LSARRC News 7th March 2017

Men's team at Leigh XC

 The best men’s cross-country team Lytham St Annes Road Runners have fielded for many years on Saturday won the division 3 championship, and therefore promotion to the next level. Fourth on the day across all of the teams, Lytham were the top team in their division for the third consecutive race for an amazing second half of the season to just pip Glaxo Hoad Hill Harriers into second by a single point.

This final race of the winter season was at Leigh Sports Village on Saturday on a wet and sticky course. In a field of 199, LSARRC's leading runner Michael Toft, trying cross-country for the first time, finished 17th in 40:27 for the 10k. Joe Greenwood followed in 19th and 40:52, the second counter in the Lytham team.  Andrew Draper was 26th in 41:42; Thomas Howarth, 29th in 42:15; Paul Veevers, 41st in 42:52 and Neil Tate, who completed the counting runners, 66th in 44:55.  Also competing were Ross Mckelvie in 75th with a time of 45:48, Graham Webster, 127th in 49:02 and Terry Helllings, 140th in 50:07. The fact that these three did not count for the team shows the strength and depth in the team currently.

Mel Koth

 Joining the men in their celebrations were the senior women, who had already secured their own promotion from division two by confirming second place in the previous race. They also finished 4th in the V35, equal third in the V45 with a decision pending as to whether they or Clayton will take bronze and 4th in the V55. 

Five women made up teams in the seniors, V35 and V45. Jo Goorney, 7th in 23:08, Melanie Koth, 27th in 25:10 and Julia Rolfe, 75th 29:34, made up the senior team that was 10th out of 24 teams, and the V35 team which came 5th on the day.  Lytham’s second cross-country debutant was Patricia Bullen, who finished 122nd in 35:24 and counted in the V45 team.  Dawn Lock was 135th in 44:50.  In the individual awards for the season, Jo Goorney did exceptionally well to win silver in the V45 and bronze in the V35.

Junior girls at Leigh XC

Not to be outdone, Lytham juniors were also out in force for the fixture. The first race of the day was the under 11 girls where Lytham had four representatives.

First home for Lytham was Sophie Bohannon finishing in second place in a time of 6:01 for the 1800m race just 1 second behind the winner. In her first season of cross country Sophie has performed well all season to finish 2nd overall for a silver medal in the under 11 girls’ competition.  Also in their first season for Lytham were Jessica Ramsden (43rd), Hebe Tierney (52nd) and Amara Thorpe (59th) finishing as 6th team.

The under 11 boys team of George Denye (4th), Morgan Pritchard (31st) and Eric Wrigley (36th) finished as 6th team and with George confirming bronze medal for the season.

Lytham had 2 athletes in the under 13 girls race with Sydney Ramsden (43rd) getting the better of team mate Rebecca Tate (52nd).

Last event to include Lytham junior athletes was the under 15 girls’ 3000m race.  First home for Lytham and another making her debut was Alicia Middlehurst (5th in 11:21).  Completing the team and finishing as 4th under 15 girls team were Laura Bremner (26th), Lucy Bohannon (32nd) and Holly Anderson (36th). 

Elsewhere Felicity Wolohan ran the High Legh 10K in Lymm on Sunday in far from ideal conditions with plenty of rain and puddles. For these efforts Felicity earned a personal best time of 43.03 and came second lady, 60th overall.

Also running in poor weather, Sylvia Gittens claimed fourth place in the vet ladies 65-74 category in the Eastbourne half marathon with a time of 02:18:07.