and Joshua McAfee 32nd in 11:42.