LSARRC News 9th June 2015

LSARRC at the start of the WCR

Lytham St Annes Road Runners headed off to Wales for the weekend for the annual Welsh Castles Relay.  The 20 stage 210 mile race organised by Les Croupiers Running Club in Cardiff, runs from Caernarfon Castle to Cardiff Castle with 65 teams taking part this year.  Although conditions were very windy on Saturday, there was still blue skies all day whilst Sunday was a calm summer's day.

The relay was won overall by Serpentine completing the 20 stages in 19:43:31.  Lytham St Annes finished in 41st overall with a total time of 26:02:18 , a great position considering the size of the club and the opposition.  Serpentine also won the King of the Mountains whilst LSA finished 34th out of 44.  There were some outstanding performances over the weekend with many stage records being broken.  In Stage 20, Martin Rees, a 62 year old from Les Croupiers was 3rd in the final stage which was a phenomenal performance for a vet 60.

There was much success for Lytham St Annes starting with Emily Hargreaves being first lady on the opening stage from Caernarfon Castle, Steve Hargreaves being 3rd on Leg 2 and Joanna Goorney being first lady on stage 10, a tough 13.1 mile hilly run at the end of day 1.  Both ladies were thrilled to be awarded yellow jerseys for their wins.  Andy Draper also managed a top 10 finish on Stage 15.

LSARRC also had three first timers to the relays in the team all doing the club proud.  Jeremy McCandless was 60th on Stage 9, Felicity Wolohan was 56th on Stage 13 in whilst Alex Everest was 56th on Stage 18.  Alex only started running in January this year and her leg of 9.1 miles was her longest ever race.

Stage 1: Emily Hargreaves, 13th 1:06:42 (9.1 miles)
Stage 2: Steve Hargreaves, 3th 1:01:53 (10.1 Miles)
Stage 3: Graham Webster , 33rd 1:25:12 (12.3 miles mountain stage)
Stage 4: Greg Oulton 48th, 1:19:30 (9.5 miles)
Stage 5: Nigel Simpkin 43rd , 1:18:48 (9.6 miles)
Stage 6:Fiona Geldard 43rd: 1:23:34 (10.7 miles)
Stage 7: Terry Hellings 50th. 1:13:25 (9.5 miles mountain stage)
Stage 8: Richard Storey 48th, 1:22:16 (10.8 miles)
Stage 9: Jeremy McCandless 60th, 1:15:09 (8.5 miles)
Stage 10: Joanna Goorney 39th, 1:31:54 (13.1 miles mountain stage)
Stage 11: Neil Tate 26th, 1:23:05 (12.3 miles mountain stage)
Stage 12: Dave Dunn 38th, 1:19:45 (11.2 miles)
Stage 13: Felicity Wolohan 56th, 1:27:53 (10.6 miles)
Stage 14: Tom Howarth, 33rd, 1:13:28 (10.8 miles mountain stage)
Stage 15: Andy Draper 10th, 1:18:12 (12.8 miles)
Stage 16: Steve Quarmby 57th 1:18:12 (8.8 miles mountain stage)
Stage 17: Pam Hardman 49th, 1:15:46 (9.2 miles)
Stage 18: Alex Everest 56th, 1:21:04 (9.1 miles)
Stage 19: Pam Binns 62nd, 1:12:11 (7.7 miles)
Stage 20: Kevin Ashworth 46th 1:21:04 (10.7 miles)

LSARRC at the finish of the WCR

Not content with one long race in a weekend, three members of the club who ran on Saturday at the relays (Emily Hargreaves, Steve Hargreaves and Greg Oulton) then headed up to Lakes for the Coniston Trail Marathon on Sunday.  They were joined by 3 other members of the club, Liz Boon, John Wild and Mark Willett.

The marathon takes in a complete circuit of Coniston Water along footpaths and bridleways taking in Tarn Hows and the elevated Beacon Tarn.  There were 2 options for the Marathon, either starting at 7am with a 8 hour cut-off time (Marathon Challenge) or 9am with a 6 hour cut-off time (Marathon Race).

John Wild, Liz Boon and Greg Oulton

In the Marathon race, despite having run the previous day, Steve Hargreaves was 5th in 3:25:27 whilst Emily Hargreaves was 23rd and 3rd female in 3:59:48.  Mark Willett was 99th in 4:35:47.  In the Marathon Challenge, Greg Oulton was 79th in 5:15::58:, Liz Boon was 165th in 6:07:07 and John Wild was 166th  also in 6:07:07

On Saturday morning, Julia Rolfe ran the Preston Parkrun.  She was 108th in 25:30.

Last Tuesday night Greg Oulton headed over to the Bowland Fells for Paddy's Pole Fell Race.  The 3.7 mile course with 1102ft of ascent takes in both Parlick and Fairsnape.  The race was won by Andrew Newton in 30:05 from the host club, Preston Harriers.  Greg finished in 97th place with a time of 48:21.