LSARRC News 24/3/15

With the spring marathon season rapidly approaching, quite a number of Lytham St Annes runners decided on the longer distance races on offer over the weekend in preparation for their marathon attempt.

On Saturday, a couple of members headed up to the Lake District for the scenic but hilly Coniston 14.  Chris Blackburn was 282nd in 1:49:23 whilst Sylvia Gittins ran 1:16:22 for 834th in her preparation for Manchester Marathon on 19th April.

Des Heron, Ian Tate, Neil Tate and Felicity Wolohan

Six members headed up to Lancaster for the Trimpell 20 on Sunday morning.  This popular race 20 mile is a great warm with its flat out and back course mainly along cycle paths starting from Salt Ayre Leisure Centre.  With perfect weather conditions, Neil Tate was first home for LSA in a superb time of 2:15:18 and 40th place overall, great preparation for his first marathon attempt at London on 26th April.  Mel Koth was first Lytham St Annes lady home in 2:33:55 and 133rd.  Ian Tate clocked 2:49:02 for 237th, Felicity Wolohan was 275th in 2:53:55, Derek Heron was 354th in 3:06:02 and Ruth Wheatly was 294th in 3:14:54.

Simon Denye

Another popular race for Lytham St Annes runners was Waters Wilmslow Half Marathon.  The race was won by Ben Siwa of Run Fast in a time of 1:04:57 with 12 runners under 70 minutes underlying the quality of the field.  First home for LSA was Stephen Hargreaves in 58th place in 1:15:56.  Not far behind was Simon Denye in 65th place and 1:16:42 knocking an incredible 1min 49 of his previous PB.  Andy Draper was 133rd in 1:21:45, Emily Hargreaves was 336th in 1:28:38 and Lucinda Prothera was 1921st in 1:51:51.  There were 3784 finishers


Mark Willett ran the Lincoln 10k on Sunday having last previously run it 2 years ago.  This is a fast, flat and excellently organised race, this year finishing alongside the majestic Cathedral.  With perfect weather conditions, being cold but sunny, with light cloud and virtually no wind, Mark had an excellent run knocking 24 seconds off his PB to finish in 38:27 and also achieving Silver club standard.  This comes just a week after also achieving Silver club standard at 10 miles.

Pam Binns

The ladies only Goal-den Girls 10k attracted 120 runners on Sunday morning.  The race starts at the Middle Walk, North Promenade, Blackpool and goes between North Pier and Little Bispham.  Pam Binns who turned 70 just 3 days before, completed the course in 59:25 for 49th place.

Roy Stevens ran his first Parkrun on Saturday morning.  He clocked 27:05 for 68th place at Cuerden Valley.

Mark Willett

Five junior members of the club commenced their 2015 track and field campaign at the Blackpool Winter Warm Up Open Meeting hosted by Blackpool Wyre & Fylde AC. The youngest, Connor Norman made a superb start to the season winning both the under 9 boys 80m (12.9) and the long jump (3.04) and then finishing 2nd in the 600m (2:16.8). Although under 13 James Nicholas had not previously competed at 200m, he did not show any signs of being a novice finishing 2nd in 29.3.  Simon Holt competed for the first time as an under 13 and he composed himself well finishing 3rd  in the 600m (1:58.2) and 7th in the 80m with a PB of 11.9. Georgia Norman also made the transition to the under13 age group and finished 12th in the 200m (31.8), 9th  in the 600m (2:13.8) and 8th in the long jump with a personal best of 3.68m.  The experienced Chloe Norman got her campaign of to a good start finishing 2nd in the under 15 girls 800m (2:34.7) and 11th  in the long jump (3.99m).