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