LSARRC News 2nd February 2016

Lytham Ladies at the Northerm XC Championships

Nine members of Lytham St. Annes RRC ran at the prestigious Northern Cross-Country Championships on Saturay which returned to Blackburn's Witton Park  after an interval of several years.  Witton Park is renowned for its love-to-hate saucer but for the longer championship courses organizers had vastly increased the interest by taking the field laps across rather than around the perimeter which added several short climbs and drops and further tested the Senior Men by returning to the "teaspoon" not seen for many years.

Beating last year's Pontefract total, Blackburn attracted a massive 2,140 competitors from as far away as Morpeth Harriers, Lincoln Welling and Buxton AC with all the top names in the sport taking part.

The Senior Men's course would have been demanding enough in good weather but carpeted with thick mud made worse by the passage of the preceding nine races, icy air and waves of blown hail, it presented a new dimension.

Lytham's men deserve appreciation and admiration for turning out to run for their Club in such conditions, particularly Steve Aston gamely trying his first Northern Championship and Graham Webster returning from illness.  In a huge field of 719 fastest on the day for Lytham was Men's Captain Joe Greenwood put in a very good top 200 performance finishing 192nd in 54:56, 37 places higher than last year.  Thomas Howarth was LSARRC's second finisher, 352nd in 1:01:18.  Terry Hellings took 1:08:33 for 534th, Webster was 566th in 1:10:27 and Ashton, 664th in 1:20:51.  Charlie Hulson of Sale Harriers took the title in a staggering 43:16, 8 seconds clear of rival Peter Huck of Barrow & Furness Striders.

Barbara Holmes

In the Senior Woman’s race winner, Leed AC's Claire Duck, breezed round the 7.7k three-lap course in 30:21 a full 20 seconds ahead of second-placed Sarah Tunstall of Kendal AAC.  Lytham's women went off at 2:15pm showing similar grit and determination.  Barbara Holmes, the Club's best, recovered well after a bad start when a push sent her off balance loosing her a shoe and no doubt several places, to finish 188th out of 358 in 42:54.  Running to the best of their abilities were Sylvia Gittins, 348th in 1:01:59 and Dawn Lock, 356th in 1:01:27. 

Sole Lytham Junior was U15G Chloe Norman who did well finishing 150th in 22:12 just two and a half minutes behind winner Georgia Howarth of Sale Harriers.

Gerry Browne

With the Northern Cross Country Championships taking place on Saturday and also strong winds, numbers were reduced slightly at the Lytham Hall parkrun with 144 completing the course.  First home was Paul Muller of Horwich RMI in 17:51  Joanna Goorney was 1st lady in 20:12 in 8th place over all with Alan Elstone just behind in 9th in a time of 20:42.  Neil Bayton-Roberts running a PB for the course was 15th in 22:17, Richard Storey was 18th in 22:38, Gerry Browne, also recording a PB for the course was 27th in 23:33. Mark Selby making his parkrun debut was 32nd in 24:19 and Jeremy McCandless was 85th in 29:43.

Alan Elstone

There were four LSARRC juniors also in action with Max Talbot and Spencer Unsworth both recording PBs for the course with Max in 44th place and a time of 25:58 and Spencer in 56th place and 26:54.  Georgia Norman was 60th in 27:21 and Ellis Goddard was 121st in 36:50.

Max Talbot

Felicity Wolohan was back in Liverpool for the Princes parkrun where she finished an excellent 1st lady and 30th overall out of the 224 finishers in a time of 21:24.

On Sunday, Lancaster saw the Flood Relief 10k and Flood Relief Half Marathon which also incorporated runners from the Inskip Half Marathon which had to be cancelled a couple of weeks ago.  Both races started from the Lancaster and Morecambe AC track with the 10k taking a 1 lap course along the local cycle tracks and the half marathon taking an extended 2 laps.  Joanna Goorney ran in the 10k finishing 1st lady and 5th overall just missing the 40 minute barrier in 40:04 after losing time due to confusing marshalling.

Over in Spain, Steve Hargreaves ran the 17th Getafe City Half Marathon getting a superb PB of 1:14:31 finishing 39th overall and just 8 seconds outside the club record.

The highlight of LSARRC's 3.44 miles January Handicap  on Thursday night was undoubtedly an excellent run and fastest time of the evening by the clear winner Joe Greenwood. Coming right through from penultimate starter to first place is no mean achievement and Joe, the club's quickest runner, faces this tough challenge every time. There was no letting up by the runner-up, last year's Handicap champion Jeremy McCandless, whose times continue to improve while the only PB of the evening was by third-placed Sue Hawitt who is unrelenting in her pursuit of the 2016 trophy.  Sue, who has repeatedly improved her times over the past year, now has a clear lead ahead of her nearest challengers.

Full January Results: 1, Joe Greenwood, 19.48, 32 points SB; 2, Jeremy McCandless,30.17, 31 SB; 3, Sue Hawitt, 28.27, 30 PB; 4, Alan Elstone, 23.32, 27; 5, Neil Tate, 20.35, 26; 6, Steve Ashton, 28.20, 25; 7, Debbie Cooper, 27.35, 24; 8, Claire England, 28.49, 23; 9, Nigel Simpkin, 27.57, 22; 10, Derek Caborn, 33.48, 21; 11, Dawn Lock, 46, 20. N/C: Will McAllister, 28.03; Greg Oulton, 33.58; Graham Webster, 24.19; Alex Walton, 28.23.

Annual Points Table Leaders; 1, Sue Hawitt, 209 points from 7 races; 2, Neil Tate, 204/8; 3, Jeremy McCandless, 195/8; 4, Dawn Lock,182/8; 5,Debbie Cooper, 163/6; 6, Tom Howarth, 159/7; 7, Alan Elstone 154/6; 8,Joe Greenwood, 134/6.