LSARRC News 2nd January 2018

LSARRC at Ribble Valley 10k

On 31st December 2017 the Ribble Valley 10K took place and was attended by 7 Lytham runners.  The race goes back over 30 years to the early 1980s when Clayton Le Moors Harriers, Ron Hill’s club, first organised the race in the winter as the Clitheroe 10K in parallel with their Clitheroe 10-mile road race held in spring.  Sadly the 10 miler fell by the wayside but the 10K race survived.

The Ribble Valley 10K now has everything a road racer wants out of a road race.  The competition at the front increased in quality and times came down to regular sub 30-minute timings for the men and Olympian Helen Clitheroe herself regularly going under 33 minutes for the women.  The women’s course record is now held by her at 32mins 30 secs and in the men’s race by Jonny Mellor at 29mins and 10 secs.  He set the record in 2011 outsprinting Alistair Brownlee the soon to become Olympic triathlon champion.  The race now attracts over a thousand runners, catering very much for the casual runner and jogging fraternity and encourages runners of all abilities to compete.  The Ribbe Valley 10K road race incorporates the Northern 10K road championships.  This year there was GB international runner Marc Scott, Olympic silver champion Johnny Brownlee and Ben Fish a local GB runner on the start line.  The weather was perfect, sunshine and dry.  In some parts the wind blew quite strong.  The winner completed the course in under 30 minutes and Johnny Brownlee finished second.

Neil Tate at Liverbird Marathon

Mike Toft was first home for LSA in a superb time of 34:53 for 66th, he was closely followed by Chris McCarthy in 35:51 for 84th and Andrew Draper in 36:12 for 92nd.  A couple of minutes later Paul Veevers crossed the finishing line in 37:48 for 136th, Thomas Howarth was next in a time of 38:22 for 152nd.  The first female for the club was Melanie Koth who ran the course in a time of 45:46 for 419th and Kirsten Burnett finished in a respectable 51:35 for 722nd.   Koth reported that she struggled for the first 3 miles with her breathing (asthma) which may have been aggravated by the change of weather during the week.  However, she found the second half of the race much better and she was able to pick up the pace.

Also on New Year’s Eve Neil Tate ran the Liverbird Marathon in Liverpool.  Tate described the conditions as “brutal, with Storm Dylan ensuring that runners were made to suffer on the 4-lap curse along the docks”.  Tate finished in 8th place out of 177 finishers, and ran an incredible time of 3:06:35 in his 5th marathon.

Joanna Goorney and Greg Oulton did the Auld Lang Syne Fell Race from Penistone Hill Country Park on the moors above Haworth on New Years Eve.  The race was about six and three-quarter miles with 984 foot of ascent, an out and back course to Top Withins.  Many ran in fancy dress with Greg donning a Father Christmas outfit.  Double Olympic triathlon champion Alistair Brownlee of Bingle Harriers was 1st home in 44:54.  Joanna finished in 105th place in 58:05 and Greg was 331st in 85:07.  Altogether there were 368 finishers.

Greg Oulton and Joanna Goorney at the
Auld Lang Syne Fell Race (courtesy of woodentops.org.uk)

Joanna Goorney of Lytham completed the Nine Standards Fell Race on New Years day.  The race from Kirby Stephen was 8 miles long with 1801 feet of ascent up to the Nine Standards Rigg on the summit of Hartley Fell and then back.  Joanna finished 47th in 1:11:53, she was 4th female and 2nd vet 40, all together there were 133 finishers.

On Saturday 30th December several Lytham members completed 5K parkrun across the country.  Terry Hellings completed the Basildon parkrun in 22:40, coming 13th overall and 1st VM60-64.  Julia ROLFE travelled to Preston and completed the Preston park run coming 100th overall, and 9th female in a time of 26:02.  Felicity Wolohan completed the Princes parkrun in Liverpool in 20:48 for 17th overall and first female.  Further afield, junior Laura Byrne completed the Penrith parkrun coming 151st overall and 60th female.  Eric Wrigley, another junior completed the Witton parkrun and came 50th overall.  At the Stretford parkrun Graham Webster completed the course in 20:41 coming 1st in the VM65-69 category.  Paul Veevers completed the Crosby parkrun and came 2nd overall with a fantastic run of 19:31. Several Lytham runners completed the Lytham parkrun:  Ross McKelvie, Alex Tate, Susan Samme, Neil Bayntun-Roberts, Joanna Goorney, Gill Draper, Darran Ames, James Buckley, Kevin Murray, Greg Oulton, Neil Tate, Stephen Tate, Julie Wiseman, Jacqui Murray, Pat Bullen, Jeremy McCandless, Ruth Bye, Rebecca Fisher and Sydney Ramsden.  Special mention to Susan Samme who was first female to finish the parkrun in 19:50 which is her fastest run for many years.

As usual the junior parkrun at Pak View Lytham took place on Sunday, this was attended by 6 Lytham juniors, there were some great performances.  Clemmie Tierney ran fantastically well and gained the first female spot and Rosa Gill achieved a new personal best time.

Full Results:  Eric Wrigley 8:48 (4th), Clemmie Tierney 9:32 (5th), Jayden Richardson 9:42 (6th), Finlay Hughes 9:47 (7th), Leoma Gill 10:15 (11th), and Rosa Gill 11:32 (19th).

There was an exceptional turn out for the Lytham Hall Park parkrun on 1st January 2018, with 256 runners in all.  Twenty-one LSARRC members completed the course on the cold, brisk, morning.  Joe Greenwood was first to finish for the club in a time of 18:01 for second place overall, and 21 seconds later Andrew Draper finished in 18:22 for third.  Chris McCarthy ran 19:40 for 7th and Graham Webster was 1st VM65-69 in 20:42. An impressive run by Emily Balshaw led to her gaining the second female spot in 22:07.

Full Results:  Joe Greenwood 18:01 (2nd), Andrew Draper 18:22 (3rd), Chris McCarthy 19:40 (7th), Graham Webster 20:42 (17th), Mark Selby 21:37 (23rd), Darran Ames 21:45 (25th), Emily Balshaw 22:07 (35th), James Buckley 23:40 (56th), Gill Draper 24:54 (79th), Chris Bowker 25:11 (85th), Morgan Pritchard 25:32 (92nd), Brian Porter 25:56 (99th), Jake Balshaw 27:37 (117th), Neil Tate 27:38 (118th), Ian Balshaw 27:40 (120th), Julie Wiseman 30:34 (176th), Leoma Gill 30:35 (177th first timer/junior), Jacqui Murray 31:03 (186th), Rosa Gill 32:28 (206th first timer/junior), and Penny Morrison 33:00 (211th).

The Lytham parkrun started earlier than usual and on the same day the Blackpool parkrun stated later, so in theory some people could complete both parkruns f they wished, challenging themselves on the first day of the year.  Chris McCarthy did just that, and went on from Lytham to do the Blackpool parkrun in a time of 18:58 coming 4th overall.  He was chased by Paul Veevers of Lytham who ran the course in 19:03 for 5th.  Darran Ames also completed both parkruns, he managed the Blackpool course in a time of 21:44 for 23rd place.  James Buckley also headed over to Blackpool form the Lytham parkrun and managed the course in a great time of 25:06 for 50th place.  Likewise, Ian Balshaw completed the run in 26:13 for 61st place.  Julie Wiseman also completed both parkruns and she managed the course in 30:04.  Well done to all the double parkrun runners on New Year’s day!!