LSARRC News 27th June 2017

In Lytham St Annes Road Runners’ Club there are one or two people for whom normal race distances just aren’t enough. These are members who like to take part in ultra-distance races, that is any race that is over a full marathon in length. Debbie Cooper is one of these, and proved it by running the South Wales 50 at the weekend. Fifty miles that is.

Due to a navigation error, her group actually ran an incredible 54.69 miles in approximately 13 hours 43 minutes. The total ascent was 10,997 feet, sometimes in damp and misty conditions, and sometimes on paths overgrown with scratching brambles.

Debbie knows she finished as the third lady, and, alongside partner Daryl, eighth overall. And all this was just a warm-up for the big event at the end of July, the Lakeland 100. Yes, that is 100 miles. 

Lytham runners Chris McCarthy, Julia Rolfe and Greg Oulton ran Aggie’s Staircase fell race on Thursday. At 4.1 miles with and just under 1000 feet of ascent, the race starts with a sprint across a field to a narrow path which climbs steeply for a mile to Darwen Tower (officially known as Jubilee Tower), with a slight dip at the half mile point. From the tower it drops for half a mile before rising again via a rough trail through the heather and bracken, before dropping back to the start.

Aggie’s Staircase itself is actually the name of one of the three climbs, the steepest and, fortunately, also the shortest. Run in glorious weather the only thing missing was the mud, which is the norm for a fell race. Despite a fall, Chris finished twelfth in 32:28. Julia came second in her F50 category in 47:30 while Greg was 136th from the 153 finishers in 50:49.

Constantly improving Felicity Wolohan achieved yet another pb on Sunday. A week after her superb performance at Freckleton, this time she was in action in the Penny Lane 10K in Liverpool. Hosted by the Penny Lane Striders club, the course of the race has been improved in recent years to make it faster and flatter. Felicity took full advantage to break her pb by 45 seconds with a time of 40:18, and to finish as the fourth woman. And this was the day after running the 5k Long Eaton Parkrun, in which she was the first woman and 16th overall from 386 competitors.

LSARRC News 20th June 2018

LSARRC at Freckleton Half Marathon

In 42 years of women competing in the Freckleton Half Marathon no team had ever taken the top two positions in the ladies’ race. That was until Sunday when Lytham ladies Jo Goorney and Felicity Wolohan smashed that record by taking first and second.

One of the highlights of the local racing calendar, the Freckleton Half Marathon is the oldest such race in the country. The men’s race was first ran in 1964 with the ladies’ joining them in 1976. Starting at 2pm on a June afternoon it is inevitable that some years will experience exceptionally warm conditions, and that is exactly what happened for Sunday’s race.

Despite the weather, there was a good turnout of Lytham St Annes Road Runners. The race as ever was well-supported by the Freckleton and surrounding district communities who came out with drinks, wet sponges, hose pipes and sweets for the hot and grateful competitors.

Jo Goorney finished as the first woman for the second year on the trot with Felicity Wolohan just a few seconds behind. Michelle Hook in sixth ensured the Lytham ladies team also took first place for a clean sweep of the top prizes.

Not to be totally outdone, Lytham’s men had two in the top five with Mike Toft third and Joe Greenwood fifth. They lead the men’s team to second place, narrowly missing out to Preston Harriers.

Full Lytham results for Freckleton Half: Mike Toft 3rd, 01:19:01; Joe Greenwood 5th, 01:20:16; Tom Howarth 21st, 01:27:53; Paul Veevers 25th, 01:29:06; Alex Tate 29th, 01:29:20; Neil Tate 31st, 01:30:46; Neil Baynton-Roberts, 36th, 01:32:11; Jo Goorney, 43rd & 1st lady, 01:33:14; Felicity Wolohan 45th & 2nd lady, 01:33:55; Michelle Hook 68th & 6th lady, 01:40:05; Ian Tate 86th, 01:42:49; Alan Elstone 135th, 01:49:34; Mark Selby 166th, 01:54:15; Sue Hawitt 241st & 5th FV50, 02:04:49; Chris Bowker 310th, 02:17:16, and Ruth Bye    345th & 17th FV35, 02:23:39.

Wednesday was the night of the Preston Harriers Interclub event – a 4.16 mile course consisting of 2 loops of Avenham Park and Old Tram Road, featuring the notorious Avenham Park hill. The evening was a very hot and humid 25 degrees under a cover of cloud with little to no breeze, making the event a challenge.

LSARRC at the Preston Inter Club

Sandwiched in between the Welsh Castles and Freckleton Lytham were never going to field their best team. Nevertheless, 34 club members turned out with the ladies performing best, coming fourth overall and second in the FV40 category. Excellent performances from Catherine Carrudus , the first lady and FV40, and Jo Goorney in third (second FV40), and Michelle Hook in fifth earned the team their places.

Just five Lytham juniors and one senior made it to the third fixture of the Mid Lancs Track and Field at Hyndburn on Saturday. In very hot conditions the athletes performed well despite their inexperience, with four of the six athletes making their first appearance at Track and Field.

Emily Balshaw at the Mid Lancs T and F

First on the track for Lytham and making her debut was under 15 girls Emily Balshaw in the 800m. Emily ran an excellent tactical race despite her inexperience, gradually working her way through the field finishing strongly taking second place in her heat and third in division 2 in a time of 2m 41.2s, picking up 4 points for the club.

Under 13 boy George Denye opted for the 1500 and dominated the race from the start winning comfortably in 5m 14.2s for 7 points. George also finished second in his heat of the 200m in 31.6s earning another 7 points for the Lytham.

Sydney Ramsden at the Mid Lancs T and F

Another debutant on the track was under 13 girl Sydney Ramsden who finished fifth in the 1500 in a time of 6m 9s but first in division 2 for 7 points. The final T&F debutant was Rebecca Tate in the 200m, finishing in a time of 34.7s for 5th place in division 2 and picking up 2 points. Rebecca also competed in the javelin with a best of 10.25m for 4th place in division 2 and 4 points.

Laura Bremner in just her second ever track trace finished strongly in the under 15 girls 1500 moving up from fifth to third in the last 200m to finish in a pb of 5m 55.7s and earning 5 points for the club for second place in division 2.

The only senior Lytham athlete to make the trip was Ross McKelvie. Ross was also making his first appearance on the track and performed well in the senior men’s 800m race to take third place in a close race finishing in 2m 19.6s for 4 points for Lytham.

Barbara Holmes was third in F55-59 category at Ironman 70.3 in Staffordshire on Sunday.   A 1.2 Mile swim (31:18 ), 56 mile cycle (3:04:04) and 13.1 mile run (2:10:13) made a total time of 05:54:45.   Again, the weather was very hot and, as in the Freckleton race, runners were doused from hosepipes around the course sprayed by kind local residents.

LSARRC News 13th June 2017

Emily and Steve Hargreaves
- stage winners at WCR

This Wednesday George Denye, a Lytham Junior, ran the second race in the Astley Park Trail Junior Series. This was a mile long undulating course on a mixture of grass and trail. George finished in 5:30 for 12th place in a field of 115 dominated by much older children - most being mature teenagers.

This Thursday was the second of the Inter Club fell races, the Welsh Two Lads race. This is a 5.25 mile rcae with just over 1000 feet of climb. It was a tough race with heat, mud, steep ascents and descents, as well as one section along a tree shrouded almost dry, rocky river bed, which made for difficult conditions.

Lytham had 6 runners who took place in this race. Debbie Cooper finished in 49:53, Julia Rolfe in 55:04 and Sue Hawitt in 56:26. Pam Hardman was next in 58:52, Greg Oulton in 1:03:31 and Dawn Lock on 1:18:28.

On Saturday was Lytham Hall’s 75th Parkrun and, 103 runners took part in the race. The first runner back was Lythams own Paul Veevers, who finished the course in 17:56. Morgan Pritchard was the 13th runner back in 21:36 and Liz Boone finished in 28:52.
Other Lytham runner who competed in parkrun’s were James Buckley who ran in the Shipley Country parkrun, finishing his race in 22:47.

On Satuday Rebecca Willetts competed in the Great North mile swim in Windermere. It was a wet and windy day, which made the sea very choppy. Despite this Rebecca finished in 698th place in 37:27!

On Sunday six Lytham juniors competed in the Lytham parkrun junior race. The first back was Morgan Pritchard in 7:35, Eric Wrigley finished his race in 8:23 and Lewis Bentley was next back in 8:27. Clemmie Tierney finished her run in 9:24, Hollie Andserson in 9:44 and Sophie Tate finished in 11:57. George Denye also took part in the Avenham Park Junior Parkrun and finished his race in 7:32. Well done to all our juniors!

Also on Sunday Paul Veevers competed in the EpicMan middle distance triatholon based at Halton in Lancashire, after coming first at Lytham Parkrun! The open water swim was cancelled as the river Lune was too high and fast but the bike and run went ahead. Paul completed the 56-mile bike ride and 13.1 mile run in total time of 5hrs 29 minutes and 16 seconds for 96th place.

Debbie Cooper ran in the Northerns ultra shires and spires race on Sunday. It was a tough race, especially as Debbie thought it was going to be mainly a road race and fairly flat! Even so Debbie finished the 35 mile race in 6:10:06 and was 4th in her age category and 6th lady overall. 

LSARRC supporting on Stage 1 of WCR

This weekend was also the clubs annual Welsh Castles relay weekend. This weekend consist of 20 stages averaging 10 miles per leg creating a 200 mile relay across Wales. It a funny, entertaining and sometime challenging weekend, that I would recommend any new runner try and attend at least once in their time running!

Roy Stevens on Stage 4

The team arrived on Friday from mid afternoon to evening at Caenarfon in pleasant sunny weather, little di they know that would be last bit they saw until nearly the end of leg 19 of 20! The team knocked 38 minutes off the previous team best time that was set back in 2012. The team came in 29th place overall which is their  2nd best result ever, but our best since the number of teams was increased to 66. We had 3 new LSARRC stage records and 1 new female record set, well done to Joe, Chris, Emily and Steve.

Olivia Johnson on Stage 9

Full LSARRC results: Stage 1 Willie Richmond 39th  1:12:20; Stage 2 Terry Hellings 25th 1:16:43; Stage 3 Joe Greenwood 7th in 1:13:28; Stage 4 Roy Stevens 40th 1:15:54; Stage 5 Michelle Hook 17th 1:08:18; Stage 6 Richard Storey 39th 1:24:20. Richard described his race as cold and wet with a howling gale. The course took a route along a wooden footbridge, where Richard was almost blown sideways! Fortunately once on the other side of the woods the rain stopped as the trees provided an almost shelter . Stage 7 was run by Joanna Goorney 31st 1:09:17; Stage 8 Mel Koth 30th 1:19:24, stage 9 Olivia Johnson 45th 1:14:16; stage 10 Chris McCarthy 10th 1:20:05; Stage 11 Tom Howarth 20th 1:21;41; stage 12 Emily Hargreaves 1st Lady 1:13:16; stage 13 Ian Tate 32nd 1:18:05; stage 14 Andy Draper 9th 1:09:41.It was Andy’s 3rd time doing this race and he managed to achieve a pb, which is impressive considering the race consisted of dry spells, then wind, then rain! Stage 15 was run by Steve Hargreaves 2nd 1:13:18; Stage 16 Neil Tate 21st 1:00:27; Stage 17 Als Everest 36th in 1:12:11; Stage 18 Dave Dun 35th 1:08:06; Greg Oulton 44th 1:12:59; Alan Elstone 43rd 1:13:32.

Ian Tate on Stage 13

Alan commented that his leg was a nice mostly flat route which was mainly off road. He said he enjoyed the race especially the support from the team ay the finish line that spurred him on to do an impressive sprint finish! Well done to all the runners who not only raced but organised this brilliant race, it wouldn’t have been the same without all your organisation, thank you!

LSARRC News 6th June 2017

Clemmie Tierney, Jess Ramsden and Jayden Richardson at Park View Junior parkrun

The first race of the week, on the first day of the week, was the Fishwick 5 mile run held on Bank Holiday Monday 29th May. On a breezy and rainy morning, 2 of Lytham’s Men competed in this local event described as a 5 Mile scenic run taking in parts of Guild Wheel, Woodland trail with some nice inclines. Chris McCarthy was first back for the club in 4th place overall and a time of 30:52, followed by Neil Tate in 8th place and a time of 33:15.

On Wednesday 31st, in much more favourable conditions albeit a little humid, was the first of 3 Midsummer Mile events held at UCLAN Sports track; a new event in the calendar run on an accurately measured 1 mile lap of the cycle track. 4 Lytham runners (3 juniors, 1 senior) ran the route in a field of 25 recording 3 Personal Bests for Andy Draper finishing 2nd in 5:02, George Denye finishing 14th in 5:38 and Jessica Ramsden in 7:26, and a Seasons Best for Sydney Ramsden in 7:01.

Thursday evening saw the first of a 3 race series of the Badger 10k run in Cuerden Park. It is a tough 10k around the park with a few nasty climbs, steps, stiles and fields. On a warm, sticky night, Mel Koth and Julia Rolfe took on the challenge, with Mel finishing in 46:07 for 37th place out of 183 and second V40, with Julia finishing in 55:31 and 6th V50.

Saturday 3rd June saw Lytham Runners scattered across a number of local parkruns due to Lytham Hall being out of use this week and yet another warm, sunny and humid morning. At
Preston parkrun we were represented by Tom Howarth on his first run at Preston, who ran the course in 19:14 for 7th place, with Catherine Carrdus on his heels finishing 1 second later in 19:15 for 1st female and 8th place overall out of 343 runners. Robert Parker completed the Lytham line up in 26:30 for 132nd place.

Lytham’s neighbouring parkrun at Blackpool saw 7 LSARRC runners in attendance. First home for the club around the 2 lap course run at Stanley Park was Andy Draper on his first outing at Blackpool, finishing in 3rd place in 17:50. Following Andy was Neil Tate, for 4th place in 18:22. First female overall and for the club was Michelle Hook in a 5k PB time of 20:17, followed by James Buckley in 23:04, Eric Wrigley in 24:15, and Gill Draper and Jennifer Aldworth finishing the run together in 25:47.

Joe Greenwood at Cuerden Valley parkrun

Cuerden Valley parkrun saw Joe Greenwood and Kirsten Burnett tackle the renowned undulating course along with 177 other runners. Joe finished first overall in a great time of 18:56, with Kirsten finishing 92nd in 29:55.

Holly Anderson at Park View Junior parkrun

Eric Wrigley at Park View Junior parkrun

Sunday 4th June saw a number of runner tackling a variety of distances. Firstly, the Park View Junior parkrun saw 8 Lytham juniors take on the run with George Denye finishing first overall in a time of 7:17, close to his course record. Next was Morgan Pritchard setting a new PB in 7:27, followed by Eric Wrigley in 8:28. Clemmie Tierney (9:12), Jessica Ramsden (9:15), Holly Anderson (10:04), Sophie Tate (11:13) and Sebastian Koth-Wragg (12:40) completed the junior line up.


Sunday also saw Greg Oulton tackle the Lakeland Trials Coniston Marathon. The race started in the blazing heat at 7am heading into the town then turning towards Tarn Hows, heading  clockwise round Coniston Water through Grizedale Forest, over High Nibthwaite, round the bottom of the lake and up the west side back to the camp site. With over 3000ft of climb, this is not a race for the feint-hearted. Greg completed the course, after being in hospital the previous week, in 6:10:35. Brilliant running and effort Greg. On the same day, albeit a fraction of the distance but undoubtedly still challenging, John Wild completed the Lakeland Trials Coniston 10k in 1:12:06, and Liz Boon in 1:17:20.

Greg Oulton at Lakeland Trials Coniston Marathon