LSARRC News 5th April 2016

Pendle Fell Race

The Pendle Fell Race starting in the village of Barley on Saturday afternoon.  Although fairly short (4.5 miles), the 1499ft of ascent makes the course quite challenging.  And murky conditions with limited visibility on the summit and plenty of mud added extra spice.  Despite that though the first man home, Sam Tosh of Rossendale Harriers, still was back in 33:46.  The race was also selected by LSARRC as the first race in the club's fell championship and attracted three members.  Joanna Goorney was 7th lady and 65th overall in 46:11, Julia Rolfe was 160th in 1:05:11 and Greg Oulton was 166th in 1:06:56.

Simon Holt

The first Mid Lancs. Track and Field fixture of 2016 took place at Stanley Park on Saturday 2nd April.  The undoubted star of the meeting for Lytham St Annes was under 13 boy Simon Holt picking up a total of 16 points for the club.  Simon achieved a distance of 6.81m in the shot to win the competition outright earning 7 points. Simon’s next event was the 800m finishing in 2m 45.1s and 3rd in division 2 for 4 points.  Final event of the day for Simon was the 200m finishing 2nd in his heat and 3rd in division 2 for 4 points.  Making her debut for LSARRC at track and field and picking up 8 points was senior woman Rachael Wignall.  Rachael was 3rd in her heat of the 100m in 18.9s for 4th place in division 2 and 3 points.  Rachael also earned 3 points in the shot with a distance of 5.93m and 2 points in the discus with a distance of 15.24m for 4th and 5th place in division respectively.  Senior man Jeremy McCandless also competed for Lytham taking 3rd place in division 2 in the hammer with a distance of 15.95m and 2nd in division 2 in the shot with 13.72m for 5 points.

Rachael Wignall

Graham Webster ran the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park 10k in London which included the  BMAF & VAC 10k Road Championships on Saturday.  He finished 82nd out of 605 in 41.59 over an extended course on mostly flat terrain.

The inaugural Darwen Heritage Half Marathon on Sunday morning organised by Darwen Dashers proved a tough cookie by all accounts.  Won by Ben Fish of Blackburn Harriers by over 7 minutes in a time of 1:12:40, the race had over 400 finishers.  Mel Koth fitted it into her training for the London Marathon which is now only 3 weeks away.  She finished in 116th place in a time of 1:43:45.

Felicity Wolohan had an excellent run at the Paris Marathon on Sunday recording a PB of 3:31:04.  She finished 296th female out of 10084 and 5268th overall out of 41708.

Graham Young and Bob Clough at Lytham Hall parkrun

The 18th Lytham Hall parkrun on Saturday morning still attracted 180 runners despite the drizzly conditions on Saturday morning.  Ben Wolfarth of Salford Harriers was the first finisher in 16:41 whilst Caroline Betmead of Blackpool Wyre and Fylde was the first lady breaking the ladies course record with 19:34.  First home for the club was Tom Howarth in 4th place and 18:23 with Neil Tate just 3 seconds behind in 5th.  Alan Elstone was 21st in 21 :10, Mark Selby was 24th in 21:33, Morgan Pritchard was 39th in 23:52, Claire England was 42nd and 4th lady in 24:05, Sue Hawitt was 65th in 26:45, Bob Clough was 93rd in 28:50, Graham Young was 113th in 30:35, Hebe Tierney was 159th in 35:35, Clemmie Tierney was 160th in 35:35 and Alex Tate was 179th in 38:44.

Alan Elstone at Lytham Hall parkrun

Greg Oulton was the winner of the March club handicap race on Thursday night that was notable for four competitors, Will McCallister, Jeremy McCandless, Claire England and Sue Hawitt, all recording PBs. The best time of the evening was by new member Chris McCarthy who ran a very quick 3.44 miles in 19:26 on his first run on the course.

Full results: 1, Greg Oulton, 30.55; 2, Will McCallister, 23.35; 3, Jeremy McCandless, 29.22; 4, Claire England, , 26.47; 5, Tom Howarth, 20.26; 6, Sue Hawitt, 27.46; 7, Julia Rolfe, 29.05; 8, Justin Allitt, 23.10; 9, Karen Lanigan, 34.22; 10, Dawn Lock, 47.26; n/c Chris McCarthy, 19.26; Colin Laidlaw, 26.53; Paul Haywood, 23.09.

The March race was the finale of the year's competition for the Handicap Plate. Congratulations to Sue Hawitt who is the undoubted 2015-16 champion. Over twelve months of continual improvement Sue has recorded a PB every time she's run. The runner-up, last year's champion Jeremy McCandless, is a worthy winner of the silver medal as he has followed on with a further year of consistently better times.

Leading scores for 2015-16; Sue Hawitt 237, Jeremy McCandless 212; Neil Tate 204; Debbie Cooper 192, Tom Howarth 192, Dawn Lock 185, Alan Elstone 176.