LSARRC News 25th April 2017

Andy Draper

Last weekend was marathon weekend with both the London and Blackpool marathons on the same day.

Conditions on Sunday in London were near perfect with cool, dry weather and a light breeze. Runners had the pleasure of live music around the course with a fantastic crowd giving enthusiastic support throughout.

Andy Draper wasn't in personal best (PB) shape following some injuries earlier in the year so was running with the aim of hitting 2:50. However after a great run to go through the halfway point in 1:24:32 he felt strong enough to push harder through the second half. He achieved a “negative split”, that is running the second half faster than the first. Out of a record 40,000 plus finishers Andy came 682nd.

Chris McCarthy

Unless you are one of the faster elite, London is a very crowded race and it can be difficult for runners to achieve their desired pace. Despite this Chris McCarthy knocked nearly four minutes off his pb, and Mel Koth shaved nearly 20 minutes from her time last year. Mel reported that members from all of the Fylde’s running clubs supported each other throughout the race in keeping with the spirit of the event.

Lytham results from London: Andy Draper 2:47:51, 682nd; Chris McCarthy 2:54:07, 1168th; Mel Koth 3:20:45, 4676th and 84th FV40-44; Graham Webster 3:25:51, 5456th and 15th vet 65-69; Fiona Geldard 4:36:18, 22170th.

Meanwhile in Blackpool, Lytham St Annes Road Runners Mike Toft, and brothers Neil and Alex Tate all managed top 25 finishes. On a fast course and in good conditions, Mike broke the three-hour barrier to finish sixth in 2:55:16. Neil suffered from starting too quick but still happy to finish 16th in 3:02:10 while younger brother Neil also did well to finish 25th from nearly 500 finishers. Running her first marathon, Natalie Toft finished 442nd in 5:16:59.

As well as the marathon, the Blackpool 10K and half-marathons took place. Achieving a personal best in the half was Sue Hawitt with a time of 1:53:52. Sue was also the fourth lady vet over 50.

Sue Hawitt

In the 10K Kathy Gaunt was also the fourth FV50 and Kirsten Burnett the second FV40. Lytham’s other entrant, Rob Parker, was 76th overall.

Joanna Goorney (courtesy of woodentops.co.uk)

Prolific fell racer Joanna Goorney ran the Anniversary Waltz Fell Race on Saturday.  The race takes in the classic Newlands horseshoe in the North Lakes starting from the village hall in Stair.  It was just over 11 and half miles with 3600 feet of ascent.  Weather was perfect, sunshine and a light breeze giving excellent visibility of the surrounding fells.  Joanna finished in 172nd place, and 1st WV40 in a time of 2:19:13.

Greg Oulton isn’t usually one to complain but he found the Wray Scarecrow 10K in North Lancashire tough going on Saturday. The race, which is part of the Scarecrow Festival and Fair, is undulating and Greg struggled to get back to the village inside the hour on a warm day, finishing 132nd.

In the Parkrun races Michelle Hook was the first lady at the Preston meeting on Saturday. On the same day in Lytham nine year old Jessica Ramsden smashed her pb despite having to stop at one point to wait for her accompanying adult - new PB 25:30.

George Denye ran the junior Parkrun in Lytham on Sunday for the fourth time and clocked up win number four comfortably in 7:23 despite a fall at the last corner that cost him several seconds. Jessica Ramsden took her age category record in a new PB of 8:58 only just behind older sister Sydney.

LSARRC News 18th April 2017

Lee Morrison at Caldervale 10

On Good Friday was the Caldervale 10 mile race, a race not for the faint hearted or lover of a flat race course! What started out as a murky, windy, rainy morning thankfully cleared a bit so it was dry and only breezy for the race at 1pm. Lytham had 2 runners representing the club, Lee Morrison and Michelle Hook. The first 2 miles is a glorious 2 mile down hill which for a second makes you forget about the hills to come! Almost bang on 2 miles the hills began for a solid 5 miles of incline (612ft of gain total) that was seriously character building. Thankfully the home stretch was pretty flat and down hill in comparison so some time could be made up on the other side. Michelle was 1st back for the club out of the 168 runners  in 1:15:01 for 44th overall and 8th female. Lee Morrison closely followed in 1:16:26.

This week 26 Lytham Road runner took part in parkruns up and down the country. For Lytham Halls parkrun we had 16 runners turned out, the first runner back was Joanna Goorney who was first women back in 19:33! The next runner back was Neil Bayntun- Roberts in 20:18, Michelle Hook in 20:33, Neil Tate in 20:40 and Felicity Wolohan in 20:47. The next Lytham runner back was Babara Holmes in 20:55, Babara was the 5th female to finish the race and earned a 25 second PB! Terry Hellings was next back in in 21:19, Sue Hawitt in 24:19, Jeremy McCandless in 28:55 and Laura Byrne in 29:21. Ruth Bye and Gillian Oliver finished their race together in 29:37, Liz Boon was next back in 29:52, David Rigby in 30:19, Michelle Sheridan in 31:50 and Sarah Bradshaw in 34:35.

Michelle Hook at Caldervale 10

In other parkruns, Eric Wrigley and Penny Morrison both ran in the Stanley Park Parkun and came 24:30 and 31:02. Paul Veevers ran in the Crosby parkrun and finished in an impressive time of 17:34 coming second male in the race. Andrew Draper and Gillian Draper both ran in the Fell Foor Parkrun in Newby Bridge. Andrew who is training for the London Marathon finished in 18:15 and Gillian in 23:31. Graham Webster ran in the Exeter Riverside Parkrun and finished his race in 19:48. Greg Oulton ran in the Cuerden Valley parkrun and completed his race in 30:17. Ian Tate ran the Warrington park run in 20:41. Catherine Carrdus came second female in the Preston parkrun in 20:01 and Sylvia Gittins ran in the Bushy parkrun in 29:46. Well done to all Lytham Parkrunners.

LSARRC News 11th April 2017

Lytham Ladies at Blackpool Inter Club

Chris McCarthy

A sure sign that summer is round the corner as the first race of the 2017 inter-club season was held in Stanley Park on Wednesday. The inter-club is an annual series of seven races, each hosted by one of the clubs in our part of Lancashire.

In this event, hosted by Blackpool, Wyre and Fylde AC, a record 390 competitors raced a two lap, four mile course in and around Stanley Park. Another record was that 37 turned out for Lytham St Annes Road Runners. Although the club were still one of the smallest there, they punched above their weight in the results, especially in the women’s categories.

First back for Lytham was Chris McCarthy in 6th position, closely followed by Joe Greenwood in 9th and Andy Draper in 11th. Mike Toft, running his first inter-club, also posted an excellent result by finishing 14th. Paul Veevers in 26th and Alex Tate in 29th were Lytham’s other top 30 finishers, leading the team to a creditable fourth place in the standings.

Gill Draper

For the ladies, Jo Goorney was the second woman, and the first FV40 with Michelle Hook 5th. Barbara Holmes in 11th, Mel Koth in 12th, and a rapidly-improving Gill Draper in 23rd formed the rest of the team that finished the second in the ladies’ category.

The FV40 team went one better and won their category. Again, Jo Goorney, Barbara Holmes and Mel Koth, this time with Kathy Gaunt and Debbie Cooper, were the stars.

Another winner was Joe Greenwood in the Fleetwood 10K on Sunday. Winning a road race for the first time, Joe lead the field by over a minute with a finishing time of 35:16. In very warm conditions, Mel Koth was Lytham’s first lady home to finish second in the ladies category, and the first FV40 in 44:34. Gill Draper and Kathy Gaunt also had good runs to come eighth and nineth ladies respectively, in 47:44 and 47:51. Sarah Bagshaw also ran, the 94th lady.

Mike Toft

Meanwhile on the South coast, prolific marathon runner Roy Stevens was one of the 12,000 plus competitors in the Brighton marathon on the hottest day of the year. Despite the heat, 65 year-old Roy still broke the four-hour barrier to finish 2,183rd, and ninth from 53 in his vet 65 category.

Aiming to become a prolific marathon runner, Kirsten Burnett ran her sixth race at this distance in Manchester the previous weekend. Last weekend she ran her seventh in Paris. In the Schneider Electric Marathon de Paris, and in 24 degrees of heat, Kirsten was slower than the previous weekend but still managed the 26.2 miles in in 04:36:18 to finish 28,236th!

Happy birthday to George Denye, who is 11 this week. In his last race as a 10 year-old George won the Avenham Park Junior Parkrun for the eighth time, and by over a minute. He leaves his age category holding the category records for Lytham and Blackpool Parkruns ,as well as the local junior Parkruns. He now has new goals in the 11 – 14 age group.

Neil Tate and Paul Veevers

LSARRC News 4th April 2017

Felicity Wolohan

Felicity Wolohan is one of Lytham St Annes Road Runners most improved athletes of recent years. To underline this she knocked over 16 minutes off her previous personal best in the Manchester Marathon on Sunday.

Running in near perfect conditions on a superfast course with great crowd support was always going to be advantageous and Felicity took full advantage with a time of 03:14:50. Felicity was also 8th in her category, 49th female and 947th overall in a race between over 8,500 competitors.

Also running for Lytham were Thomas Howarth, Paul Veevers and Kirsten Burnett. Thomas broke the three hour barrier with a time of 02:59:33 to finish 400th. Paul was a bit further back in 1012th, 03:16:03. Meanwhile Kirsten was 5844th with a time of 04:26:13 in her sixth marathon. The dreaded cramp struck during mile 22 to drag her time down but she is still determined to run her seventh marathon in Paris this weekend.

The final club handicap race of the year-long season took place on Thursday.  Mark Selby had a convincing win but the outstanding run of the evening was a PB for Joe Greenwood, the fastest on the winter course by anyone this year.

In a remarkably tight finale to the season Colin Laidlaw came out on top to win the Handicap Plate trophy, just one point ahead of Greg Oulton who takes the runner-up medal and three better than Sue Hawitt. On the night Colin was just three seconds ahead of the next placed person; had he been slightly slower there would not have been a clear winner.

Mel Koth was the first V40 and fourth lady at the Darwin Heritage Half Marathon on Sunday. Finishing 80th overall out of 311, in a time of 1:42:04 Mel happily recorded that she was 1:43 minutes faster than last year. Not an easy task on a course nicknamed the “rollercoaster” due to its hills.

Jo Goorney at Pendle Fell Race

Meanwhile over on the fells Jo Goorney ran the Pendle Hill Fell race, which included the Lancashire Championships. The 4 and a half mile race started by the village hall in Barley and has 1499 feet of ascent including a tough steep climb up Pendle Hill's Big End. 190 brave souls managed this great effort, and Jo was the ninth woman.

Ten-year-old George Denye was at it again on Sunday at the Avenham Park Junior Park Run in Preston. He won it for the seventh time in a new personal best time, and with a new Avenham Park age category record of 7:29. Turning 11 next week will give George a new list of records to break.

Jeremy and Paula McCandless at Lytham Hall parkrun

At the Lytham Hall Parkrun on Saturday LSARRC members took four of the top five places. Chris McCarthy was first with a new pb of 16:52. Andy Draper, Ross McKelvie (new pb) and Neil Tate were the other three. Also achieving new pbs from the club were Eric Wrigley, Stu Wharrior and Paula McCandless.

83 juniors took park in the Lytham Park View Junior Parkrun the following day. LSARRC again provided the winner in Morgan Pritchard, with Eric Wrigley coming fourth and Archie Tate setting himself a new pb of 08:37 to finish fifth. Also setting new pbs were Jack Greaves and Sophie Tate, with Charlotte Thompson running the event for the first time.