LSARRC News 18th July 2017

Windmill Half Marathon

Lytham St Annes Road Runners scored a double first on Sunday in the Windmill half marathon. Mike Toft was the clear race winner by over a minute while Felicity Wolohan was the first female by a margin of nearly five minutes.

The race took place on a flat and fast course around Lytham St Annes and Fairhaven Lake and eighteen Lytham Club Runners were amongst the 686 finishers. Felicity’s win was yet another personal best (pb) for her, and her first half marathon in under 90 minutes. Kathy Gaunt also added to the honours as the first female vet 50.

Felicity Wolohan and Mike Toft - 1st lady and 1st man

Sue Hawitt achieved set a new pb for the third year running at this event while Darran Ames also achieved a pb as he was running his first ever race at this distance.

Full Lytham results for the Windmill Half:
Mike Toft 1st, 01:17:28; Joe Greenwood 8th, 01:21:08; Neil Tate 11th, 01:24:54; Tom Howarth 22nd, 01:28:14; Chris McCarthy 27th, 01:29:17; Felicity Wolohan, 1st woman and 29th overall, 01:29:35; Darran Ames 114th, 01:42:55; Ross McKelvie 137th, 01:44:37; Alan Elstone 138th, 01:44:41; Kathy Gaunt 170th, 01:47:46; Sue Hawitt 226th, 01:52:31; James Buckley 250th, 01:55:05; Kirsten Burnett 285th, 01:57:24; Claire England 346th, 02:01:51; Olivia Johnson-Allen 398th, 02:06:10; Chris Bowker 419th, 02:08:18; Peter Reid 421st, 02:09:16, and Laura Byrne 569th, 02:24:50.

Earlier in the week, a great turnout of 19 Lytham runners travelled to Salt Eyre Leisure Centre, Lancaster on Wednesday for  the Lancaster 10k. Renowned as a fast course, Mike Toft (5th place, 35:41), Paul Veevers (10th, 37:11), Neil Tate (12th, 37:19), Alex Tate (14th, 37:49) and Paula McCandless (167th, 58:27) took full advantage by setting new PBs. Other notable runs came from Joe Greenwood 6th/35:43); Graham Webster (18th, 42:42) who set a new club record for the distance in his age group; and Claire England (37th, 54:02) who ran well despite recent injuries.

Lancaster 10k

The holiday season and the Windmill half took their toll on Lytham at the fifth inter club race of the summer in Clifton, with many of the club’s leading athletes missing. Hosted by Wesham RR, 25 Lytham Club members were among the 335 taking part. From the provisional results, Lytham still achieved fourth place overall, with a notable performance from the vet 60s in third place.

The performance of the night for the club was from Chris McCarthy in seventh. Joe Greenwood and Paul Veevers also achieved top twenty positions, while Michelle Hook was the third lady.

While everyone else was pounding the pavements for the Windmill Half Greg Oulton headed down to Wollybobs Farm in Darwen for the inaugural Wellybobs 10k Summer Trail Race.

Starting under a slightly overcast sky, it was still warm and the sun soon came out. The race was over two laps of a challenging multi-terrain course with 600 feet of climb that even seasoned off roaders said was tough. With a steep muddy climb, stiles and a few other muddy patches to negotiate it certainly taxed the legs. The official results are not yet out but Greg achieved a noteworthy time of 01:02:16.

Lytham club runners took the first male and female spots at Lytham Hall parkrun, with Chris McCarthy and Catherine Carrdus finishing in 17:44 and 18:48.  James Buckley (21:59), Eric Wrigley (22:38) and Ruth Bye (28:46) all beat their own course records.  Down in Kent, Bob Clough ran the Bedgebury Pinetum parkrun in 29:23.

There were also many Lytham club juniors at the 2k Park View junior parkrun on Sunday.  Morgan Pritchard (7:33) was first to finish, followed by Emily Balshaw with a personal best of 7:40. More personal bests came from Charlie Ormerod (7:55), Lucy Bohannon (8:55), Holly Anderson (9:07), Charlotte Fisher (9:20), and Rebecca Fisher (10:13). Well done too to Clemmie Tierney (9:13), Jack Greaves (10:09) and Sophie Tate (11:56).