Week of Monday 8th September 2014

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.   

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.

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.