LSARRC Press Report 27th September 2011

The Northern Relays is the biggest road events in the area’s athletics' calendar and it was held on Saturday in Warrington. Over thirteen hundred runners from all over the North of England attended. This made for tough competition and high quality performances.

Lytham St. Annes RRC was well represented by a men's six and two women's teams of four. The men's team went off first with Terry Hellings taking the first leg. A good run ensured he finished the two-lap 6k in 23:51 before handing over to the team's fastest leg runner Andrew Draper who ran a competitive 21:29. Joe Shaw, Steve Qarmby and Tony Rudd followed in 25:37, 26:27 and 28:26 respectively. Tony handed over to the Club's top vet 55 runner Graham Webster who posted the team's second fastest time of 22:28 to bring the team back in a creditable 2:28:18 and 87th position.


Mel Koth and Pam Hardman ran the first leg for the ladies. With a winning team time of 1:07:09 for Morpeth Harriers and a fastest leg time of 15:41 it was always going to be a tough challenge. "A” team members Mel 19:37, Laura Ashworth, 21:05, Fiona Geldard, 23:15 and Linda Baxter, 21:22, did extremely well to finish ahead of twenty-seven other teams in 1:25:19 earning 37th position. Mel excelled with her run while Fiona justified her first “A” team selection by producing a personal best. "B” team runners Pam Hardman, Gillian Murphy, Rebecca Willetts and Dawn Lock finished in 23:34, 25:19, 24:19 and 33:03, a total of 1:46:15 to take 48th.



The track & field season reached its conclusion on Sunday with the second of the two September open meetings hosted by BW&F AC at Stanley Park. Five junior LSARR junior members competed with three making debut appearances for the club.

Simon Holt, at just seven years of age, showed great composure in all of his three events. In the U9bB 600m he ran a superb race to finish third in 2:19.5 and then in the Long Jump he was again on the podium taking another bronze medal for a 2.7m jump before just narrowly missing out on another bronze finishing 4th in the 80m in 14.1.


Ben Reid who moved up an age group into the U11’s ran a pb of 2:06 in the 600m to finish 9th and in the long jump he jumped 2.94m to finish 12th. In the 80m sprint he finished 6th in 12.5.


Track Debutant Rebecca Walker ran a brilliant first race in the U11gG 80m to finish 16th in 14.6. Ella Ross, another newcomer to the track, also ran superbly in the U11G 600m to finish 8th in 2:13.6.


The experienced U17 Kirsty Fraser ran a disciplined 800m to take the gold medal with a strong final 80m. She then turned her attention to the 100m, a distance she has not raced for 2 years. She won her heat in 13.6 to finish 3rd overall adding another medal to her tally.

On one of the busiest weekends for racing for some time 11-year-old Oliver Squire took part in his first triathlon, in Fleetwood. Despite using his gearless BMX bike against racing bikes Oliver still finished 37th from 48 in the T2 category. We know what Santa will bring to the Squire household this year.


Also on Sunday was the world’s most popular half-marathon, the Great North Run. Mark Willett and Simon Denye were running their fourth half-marathon in four weeks in aid of cancer research, leaving the biggest until last. Despite the crowds and other distractions, or possibly because of them, Mark smashed his personal best for the distance by over three minutes to finish in 1:25:48 earning 386th position. Simon was a couple of minutes behind in 516th place. To finish in these places out of 54,000 competitors is a great achievement.


Finally the Run Preston 10k and 5k races took place at the weekend. In the 10k leading club runner Matt Nutt finished sixth in 36:11. Veterans Peter Cruse and Graham Webster were 17th and 38th respectively out of a large field of over 700. In the 5k Pam Hardman and Bec Willetts were 87th and 90th.
Other Lytham results from the Preston 10k: Alistair Thornton 47:12, 166th; Fiona Geldard 53:53, 327th; Andrew Reid 55:48, 424th and Robert Goodall 1;01:59, 547th.

LSARRC Press Report 20th September 2011

There was a good contingent of Lytham St. Annes Road Runners taking part in the exciting North West Counties Relay Championships on Saturday at Sefton Park, Liverpool and for the women it brought back memories of last year's Lancashire Bronze Medal win at Leigh.

In spite of prolonged rain early on conditions were good with little wind and bright sunshine for the last race of the day, the men's 4 x 5K.


The women’s race was on the same 5k course but with three stages rather than four. Lytham's fastest runner Mel Koth made a good start for the team finishing in 23:00, 20th overall. Linda Baxter, a relatively newcomer to the Club, took on second leg which she completed in 24:58. Bringing in LSARRC's "A" team was Laura Ashworth who ran hard to finish in 24:18. The team was 20th overall and sixth Lancashire team.


The men's team “A” team consisted of Joe Greenwood, Andy Draper, Sam Banner and Graham Webster. On first leg Joe stormed home to beat a competitor on the run-in and finish in 20 minutes. Second leg runner Andy Draper raised the pace to finish just inside Joe's time in 19:47. The fastest Lytham leg was Sam Banner's in 19:29 and he handed over to veteran athlete Graham Webster who brought the team in 20:12 to record an excellent total team time of 79:29. The team were the sixth on the Lancashire list and 32nd overall.


Lytham women's "B” team of Pamela Hardman, 30th in 27:09, Fiona Geldard, who put everything into her 26:54 run and Gill Murphy, 28:06, finished 29th overall and 8th Lancashire.

Terry Hellings led off the men's "B” team finishing in a good 22:00 before handing over to Roy Upton who put in the fastest leg in 21:34. Roy Stevens finishing in 24:04 and men's captain Colin Nelson back in 23:22 completed the team.


Lone "C” team representatives were Dawn Lock, 35:56, and Tony Rudd, who was pleased with his 5k time of 26:12 to complete a most satisfactory and enjoyable day out for Lytham.


The Garstang half marathon took place on Sunday in perfect weather conditions for road racing. The earlier heavy rain led to a section of the course being flooded at 8.5 miles but that didn’t stop he four Lytham runners, two of whom had taken part in the relays the previous day.


Mel Koth knocked over three minutes off her best time for this race to finish in 1:34:13 earning the position of fifth lady and second vet 35. Linda Baxter chose this tough, hilly course to make her half marathon debut. She was rewarded with the position of 4th vet 45 lady and 124th overall with a time of 1:55:26.


Peter Cruse was the first Lytham runner in with a superb time of 1:22:44 to finish fifth overall and the first vet 45. Robert Miller was the forth of the quartet in 128th with a time of 1:58:01.

LSARRC Press Report 6th September 2011

A busy weekend for Lytham St Annes Road Runners saw club members racing as far afield as Fort William in The Grampians to Tameside in Greater Manchester.



On Saturday Debbie Cooper took part in The Ben Nevis mountain race running from Fort William to the top of Ben Nevis and back (climbing 4406 feet in the process) and back. The race has been run in its present form since 1937 and is one of the toughest fell races around. Athletes need to have completed three Category A fell races just to enter.


Continuous rain the day before had made conditions very difficult, with very slippery rocks and mud slides making progress slow. Debbie reached half way up the mountain in 57 minutes and was pleased to reach the top of the mountain in 1 hour 53 mins, 7 minutes inside the cut off time. The descent proved equally challenging with rocks constantly moving under foot and the grassy banks so slippery Debbie ended up sliding down them. Eventually getting down to the road for the last mile Debbie was pleased to be on a more runnable surface and seeing some fellow competitors for the first time in a while she managed to pick up a few places and finished in 461st place in a time of 3:11:27. Debbie had already raced up Snowdon, the highest mountain in Wales so only Scafell Pike to go!


Closer to home and considerably flatter The Hilton Blackpool 10k also took place on Saturday. Lytham St Annes Road Runners were well represented picking up three prizes. The race started on the middle prom headed north for nearly 3 miles before turning back on the lower prom into a headwind eventually finishing where it had started 10 kilometres earlier. First home for Lytham in 7th place overall, a time of 37:33 and taking the first v45 prize was Peter Cruse. Graham Webster was the next Lytham athlete home in 39:15, 11th place and first v55, closely followed by Sue Samme in 16th overall, 2nd women and 1st fv45. Also representing Lytham were Mark Willett,23rd in 41:54, and Linda Baxter, 79th in 50:15.

At the same venue on Sunday 409 athletes completed The Hilton Blackpool half marathon. Lytham were again well represented with Simon Denye leading home the Lytham contingent finishing in 23rd place with a time of 1:28:09. Mark Willett not satisfied with running the 10k on Saturday returned for his second race of the week end to finish in 45th place in a time of 1:32:03. Both Mark and Simon are on their second of four half marathons in four weeks. Stuart Wharrier, 259th in 2:04:50 and Rob Goodall, 360th in 3:20:13 also represented Lytham.

Both the Hilton 10k and half marathon were run in aid of The Hilton Foundation supporting local children’s charities and raised over well over £4000.

On Sunday Mel Koth ran in the Tameside 10k. Flat by Ben Nevis but standards but undulating by Blackpool standards Mel’s fell running stood her in good stead and she led the women’s race from the start to finish opening up a gap on the second lady in the final climb to finish in 18th place overall and 1st woman in a time of 43:39.

A well organised race with friendly helpful marshals and with a great goody bag made this great value at just an £8 entry fee.

LSARRC Press Report 30th August 2011

Three hundred and twenty-four runners completed the Fleetwood Half Marathon on Sunday with eight of them from Lytham St. Annes Road Runners, which included two taking age group prizes.


Strong winds gusting up to 30mph may have slowed times but didn't stop some good performances from members. Earliest back for the Club was Peter Cruse finishing first MV45 in a good run of 1:22:09, just fourteen places behind winner Rob Afflect of Preston Harriers who finished in 1:13:38.


The Club's other winner was one of its newer members Sylvia Gittins who won the FV65 prize finishing 241st in 2:00:40, an excellent time for her age group.


Two club members are running four half-marathons in four weeks in aid of cancer charities. Fleetwood was the first of these for Simon Denye and Mark Willett who both achieved personal bests for this distance. Simon was 44th in 1:27:58, not far in front of Mark who finished 50th in 1:29:03.


Other club runners were: Joe Shaw, MV45, 95th in 1:37:54; Roy Stevens, MV55, 111th in 1:40:25, Stuart Wharrier, 249th in 2:02:03 and Dawn Lock, FV65, 317th in 2:39:32.


On Wednesday Mel Koth took part in the final race of this year’s Harrock Hill series. These are run from the village of Mawdesley near Burscough. A minutes silence was observed beforehand for the well-known Chorley Harriers blind runner Mike Ogle who died a few days earlier. This was the third time this year Mel had run in this race and, despite the warm weather, she achieved her fastest time yet of 40:50.


A good field of twenty-five runners competed in the club’s monthly handicap on Thursday. Twelve of these achieved personal or season’s best times with Sue Samme defying the years to run a time just six seconds slower than her course record set five years ago.


Fiona Geldard managed a remarkable improvement of over three minutes in first place while the fastest on the night was Joe Greenwood continuing his rapid improvement with another PB.


After the fifth race of the series Kevin Ashworth is topping the table with wife Laura breathing down his neck in second.