Press Report 19th June 2012

The Freckleton half-marathon is the oldest race of its type in Britain and is always fully subscribed some months beforehand. Linked to Freckleton club day, the race starts and finishes in the village on Sunday with a route taking it through Wrea Green, Lytham and Warton.

Lytham St Annes Road Runners fielded fourteen entrants as well as helping marshal the well-organised race. Showing strength in depth the first six for the club all chalked up times of under ninety minutes. The first of these was Joe Greenwood in eighteenth. Greenwood is steadily improving and indeed beat the current club champion, Andy Draper, by a minute. Draper was 21^st from nearly 600 finishers.

Just a further four places behind and setting a personal best at this distance was Simon Denye. In 33^rd position overall Graham Webster again finished as the first vet 60 in a race.

 Another performance of note was that of Mel Koth. Although 100^th overall Koth was the second FV35, with a new personal best by 32 seconds.

 

Mark Willett and Rob Goodall had both ran long distances the day before as part of their ultra-distance preparation. Despite this Willett still managed a sub-ninety minute finish while Goodall was another to achieve a personal best.

Lytham results from Freckleton: Joe Greenwood 18^th, 1:22:37; Andy Draper 21^st, 01:23:36; Simon Denye 25^th, 01:24:15; Graham Webster 33^rd, 01:25:44; Tony Croft 49^th, 01:29:00; Mark Willett 54^th, 01:29:21; Mel Koth 100^th, 01:33:48; Roy Stevens 184^th, 01:43:17; Kevin Ashworth 204^th, 01:45:01; Gill Murphy 361^st, 01:58:23; Bob Clough 417^th, 02:05:06; Rob Goodall 418^th, 02:05:07; Graham Young 439^th, 02:06:46 and Chris Holland 467^th, 02:10:09.

 

Wednesday saw another mass turnout from Lytham at the Preston inter-club, the third of the summer series. The twenty-seven who raced couldn’t equal the previous round's best-ever second place in the open competition but they did take fourth in the open, vets and vet 50s.

 

In was in the vet 60 category where Lytham excelled however with Graham Webster again winning the category. He was joined in the team by the first woman V60, Elspeth MacPherson, and by Roy Stevens. They missed out on first place by just one point and so remain second in their table at the halfway stage in the series.

 

The weather for this year’s Lancashire Schools track and field championships put a severe damper on young athletes achieving their qualifying times for the national championships next month. Lytham junior members George Rowley and Alexander Stanier both represented Fylde schools at the event with Alex competing in the intermediate boys 3000m. Notwithstanding that he had never raced this distance before he acquitted himself very well running an even pace throughout with a strong finish in the final 200m. His finishing time was 10:15 (tbc).

 

George Rowley has had little competitive experience on the track but you would not have thought so on Saturday. He lined up in the junior boys 800m and from the gun he took control of the race moving into an early lead which he comfortably maintained for the remainder of the race to finish the Lancashire Schools Champion in 2:13.2.

 On Sunday seven year old Simon Holt competed in a novel U11’s 2012m race organised by Blackpool Council at Stanley Park. Despite a fast start by many of the young athletes Simon set off at a sensible pace and he soon began to move past those that had started too quickly. Towards the end of the race he had moved into second place which he kept until the finishing line finishing in a superb time of 8:43, just 21seconds behind the winner who was more than three years his senior.

Lytham St Annes Road Runners’ took part in the thirtieth Welsh Castles relay at the weekend amongst the worst rainstorms in Wales for many years. It was a credit to the organisers that the race was held at all, more so with so little disruption. The rain failed to dampen Lytham’s team spirit and the team achieved the highest finish in its’ eight years of competing in this event.

Starting in the shadow of Caernarfon Castle on Saturday morning the race consists of twenty stages over two days covering 209 miles to Cardiff Castle. The stage distances range from 8.6 to 13.1 miles. While some are fairly flat there are the six “mountain stages” which are particularly tough.

There were five newcomers to the Lytham team this year including club champion Andy Draper who took on stage 14, considered the toughest of all. At 10.8 miles it isn’t the longest but competitors climb over 1000 feet, mostly later in the race. In what is also a very competitive leg Draper did well to finish 21^st.

In stages twelve and thirteen fellow newcomers Tom Howarth and Kevin Ashworth also ran well, finishing 14^th and 27^th respectively. Emily Hargreaves travelled all the way from Austria to compete and was rewarded with nineteenth position overall and second lady in her stage.

Tony Croft took on the final leg on Saturday, which, at 13.1 miles, is also the longest of the competition. This is another tough mountain stage where competitors have to climb over 500 feet in the first 1.5 miles. Croft ran extremely well over the half-marathon distance to finish in just over 90 minutes.

The best Lytham performance however was reserved for the final stage with Nigel Thompson again excelling here. His sixth place lifted the team’s final position to 26^th overall ensuring not only their highest finish to date but also the best from the Lancashire clubs taking part this year.

Lytham Welsh Castle Results: Stage 1: Colin Nelson 70:12, 35^th; 2: Emily Hargreaves 71:02, 19^th; 3: Terry Hellings 74:30, 29^th; 4: Nigel Simpkin 72:03, 32^nd; 5: Bec Willetts 78:36, 46^th; 6: Laura Ashworth 81:50, 38^th; 7: Mel Koth 67:55, 41^st; 8: Graham Webster 76:03, 31^st; 9: Ali Smith 69:06, 42^nd; 10: Tony Croft 90:06, 29^th; 11: Mark Willet 86:57, 36^th; 12: Tom Howarth 69:17, 14^th; 13: Kevin Ashworth 73:59, 27^th; 14: Andy Draper 70:41, 21^st; 15: Willie Richmond 90:49, 31^st; 16: Richard Storey 71:46, 49^th; 17: Fiona Geldard 79:15, 54^th; 18: Dave Dunn 64:23, 19^th; 19: Roy Upton 83:31, 28^th; 20: Nigel Thompson 63:49, 6^th.   

LSARRC Press Report 5th June 2012

Bradley Robertson

The second meet of the mid-Lancs track and field season was held at Witton Park, Blackburn on Saturday. The outstanding performance for Lytham St Annes Road Runner came from the club’s only junior competing on the day, Bradley Robertson.

Since joining the club Bradley has improved immensely and Saturday was his first ever race on the track. He ran a superb race to finish sixth in the U15 Boys 800m with a time of 2:23:30.

Also at the event were Mark Willett, Graham Webster and Tom Howarth competing in a variety of races. All three took part in the 1500 metres with Tom coming out on top in twelfth. Mark was a place behind with Graham a couple of seconds behind him.

Mark Willett & Graham Webster

Tom Howarth

Lytham seniors results from Blackburn: 400m heat 1; Mark Willett 5th 1:62.3. 800m: Tom Howarth 11th 2:27.7, Graham 14th 2:33:20. 1500m: Tom 05:05.5, 12th, Graham 5:12.6 15th, Mark 13th, 5:10.9. 3000m: Tom 9th, 10:46.7, Graham 10th, 11:06.1.

The following day Graham Webster was back on the track at the Northern Veterans Track and Field Championships. Graham was joined by Colin Laidlaw and Terry Hellings for a successful trip to Leigh Sports Village. The three athletes competed in eight events to win eight medals.

In the 1500 metres Graham came 4th overall and 2nd in the M60 category for a silver medal with a time of 5:19.2. Terry was just one place behind but still earning the M55 silver. Terry dashed straight from that finish to the long jump pit where he jumped 3.28m for the M55 gold.

Just 20 minutes later Graham and Terry were joined by Colin for the 3000m. Graham was again first back for Lytham in 11:10 for 8th place and the M60 gold. Next was Terry in 12:0.8 for the M55 silver. Not far behind was Colin to take the M55 bronze.

A few minutes later Graham was at it again, this time in the 800m. Understandably tired by this time Graham still managed to finish 9th overall to earn the M60 silver. Colin also competed in the shot putt with a best throw of 6.24m for the M55 silver.

On Sunday heavy rain, stormy winds and hail deterred many from entering the Longridge Lions 7 on Sunday but not a group of ladies from Lytham. Running her second race in two days Mel Koth took the FV35 prize and was the second lady, completing the seven miles in 50:16.

Also in the prizes was Laura Ashworth who was the second FV35 and 31st overall in 55:39. Both ladies achieved personal bests. Completing the trio was 56th placed Linda Baxter in 64:46.

The previous day Mel had took part in the Parkrun at Avenham Park, Preston. This is a free race and welcomes runners of all abilities. On an accurately measured and scenic 5k Mel was the first lady and set a new
women’s course record with 21:11. Also running was Rob Goodall, finishing 45th in 26:41 to set a new pb.
Also on Saturday Mark Willett proved that he isn’t just a distance runner by finishing twelfth in the Catforth 5k in 19:02. Also competing were Dawn Bloor, 36th; Julia Rolfe, 38th; and Karen Lanigan, 44th.

Bettering his position if not his time Mark ran the same distance again on Monday in the Diamond Jubilee 5k. Mark was seventh in 19:19. V50 Pam Hardman and FV65 Dawn Lock both earned jubilee mugs by winning their respective age categories.

The final Thursday of the month is club handicap night. Fine running conditions led to many excellent performances with eight of the 25 competitors earning personal bests. First back on the 4.35 mile summer course was last year's runner-up Rob Goodall, finishing comfortably ahead of Steve Quarmby with Linda Baxter the first lady in third place. The fastest time of the night was yet another pb by rapidly improving Joe Greenwood in 24.48. There was a welcome return to the handicap after three year's absence by the club's outstanding vet 65 Elspeth McPherson whose sub-eight minute mile time of 34.16 is quite exceptional for her category.