LSARRC News 4th June 2019

Melanie Koth completes challenging triathlon
On Sunday Melanie Koth of Lytham completed her first ever EpicMan Windermere Middle Distance Triathlon.

It included a 1.2Mile swim in lake Windermere, a 56Mile bike ride and finishes with a half marathon.
There was beautiful sunshine in the morning (7am) for the start of the swim. Koth explained that all the competitors got split up in to 3 waves. The lake was calm, and we had to swim a single lap around the lake. As soon the swim was finished, we had to cycle mostly in rain a brutal but scenic route. There were hills after hills, and they were unbelievable steep. To finish off we had to run the half marathon in a mixture of cross country and trail.

Koth had a good race, even she had bad cramp on her right calf after the swim. The bike was tough, and Koth said her legs were shuttered after the 2 laps. The run took competitors through a twisty forest with lots of ups and downs with some very muddy fields to battle. It was 4 laps and the spectators and Marshalls were brilliant and very encouraging. Koth managed to finish as 9th lady out of 40, 2nd vet40 and 118th overall out of 234 finishers.

Also, on Sunday Sylvia Gittins ran the Morecambe 10K in a fantastic time of 01:00:12.  With regards to parkrun, not as many club runners took part as the local Lytham Hall parkrun was cancelled.  Gerry Browne of Lytham, and several others did complete the Blackpool parkrun, with Browne first to finish in 22:55 for 23rd.  Anther highlight was Johnathon Tuck who completed the Preston parkrun in 18:49.

Junior news
A busy week for Rebecca Fisher started at Trafford open meeting on bank holiday Monday with 3 personal best performances of 13.35 in the 75m hurdles, 22.62m and a silver medal in the discus and 7.71m in the shot.  Younger sister Charlotte also ran a personal best of 14.42 in the 70m hurdles.   Rebecca went on to compete in the Wyre and Fylde HS Combined Events Championships on Wednesday taking first place in the 75m hurdles, high jump and discus and finishing 2nd overall.

Saturday saw 5 Lytham junior athletes compete at the 3rd fixture of the Mid Lancs Track and field league at the UCLAN sports arena, Preston.  In her 3rd competition of the week Rebecca Fisher competed in 3 events and was top scorer for Lytham finishing 1st in division 2 in the shot with a personal best of 7.78m and first in the discus with a best throw of 21.14m. Fisher went on to finish 2nd in division 2 in the 75m hurdles in a time of 13.5s picking up a total of 19 points.  Younger sister Charlotte finished 3rd in division 2 in the 70m hurdles in 15.3s.  Under 13 girls Amara Thorpe and Clemmie Tierney both competed in the first event of the day, the 100m finishing in 15.4s and 16.0s respectively.  Thorpe and Tierney both went on to compete in the long jump with Thorpe finishing 9th from 34 with a seasons best of 3.53m and Tierney clearing 3.36m.  In the 200m Thorpe and Tierney finished in 32.2s (seasons best) and 33.7s respectively.  Under 13 boy Oliver Thomson finished 2nd in division 2 in the 1500m in a time of 5m 32.2s.

5 of Lytham’s juniors took part in the Park View junior parkrun on Sunday.  First home for Lytham and 3rd overall was Eric Wrigley in a time of 8.16 just getting the better of team mate Archie Belfield (4th in 8:18).  Also representing Lytham were Bobby Hastwell (6th in 8:56), Joe Alker (13th in 10:02) and Evie Alker (20th in 10:55).