LSARRC News 9th May 2017

Morgan Pritchard with a new PB at Lytham Hall parkrun

Saturday 6th May saw the Lytham Road Runners take part in 4 different parkruns. On our doorstep, a nice round 10 runners took to Lytham Hall parkrun in field of 180 runners to kick start the weekend with 4 new PB times, a brilliant result! First home for the club in 2nd place overall was Andy Draper in 17:39, just 4 seconds off his personal best. Following Andy for 4th place was Neil Tate in 18:25 and Morgan Pritchard for 3rd Lytham runner home and 10th overall in 20:35 setting a new PB time. Next was Neil Bayntun-Roberts in 20:40 for 12th, Terry Hellings in 21:33 for 18th, junior Finlay Hughes in 22:31 for 27th and a new PB time, and Roy Stevens in 23:48 in 27th and also setting a new PB. Following Roy was our 4th PB time of the parkrun for Rob Parker in 24:14 for 39th, Kirsten Burnett in 24:25 for 43rd overall and 4th lady and Sarah Bradshaw in 32:19 for 144th.

Just down the road, 4 Lytham runners completed the Blackpool parkrun out of 187 for the first time. First home for the club in 19:25 and 8th place overall was Tom Howarth, followed closely by the first female finisher Catherine Carrdus in 19:34 for 10th place overall. Graham Webster was next for the club finishing in 20:29 and 14th place, and Clare England in 26:07 for 65th.

Further afield, Ian Tate completed the Warrington parkrun in 20:44 for 10th place overall out of 482 runners, and Joanna Goorney at Dewsbury parkrun finishing the course in 19:58 for 4th out of 100 runners and first overall lady.

On Sunday 7th May, our 7 of our juniors took part in the Park View junior parkrun with 5 setting PB times. First junior home, and also first junior overall on the back of his PB the previous day, was Morgan Pritchard setting another PB finishing in 07:38 for a great weekend of racing, well done Morgan. 2nd junior overall and for Lytham was Sophie Bohannon in 07:45 for another PB, followed by Finlay Hughes in 5th place in 08:18. Lucy Bohannon was 10th in 09:00, Jessica Ramsden in 09:07, Clemmie Tierney in 09:16 and Holly Anderson in 09:45.

Mike Toft winning the Blackpool Beaverbrooks 10k

 For the seniors, and also 3 juniors, our runners represented across 3 races in the North West on Sunday in beautiful conditions, if a little warm for racing! The annual Blackpool Beaverbrooks 10k in its 36th year is a popular race in any calendar, whether a serious runner or fun runner. The course starts at the Savoy Hotel on the Promenade, running down the Golden Mile past the Pleasure Beach before turning and heading back up the Promenade for the big finish on Gynn Square. The fun run attracted 2080 people of all levels, no doubt helped along by the glorious clear sunny skies and very little wind, which is usual for Blackpool and clearly brought out the crowd support generating a fantastically fun atmosphere! Winning the race for the club in a sprint finish was Mike Toft in an incredible time of 35:54. Hot on his heels was Chris McCarthy, finishing in 4th place in 36:21 followed by Neil Tate in 41:26 running with one of the club juniors, George Denye in his debut 10k race in an astonishing 41:27 for the 1st under 16 and 40th overall. Next was Lee Morrison finishing in 42:43, Ian Tate in 43:47, Michelle Hook in 44:59 for 4th overall female, and Kathy Gaunt in 47:35. Running in memory of their mum and support of Trinity Hospice, raising over £800 in the process, Gill Draper along with her sister Alex Capstick completed the course in 50:04, a fantastic achievement ladies!  Completing the finish line up for the club were juniors Sydney Ramsden in her debut 10k race, in 50:31, and Francis Morrison in 55:05, Ruth Wheatley in 55:54, Olivia Johnson-Allen in 56:18, Natalie Toft in 58:44, Steve Tate in 59:12, Laura Byrne in 1:01:06, Penny Morrison in 1:05:45 and Michelle Sheridan in 1:10:39.

Neil Tate and George Denye

Michelle Sheridan

Another staple favourite in local runners calendars is the Blacksticks Blue 10k race, where runners are rewarded with the infamous Blacksticks Blue cheese! The race starts starts at Goosnargh Whitechapel Primary School taking an anticlockwise route towards Beacon Fell. After about a mile the race comes into its own, climbing continually for about two miles up Carwags Lane and Beacon Fell Road. Over the next mile the course undulates for a total climb over the race of 450 feet, before finishing downhill, with a final climb back to the school from the 6 mile mark. 4 Lytham runners took on the hills in the heat; first home for Lytham was Graham Webster, recently turned 65, in 43:49 (31st), followed by Richard Storey (53rd in 49:22), Roy Stevens (64th in 51:45), Bob Clough (96th in 59:00) and Greg Oulton (100th in 59:08). A great effort on a challenging course.
Finally, Felicity Wolohan was the clubs sole representative in the Liverpool Spring 10k. While the course was reasonably flat, the heat also made for a challenging race. In spite of this, including some deceptively tough inclines, F

Felicity recorded a PB by 2 minutes in 41:03 and was 8th lady out of 1712 and 110 out of 3471 overall. Another fantastic run!