LSARRC News 6th August 2014

Veteran Roy Stevens was the surprise winner of the club’s July Handicap on Thursday night.  Roys’s creditable time of 32:54 for the 4.35 miles course was his best for some time and gave him his first victory since 2006.  In the annual competition, leader Jeremy McCandless’s hot streak finally cooled a little but he still recorded the only PB of the evening while finishing in 5th to hold on to his place at the top of the table.

Others who ran well were runner-up Kev Ashworth who is resolutely hanging on to second place overall behind McCandless and Alex Wiggins who equalled his PB from 2013.   Finishing 4th was Debbie Cooper, seemingly refreshed on her return from holiday in Australia, Debbie’s time was only a few seconds short of her PB set way back in 2007.

1, Roy Stevens, 32.54; 2, Kev Ashworth, 29.45; 3, Alex Wiggins, 33.19; 4, Debbie Cooper,  34.37; 5, Jeremy McCandless, 39.39; 6, Joe Greenwood, 24.31; 7, Tom Howarth, 26.38; 8, Neil Tate, 28.30; 9, Laura Ashworth, 34.05; 10, Karen Lanigan, 42.42;11, Dawn Lock, 61.44.  Non-competitors: James Waller 42.00, Karen Kidner 43.21.

Lytham Rabbits and Lytham Hares

The Lancashire Fire 3 Person Relays were held on Friday night with an approximate  2.67 mile lap on Herons Reach Bridle Path, near Blackpool Zoo used.  LSARRC fielded a men's team (Lytham Hares) and a Ladies team (Lytham Rabbits).

Alex Wiggins

Sylvia Gittins

Lytham Hares were 6th team with Joe Greenwood running a time of 14:53 and being 2nd individually, Alex Wiggens was 27th with 19:47 and Nigel Simpkin was 30th with a time of 20:06.  Lytham Rabbits were 9th team overall with Joanna Goorney finishing 9th and first lady in a time of 16:28, Julia Rolfe was 36th in a time of 20:37 and Sylvia Gittins was 54th in a time of 23:06.

On Sunday morning, it was the Wagon and Horses 10 mile race in Lancaster.  This is quite a tough course with a stiff climb from 5.5 to 7 miles.  There was torrential rain and stiff winds and runners were drenched before they had even started.  There was excellent running from LSARRC's 4 representives.  Simon Denye was 9th in a time of 61:17, Peter Cruse was 15th in 63:05 and Tony Holt was 28th in 66:10 and were duly rewarded with 1st male team.  Mel Koth was 61st in 74:28.

The 5th Mid Lancs Track and Field Meet at Lancaster on Sunday afternoon also had poor weather conditions.

Three juniors were in actions.  Chloe Norman was 4th in her heat of the under 15 girls 200m, 6th in the 800m in a time of 2:36:20 and produced her best result in a Mid Lancs meet in the long jump recording 4.00m.  In the under 13 girls 800m, Hollie Winstanley was 9th in 2:52.10 in heat 1 and Rosie Taylor was 8th in 3:03.90 in heat 2.

Graham Webster at Mid Lancs
Track and Field Meet

The only seniors representing Lytham were Graham Webster and Tony Norman.  Keen to get some more track races in before competing in the British Masters Championships next weekend Graham competed in three races.  First race of the day was the 800m in strong winds and rain Graham finished in 2:39.4 for 11th place.  Little more than an hour later Graham toed the line for the 1500m finishing in 5:22.6 for 3rd place and 4 points for the club.  Last race of the day for Graham the 3000m finishing in 11:30.6 for 8th place.

Meanwhile in the field events Tony Norman finished 2nd in the shot with a distance of 8.93m for 2nd place and 7 points, 3rd in the discus with a distance of 25.54m picking up another 7 points for the club.  Tony is a relative newcomer to competing at the Mid Lancs. League but, not to be outdone by his daughter Chloe, is rapidly becoming the top points scorer for Lytham.