LSARRC News 28th June 2016

LSARRC at Lytham Club Day procession

 Thornton Cleveleys Running Club hosted the 4th Inter Club race of the summer on Tuesday night.  The 5 mile course from Little Bispham up to Gynn Square and back attracted 293 runners.  The weather was warm and sunny making for much more pleasant conditions than last year's heatwave conditions.  A excellent buffet was provided by the host club afterwards.

Richard Storey - Thornton IC

First home was Rob Danson of Wesham RR in 26:23 with Rob Affleck of Preston Harriers just over 40 seconds behind.  Nichola Jackson of Preston Harriers was 1st lady in 31:20.  LSARRC had an excellent turnout despite a few member missing from tired legs after the previous weekend's races and injuries.  Most notable of performances was Joe Greenwood who had another great run to finish 5th in 28:30.

Full LSARRC results: Joe Greenwood 5th 28:30; Thomas Howarth 21st  30:18; Neil Tate 34th 31:25; Alex Tate 40th  31:52; Graham Webster 64th  33:34; Mark Selby 66th 33:36; Terry Hellings 79th 34:48; Ian Tate 96th 36:07; Richard Storey 115th 37:13; Colin Laidlaw 135th 38:09; Melanie Koth 137th 38:17; Claire England 153rd 39:44; Debbie Cooper 154th 39:45; Susan Hawitt 183rd 42:04; Julia Rolfe 186th 42:10; Stephen Tate 186th 42:13; Jeremy McCandless 217th 44:54; Pamela Binns 234th 47:27; Hannah McCandless 237th 47:55; Sylvia Elisabeth Gittins 240th 48:17; Rachael Wignall 242nd 48:34; Dawn Lock 293rd 65:33;

Sue Hawitt - Harrock Hill Fell Race

The second Harrock Hill Fell Race of the season took place last Wednesday night.  It was also used by the club as a race in the club's fell race championship.  The race was won by U23 Luke Betts of Sale who finished in 33:39.  6 members took part with Sue Hawitt running her first ever fell race covering the 5.2 mile course (902 feet of ascent) in 197th place and a time of 59: 44.  Terry Hellings was first home for the club in 86th place and 46:52, Julia Rolfe was 172th in 55:54, Greg Oulton was 195th in 59:25 and Pam Hardman was 196th in 59:44.  There were 225 finishers.

Felicity Wolohan - Rhyl 5k

Felicity Wolohan had a very successful weekend of running.  She did the RunFest Wales 5km in Rhyl on Saturday and got a PB of 20.30 finishing 4th lady, 20th overall and on Sunday, she did the Penny Lane 10km  in Liverpool and despite the windy conditions still got a PB of 43.41 and 5th Lady, 92nd out of 398 runners.

Olivia Johnson Allen

On Sunday morning, Olivia Johnson Allen ran the Morecambe Half Marathon.  The race was won by Shaun Livesey of Blackburn Harriers in 1:18:06 by over 2 minutes and had 80 finishers.  Olivia completed the course in 2:08:30 - not quite a PB but it was a tough course with blazing sun in one direction and strong wind in the other, along with a fair few hills.

There was no Lytham Hall parkrun this last Saturday morning due to it being Lytham Club day with related activities at Lytham Hall.  Instead Lytham St Annes Road Runners joined other Lytham Hall parkrunners in the Lytham Club Day procession under the banner of Lytham Running Community.

LSARRC at Lytham CLub Day Procession

Meanwhile 10 year old Eric Wrigley took park in his first parkrun at Cuerden Valley where there were 190 finishers.  He finished 84th in at time of 27:27.

Roy Stevens was still on the other side of the world in Sydney, Australia where he is seeing his first grandchild.  For the second week in succession he joined 365 other runners in the St Peters parkrun in Sydney Park, St Peters, Sydney.  Roy managed to run the one lap course 18 seconds quicker than last week finishing in 96th place but still couldn't catch his daughter, Emma.

LSARRC News 21st June 2016

LSARRC runners at Freckleton Halg Marathon

On Thursday night, the well-establish Aggies' Staircase attracted 148 runners of which a large section, 68, were competing in the second round of the Fell Inter-Club Grand Prix.  There were good turnouts particularly from Red Rose Runners who took the women's team competition and from Preston Harriers who won the men's team competition and had the first ICGP competitor Richard Smith and the first women overall Katey Foster.  Threatened downpours didn't materialise and conditions for this scenic course with three significant climbs were very fair.

Aggies' Staircase

Lytham St. Annes RRC did not have it's strongest team out but still had sufficient to complete teams in the Open, Ladies, Vets and Vet50s. First for the Club was Debbie Cooper running well to finish the 6.4k / race in 42:47 and 46th in the ICGP. Julia Rolfe finished in 46:42, 52nd in the ICGP. Greg Oulton took 49:25, Hannah McCandless, 53:37, Jeremy McCandless, 57:58, and Dawn Lock, who won the W70 prize, 67:30.

Claire England and Sue Hawitt

The club's annual presentation evening was held on Friday night at the club's headquarters at Lytham YMCA.  Club Champions for the year were Steve Hargreaves and Emily Hargreaves with Andy Draper and Joanna Goorney as runners up.  After the presentation, a buffet was provided by the Refuel Cafe Bar followed by a disco.

The major event of the weekend was the 52nd Freckleton Half Marathon on Sunday afternoon.  It was also the 40th Ladies Race and to mark the occasion, Veronique Marot of Leeds City AC and the Ladies course record holder (72:56 in 1988) had been invited to start the race and present prizes at the end.  Also each lady finisher was presented with a commemorative medal to mark the occasion.

Instead of the normal wind and heatwave conditions associated with this race, the forecasted rain started to come down as the race started gradually getting heavier as the afternoon progressed, quite refreshing to run in but not so good for the spectators.

Joanna Goorney being presented with 1st lady trophy by Veronique Marot

After his nine year reign as Freckleton Half Marathon Champion, Ben Fish lost his crown this year as Dave Rigby of Salford Harriers took the honours in 1:09:24 with Rob Danson of Wesham RR just over a minute behind in 1:10:49.  Joanna Goorney of LSARRC was thrilled to win the ladies race for a second time in a time of 1:28:38.  With 488 finishers, Lytham St Annes had an excellent turnout with 14 runners as well as Brian Porter, the club's vice chairman doing the commentating and many members of the club spectating around the course.  Graham Webster was 1st vet 60 in 1:33:59 whilst the Joanna Goorney, Felicity Wolohan and Claire England took the ladies team prize – and excellent result.

Justin Allitt

Full LSARRC results: Joe Greenwood 17th 1:19:50; Justin Allitt 31st 1:25:31; Neil Tate 32nd 1:25:52; Thomas Howarth 36th 1:27:44; Joanna Goorney 41st 1:28:36; Graham Webster 75th 1:33:57; Felicity Wolohan 92nd 1:36:09; Alan Elstone 131st 1:41:38; Ian Tate 163rd 1:43:40; Michelle Hook 168th 1:44:41; Claire England 193rd 1:48:02; Susan Hawitt 310th 1:58:02; Pamela Hardman 332nd 2:01:18; Greg Oulton 353rd 2:03:42;

Harry Fellows - 1st in Freckleton Fun Run

There was also a Fun Run which started 10 minutes after the half marathon start of just over 2.3 miles which attracted a number of Lytham juniors .  The race was won by Harry Fellows by about 3 seconds from 10 year old George Denye (14:21).  Tom Fahey finished in 7th place whilst 11 year old Sydney Ramsden was 3rd girl and 8th overall in 16:58.  Ethan Currie also ran.

Tom Fahey

Francis Morrison

The 28th Lytham Hall parkrun had an excellent turnout of 238 runners on Saturday morning with Neil Tate being first finisher for the first time in a PB of 18:16.  Also having an superb run was Justing Allitt in 5th place also with a PB in 19:05.  Graham Webster was 8th in 20:11, Terry Hellings was 19th in 21:17, junior Francis Morrison was 61st in 24:17,  Graham Young was 106th in a PB of 27:42 and Alex Tate was 196th in 34:23.

Julia Rolfe headed over to Cuerden Valley parkrun for the first time for a slightly more undulating 5k.  She finished in 73rd place out of 235 finishers in 26:55

The Brueton parkrun in Brueton park, Solihull attracted Richard Storey. With 426 finishers, the 2 and a bit lap course took Richard 22:59 finishing in 81st place.

Neil Tate - 1st finisher Lytham Hall parkrun

Roy Stevens was back on the other side of the world in Sydney, Australia to see his first grand child.  Whilst there, he joined 229 other runners in the St Peters parkrun in Sydney Park, St Peters, Sydney.  Running in the pouring rain, Roy still managed to run the one lap course one minute quicker than in January in 23 :58 (but still couldn't catch his daughter Emma).

LSARRC News 14th June 2016

LSARRC Marshalls at Inter Club

 Thursday 9th June was Lytham’s turn to host the Inter Club road race. The five mile course starts on the promenade behind the mini golf course and then runs up to and alongside Fairhaven Lake before finishing just a few yards from the start.

Lead bike Dave Rigby at Inter Club

Sue Hawitt as sweep

Lytham supplied just 24 (several of them competing in their 3rd race in 7 days) of the 333 athletes as many of their members were required to marshal the race but nevertheless performed well. Jo Greenwood was first home for Lytham in his best ever finish taking 6th place in 28.02 with new recruit Chris McCarthy not far behind in 28:45 for 9th place. Joanna Goorney was first woman home for Lytham and 7th Lytham athlete overall finishing in 31:57 for 54th place. Other Lytham results were – Andrew Unsworth (28th in 30:26), Thomas Howarth (34th in 30:32), Justin Allitt (40th in 30:50), Neil Tate (46th in 31:19), Graham Webster (65th in 33:02), Terry Hellings (93rd in 33:40), Barbara Holmes (98th in 34:58), Alan Elstone (98th in 35:01), Dave Dunn (117 in 36:00). Michelle Hook (129th in 36:31), Ian Tate (130th in 36:35), Melanie Koth (161 in 38:35), Colin Laidlaw (175th in 39:10), Derek Heron (197th in 41.07), Pam Hardman (216th in 42.15), Jeremy McCandless (2134th in 43:45), Derek Caborn (246th in 44:49), Olivia Johnson Allen (257th in 46:04), Hannah Mcandless (285th in 50:04), Lorna Cragg (311th in 55:19) and Susan Hawitt acting as sweep (330th in 68:06). Lytham finished 5th in the open, 4th in the women’s, 4th in the FV40, 5th in the vet’s, 5thin the vet 50 and 3rd in the V60 team competitions.

Lorna Cragg

Socializing at Lytham YMCA

Rebbecca and Neil Tate - Lytham Hall parkrun
celebrating Queen's birthday

Saturday saw 13 LSARRC athletes take part in the Lytham Hall parkrun. Chris McCarthy was first home in the 5k run in a personal best time of 17:30. Next home for Lytham were Andy Unsworth in 3rd place with a time of 18:43 and Mark Selby 6th in 19:54.Joanna Goorney and Susan Samme were 1st and 2nd ladies in 20:09 and 21:11 respectively. Terry Hellings (21:33, 17th and first MV60) was next home for Lytham. Claire England ran a personal best of 23:27 for 39th place. Lytham junior Morgan Pritchard finished in 55th and 1st JM 10 in 24:33 paced round by V60 Graham Webster. Sue Hawitt (60th in 24:54), Graham Young (103rd in 28:25), Jeremy McCandless (113rd in 29:07) and Gillian Oliver (114th in 29:07) also ran for Lytham. Not to miss a chance to run while on he travels Felicity Wolohan ran in the Huntingdon parkrun finishing in 21:51 for 35th place from 310 finishers and 2nd female.

Sue Samme followed by Terry Hellings

Greg Oulton was Lytham’s sole representative at Paddy's Pole fell race on Wednesday. The 6k fell race included 336m of climbing and Oulton finished 96th of 101 finishers in 53:01.

LSARRC News 7th June 2016

Start of WCR 2016

Emily and Steve Hargreaves

Lytham St Annes RRC went on tour this last weekend for the 2016 Welsh Castles Relay, a 2 day 20 stage 211 mile staggered relay from Caenarfon to Cardiff.  With the sun shining all weekend, the 23 club runners and supporters had a great time with the team finishing 32nd overall out of the 64 teams taking part.  There were some fantastic performances by club members, especially in the heatwave conditions.  Special mention goes to the club's golden couple Emily and Steve Hargreaves.  Emily was 1st lady on stage 4 and Steve was 1st vet on stage 11 both winning coveted yellow stage winner T-shirts.  Other notable performances included Joe Greenwood who finished 15th in his debut at the relay on the tough mountain stage 14 and Chris McCarthy who managed a top 10 finish on stage 15 also making his debut.

Full LSARRC results: Stage 1 Nigel Simpkin 52nd 01:21:31; Stage 2 Dave Dunn 41st  01:24:16  ; Stage 3 Terry Hellings 39th 01:33:15; Stage 4 Claire England 52nd 01:16:21; Stage 5 Emily Hargreaves 11th 01:05:08; Stage 6 Graham Webster 24th 01:15:26; Stage 7 Neil Tate 27th 01:09:14; Ian Tate 53rd 01:32:38; Stage 9 Alex Everest 52nd 01:10:54; Stage 10 Tom Howarth 28th 01:30:02; Stage 11 Steve Hargreaves 5th  01:15:24; Stage 12 Mel Koth 43rd 01:23:13; Stage 13 Steve Ashton 54th 01:28:26; Stage 14 Joe Greenwood 15th 01:12:34; Stage 15 Chris McCarthy 9th 01:18:39; Stage 16 Alan Elstone 54th 01:15:30; Stage 17 Sue Hawitt 54th 01:19:41; Stage 18 Richard Storey 35th 01:11:08; Stage 19 Pam Hardman 47th 01:09:40; Stage 20 Joanna Goorney 37th 1:10:09;

The finish - Cardiff

Neil Tate - Stage 7

 

 

The first race of 3 in the Cuerden Valley Badger 10k Trail race series took place on Thursday night at Cuerden Valley Park.  Mel Koth was the club's sole representative finishing 8th lady and 75th overall in a time of 49:26 out of the 192 finishers.

On Sunday, 3 junior members of the club took part in the Blackpool Aquatics (BATS) Northern Triathlon Festival from Palatine Leisure Centre, Blackpool.  This was the first time any of the juniors had taking part in first multi discipline event and all excelled.  Conditions were very warm in the morning for the running part of the aquathons and sweltering in the afternoon for the duathlon which started 3:15pm not helped by it all in direct sunlight.

Sydney Ramsden

Jessica Ramsden

Jessica Ramsden was first up in the Aquathon (8-10 years) (50m swim followed by 600m run (grass)) She was 2nd overall and 1st girl (swim 1:07, T1 0:46 and run 2:49).  Sydney Ramsden took part in the Aquathon  for 11-12 years (100m swim and 1200m run).  She was 2nd overall and 1st girl with a swim 2:03, T1 0:46 and 5:00 run (fastest run overall).  George Denye competed in the Duathlon (1,500m run (grass), 5,000m bike (track) and 1,500m run (grass)).  George was first overall (second race victory) after a recent second at Manchester with a run 6:07, T1 0:28, cycle 12:47, T2 0:20 and run 6:00.

Liz Boon and Johnny Wild successfully completed the Coniston Trail Marathon Challenge on Sunday 5th June.  As well as a tough course, the runners had to endure the hottest conditions the event had ever experienced.  Liz and Johnny finished in joint 145th place out of 287 entrants in 6hr 27min.

Johnny Wild

Olivia Johnson Allen

The 26th Lytham Hall parkrun attracted 206 runners on Saturday morning with Paul Muller of Horwich RMI once again being 1st finisher in 17:41.  First finisher for the club was Ross McKelvie in 6th with 18:47.  Neil Bayntun-Roberts had an excellent run for  9th in a new PB of 20:31  Barbara Holmes, fresh from her triathlon success last weekend in Portugal was motoring at the parkrun with another PB of 21:20 for 2nd lady and 12th overall which gave her an outstanding age grading of 84.84%.  Not far behind was 3rd female Michelle Hook who also ran a PB with 21:44 and Gerry Browne in 22nd place who knocked over half a minute of his PB with 22:19.

Full LSARRC results: Ross McKelvie 6th 18:47; Neil Bayntun-Roberts 9th 20:31 PB; Barbara Holmes 12th 21:20 PB; Michelle Hook 17th 21:44 PB; Gerry Browne 22nd 22:19 PB; Morgan Pritchard 64th 25:00; Olivia Johnson Allen 100th 27:26 PB; Graham Young 115th 28:28; Clemmie Tierney 120th 28:56 PB; Gillian Oliver 123rd 29:00;Eric Wrigley 133rd 29:59;

Over in Liverpool at the the 270th Princes parkrun, Felicity Wolohan also had an excellent run finishing 2nd lady only 6 seconds behind the 1st lady in 22nd place with a PB of 21:10.