LSARRC Press Report 31st January 2012

Dawn Lock, Terry Hellings and Graham Webster

The Northern Athletics Cross-country Championships were held in Pontefract, Yorkshire on Saturday. Amongst a high-class field were three athletes representing Lytham St Annes Road Runners

Held at Pontefract Park for the first time the course was of four kilometre laps around the inside of the famous race track. Missing were the step slopes of recent championships but with more rough grass, tiring the legs of the competitors.


Vet 55s Graham Webster and Terry Hellings competed in a large senior men’s field of nearly 700. Graham was the first back in 383rd place, completing the three laps in 53:16. Just over half a minute later Terry finished the 12K race in 406th.

Dawn Lock was Lytham’s sole runner in the Senior Women. Vet 65 Dawn ran 8K in 64:26 finishing 234th.

On Sunday in Preston the Chernobyl 10k, a race organised in aid of the victims of the 1986 nuclear accident, Pam Hardman won the FV55 category. Joe Shaw, in 94th, was the first back of the quartet of Lytham club runners.
Lytham Chernobyl results. Joe Shaw 94th, 42:57; Pam Hardman 299th and 1st FV50, 51:15 and Bec Willetts 347th, 53:14.

The juniors dominated the club monthly handicap on Thursday. Patrick Houghton won the race outright with a personal best time. The quickest of the night was another junior, George Rowley, who also notched up a pb. Kirsty Fraser still dominates the junior table with just two races left.
Senior table leader Kevin Ashworth scored another pb to win the seniors race, extending his overall lead in the process. Out of the twenty competitors seven scored pbs on a good night for racing.