LSARRC News 19th January 2016

The LSARRC Curry Run

Under 11 boys team

The fourth fixture in the Mid Lancs Cross Country League took place at Hyndburn on Saturday.  The course, across Wilson Playing Fields and through the surrounding woodland is normally notoriously muddy but with the very cold temperature, a lot of the ground was instead frozen providing testing conditions for all the age groups.


The highlight of the day was in the under 11 boys race where Louis Eunson and George Denye finished 2nd and 3rd respectively in times of 8:15 and 8:37.  Morgan Pritchard was 36th in 10:16 enabling the lads to finish 3rd overall in the  team competition – a great result.  In the under 11 girls races, Sydney Ramsden was the only representative for the club finishing 30th in 10:32 out of 67 finishers, the biggest junior field of the day.  Rebecca Tate ran in the Under 13 Girls race finishing 35th in 14:16.

The senior women's race proved to be a 2 horse affair with Nichola Jackson of Preston Harriers taking her first win in the Mid Lancs league just beating Emily Japp of Blackpool, Wyre and Fylde.  There was again a good turnout for the LSARRC with 7 ladies making up the 132 runners.  Joanna Goorney was first home for the club in 11th place in 27:19 and was also 1st vet 45.  Also having an excellent run was Barbara Homes who came home as 1st vet 55 in 39th place in a time of 32:27.  Julia Rolfe was 67th in 34:46, Louisa Ruman was 71st in 34:46, Alex Everest was 73rd in 35:29, Dawn Bloor was 79th in 36:28 and Dawn Lock was 128th in 54:04.

LSARRC Ladies

The men’s race started off in cold, dry conditions but the snow started to come down as the race progressed getting quite heavy as time ticked by.  Unfortunately, for the men at the back of the field, this had the disadvantage that they were having to deal with poor visibility especially through the woodland areas of the course.  First home out the 218 finishers was James Douglas of Border Harriers in 35:33.  Neil Tate was the first man back for the club in 64th place and a time of 43:44.  Tom Howarth was 91st in 46:02.  Terry Hellings had a great race finishing 1st vet 60 in 127th place and 48:52, Steve Ashton was 203rd in 1:02:03 and Greg Oulton was 216th in 1:10:23.

Rebecca Tate

Sydney Ramsden

The big race on Sunday should have been the Inskip Half Marathon but once again, the weather took charge and the event had to be cancelled because of the snow which had fallen the previous day.

Felicity Wolohan on her way to a half marathon PB

 The the very popular Essar Four Villages Half Marathon survived the weather luckily although it was threatened by a snowy start and a very cold day.  It is really scenic race starting in Helsby and passing through the other villages Dunham on the Hill, Mouldsworth and Manley.  Felicity Wolohan had an excellent race continuing her recent good form, getting another PB of 1:35:49, finishing 339th overall out of 1700 runners.

Joanna Goorney headed over to Haworth for the Stanbury Splash Fell Race.  Because of the snowy conditions, the decision was made by the organisers to run a shorter course than planned.  So instead of the planned 7.5 miles, a 5 mile route was used instead.  Conditions were still very tricky with semi frozen peat to contend with but still fun to race over.  Joanna finished 92nd overall,  7th lady and 2nd vet 40 in a time of 43:26 out of 276 finishers.


On Saturday morning, many of the local parkruns were also affected by the icy conditions and called off.  One of the ones to survive was Lytham Hall which this week attracted 153 runners.  Andy Draper had a good run finishing 5th in 19:05, a PB for the course.  Debbie Cooper was 4th lady and 44th overall in 24:49.  Junior Max Talbot was 56th in 26:09, Olivia Johnson Allen was 70th in 27:44,  junior Georgia Norman was 71st in 28:03 and Bob Clough was 84th in 29:39.

Roy Stevens and Tom Clough

Roy Steven ran his last parkrun in Australia before returning home, this time in Mosman, Sydney.  Where most parkruns in this country start at 9am on a Saturday morning, this one started at 7am!  He finished 22nd in 25:03 out of 55 runners.  While out there, wearing his club vest, he was recognised by the son (Tom) of one of the club's members, Bob Clough – small world.
  

On Thursday night, Mark Selby organised another very successful curry run from St Annes Pier with a meal afterwards at Gemma's Indian Restaurant.  With weather conditions much better than the gale force winds of the previous year, 23 runners and curry eaters attended.