The excellent venue of Woodbank Park, Stockport played host
to the North West Counties Relays on Saturday with teams from Lancashire,
Greater Manchester, Merseyside and Cheshire competing.
Starting on the track, courses take a wide sweep of the flat
Woodbank before plunging into adjacent pretty but demanding Vernon Park. A steep descent into Vernon is followed by a
tough climb out with the Juniors turning earlier for a 2600 metre course to the
U17M and Seniors 3600 metres.
Lytham St. Annes fielded three
teams and took away Lancashire Gold in the Under 15 Girls. Ella Moulding, Chloe Norman and Hannah Riley became
the U15G Lancashire Champions in a spirited and stylish performance. First out
at midday was Ella Moulding who finished in 9:25. Chloe Norman took second leg and achieved
10:28 and Hannah Riley ran 10:24 to bring the team in 12th overall and first
Lancashire team in 30:17.
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Lancashire AA U15G Champions: Chloe Norman, Hannah Riley
& Ella Moulding |
The Senior Woman's team finished
in 56:16, 36th overall and 7th in Lancashire.
Julia Rolfe took the first leg and finished in 17:47; Dawn Bloor on
second ran 17:52 and Sylvia Gittins on third, 20:37. Fiona Geldard running in an incomplete team
finished in 17:02
The Senior Men put up an admirable
fight to finish 45th out of 54 teams.
Their total time of 56:31 achieved them a good 5th place in the
Lancashire Championships. Joe Greenwood
took the competitive first leg finishing in 12:41. Terry Hellings ran 15:27 on second, Neil Tate
followed with 14:18 and Graham Webster on anchor, 14:05.
 |
| Senior Men's Team who were 5th in Lancashire |
The long-standing Garstang Half Marathon attracted two members of the Club both
of whom ran well to secure their age category prizes.
Starting and finishing on the flat viaduct across River Wyre, the course
undulates without serious ascents until 9 miles when the road climbs above
Grizedale Valley in one of the local races' most testing hills. It's a long
climb that precedes a steep descent into the village of Scorton before the
final three miles take competitors back to the finish.
Simon Denye finished in a good 7th
place in 1:23:50 and first MV40 while Pamela Hardman was the first FV55 in a creditable
time for such a hard race of 2:04:01 and 117th place in a race of 148
competitors.
Greg Oulton was the only Lytham member to under take the
70-mile drive up to Crosby Garrett for the Great Westmorland Trail Race. Contestants were treated to reasonably easy
going for the first five miles but with a sting in the tail when a steep
mile-long climb sorted out the fittest.
Glorious scenery and good weather rewarded the exertions. Oulton finished in 1:10:15.
Felicity Wolohan running in the Park Run nearest to her work finished the
Princes Park 5k in 22.07, second woman and representing a big advance for
Wolohan.
Signalling the end of the track and field season, Blackpool Wyre & Fylde
Athletic Club hosted the first of its two September Open Meetings at Stanley
Park. Warm windless sunshine was kind to
both athletes and spectators alike, and, with a selection of events suitable
for very young athletes below the UKA's Under 13 baseline, Lytham's younger
juniors were out in force making the most of the opportunity.
Nine LSARRC members took part,
some as young as seven, competing in a total of fourteen events, and, with
gold, silver and bronze medals at each age group on offer, the Juniors took
home quite a hoard.
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| U9B's compete in the 80m sprint |
In the Under 9 Boys category Connor
Norman won his best placing in the 80m sprint where his 13.2 earning him a
silver medal. He also achieved 2:24.4 in
the 600m and a PB of 2.91m for 6th in the long jump. George Winstanley showed great composure in
his first track and field event running 14.6 seconds for 80m and excelled at
the longer distance, the 600m, where his 2:09.9 won him silver.
In the Under 11 age
competition Georgia Norman finished 9th in the Long Jump with 3.22m, 6th in the
600m in 2:07.3 and narrowly missed out on a medal in the 80m, finishing equal
5th in 12.7 seconds. Carmen Cole
came close to a podium finish with 5th and a
PB of 3.33m in the Long Jump. She
was 3rd in her heat of the 80m in
13.7 seconds.
 |
| U11Gs on the track |
Simon
Holt tried three events winning medals in all.
He won silver in the Under 11 Boys' long jump massively improving his PB
by 18cm to 3.81m and bronzes in the 80m sprint with 12.3 seconds, and in the 600m
endurance with 1:56.5. Francis Morrison
had good runs in both the 80m and 600m finishing 7th in both events in 13.9
seconds and 2:18.9 respectively.
She was 3rd
Two Lytham Under 13s competed. James
Nicholas performed well in the 100m to finish 5th in 14.9 and Hollie Winstanley
ran a composed 1500m in 5:58.3 to take the bronze medal.
Under 15 Chloe Norman showed no signs of fatigue from the
previous days relays running a very strong 800m finishing 2nd in 2:34.6 and
adding another medal to her weekend tally.
