LSARRC News 28th January 2020

Mike Toft and Liz Abbott shine at the St Anne’s 10 miler.

Some of  LSARRC ladies making their way to the start

Sunday saw the annual wind-fest that is the St Anne’s 10 miler. 24 Lytham Road Runner’s lined up on the start line ready to be challenged by the wet and windy conditions (as ordered by Tim Armit!!), never mind the 10-mile race that was ahead of them. A stiff head wind and intermittent showers greeted the runners for the first 5 miles, gradually easing off as the race went on.

Mike Toft

As befits the previous year’s winner Mike Toft, hoping to defend his title, was wearing number 1. However, despite pushing hard all the way he had to settle for second place behind Preston’s Joe Monk, but in doing so he became the club’s record holder for the 10-mile distance finishing in a time of 53m50s.

Another superb performance saw Liz Abbott next home for Lytham, 10th overall and 1st lady, taking the ladies title in a time of 1hr 00m 58s.

Joe Greenwood (17th overall, 1hr 02m 55s) and Tom Howarth (21st overall, 1hr 03m 23s) were the next runners home ensuring that the Lytham men’s team (Toft, Greenwood & Howarth) secured 1st position in the male team prize. An equally impressive performance saw Louise Cox finishing 84th overall, 8th female and 2nd F45 in a time of 1hr 13m 17s, followed by Claire Markham 148th overall and 27th female in a time of 1hr 23m 25s which also secured 1st position in the ladies team prize (Abbott, Cox & Markham) for Lytham.

Some of LSARRC at the St Annes 10 miler

Neil Tate (26th overall, 1hr 04m 26s) won the bragging rights by finishing ahead of his younger brother Alex (51st overall, 1hr 09m 27s). Paul Veevers (40th in 1hr 07m 02s), David Butler (66th in 1hr 10m 54s), Darran Ames (101st in 1hr 16m 22s), Gavin Stanfield (108th in 1hr 17m 33s), Lewis McAfee (115th in 1hr 18m 57s) and Kevin Murray (1hr 22m 13s) were the next group of runners home.

Also amongst the 355 finishers were Kathy Gaunt (149th overall, 28th female and 3rd in the F55 category in 1hr 23m 53s), Mick Widdop (174th in 1hr 27m 13s), Mark Hughes (180th in 1hr 27m 35s), Linda Chadderton (247th in 1hr 35m 23s), Jacqui Murray (250th in 1hr 36m 03s), Emma Johnston (252nd in 1hr 36m 19s), Jen Trohear (259th in 1hr 36m 34s), Laura Byrne (266th in 1hr 37m 25s), Sylvia Gittins (308th overall, 2nd F70+ in 1hr 43m 30s) and Michelle Sheridan (333rd in 1hr 52m 26s).

Lots of Lytham runners completed parkruns.  At Lytham the highlights were the first 4 spots being filled by Lytham runners.   Ross McKelvie was first in 17:08, followed by Chris McCarthy, Andrew Draper and Alex Tate.  Another highlight was Joanna Goorney finishing first lady at the Blackpool parkrun.

Junior news

On Monday 20th January, the LSARRC Monday young athletes group competed against Kirkham Grammar Junior School. All of the children took part in the speed bounce competition where all their scores were added up. Lytham won the boys event, with Morgan Pritchard and Jayden Richardson doing more than 50 bounces in 20 seconds and Keifer Richardson achieving a PB, also well done to Ellie Francis with 50 jumps. Jayden won the triple jump; Lily Long the high jump, Libby Hall was second in the long jump, Ruby Long second in the triple jump and Morgan Pritchard the javelin. Lytham also won the girls relay event. There were some very close finishes and superb performances in the 1, 2, 3 and 4 lap races. The enthusiasm and determination were fantastic to witness, particularly Esme Strengel who was by far the youngest athlete. Everyone competed in at least 5 events within the hour competition, Special thanks to Nat Francis, Rose McIntyre and Rosa Gill who stepped in at the last minute to do events that they had not chosen. Thank you to all of the coaches who made the event possible and to the parents who came along to support.

Just 4 of Lytham’s junior athletes took part in the Lytham 5k parkrun on Saturday.  Mathew Holton was 1st home for Lytham’s junior athletes finishing 7th overall and 1st in his JM11-14 age group in a personal best time of 20:04 (his 5th consecutive parkrun pb).  Finishing 2nd in the JM11-14 age group and 22nd overall was Oliver Thomson in a time of 21:38.  Lytham’s juniors also finished 1st and 2nd in the JM10 age group with Freddie Markham finishing 66th overall in 23:59 and James McAfee 175th in a personal best time of 29:11.

Lytham athletes filled the first 3 places in Sunday’s Park View 2k junior parkrun.  First home was Mathew Holton in 7:29, his 2nd personal best time of the weekend.  Jayden Richardson and Oliver Thomson were 2nd and 3rd in 7:44 and 7:48 respectively.  Oscar Drysdale finished 5th in 8:35 with Freddie Markham just behind in 6th with a time of 8:37, his 2nd parkrun of the weekend.  Kiefer Richardson and Georgina Andrews both ran persona best times of 9:31 and 9:32 for 12th and 13th places.  Also representing Lytham were Joe Alker (16th in 9:56), Evie Alker (26th in 10:41) and Lewis Ames (28th in 11:14).

LSARRC News 21st January 2020

Junior Sophie Bohannon earns Lancashire vest.

8 of Lytham St Anne’s RRC junior athletes were selected to represent Fylde schools in the Lancashire school’s cross-country championships at Witton Park, Blackburn on Saturday.

Clemmie Tierney ran in the year 7 girls race finishing 51st in 11:02 taking 5th place in the Fylde team and helping them into 7th place.  Finlay Hughes completed the year 7 boys’ race in 11:16 for 72nd place.   Lytham had 3 representatives in the junior boy’s race with Charlie Ormerod (45th in 17:23) and Oliver Thompson (53rd in 17:43) both making the Fylde team which finished as 7th team.  Morgan Pritchard finished just 1 place and 2 seconds behind Thompson for 54th place in 17:45. In the junior girl’s race Sophie Bohannon ran exceptionally well to finish 2nd in 14:30 earning herself selection to represent Lancashire Schools in the National championships.  Evie Houlihan also ran well in the junior girls race to finish 32nd in 16:23. Lytham’s final representatives in a competitive intermediate girls’ race with Maddy Markham who finishing a creditable 15th in with a time of 15:13 and Brogane Murphy 33rd in 18:57.

Just 3 of Lytham’s junior athletes took part in the Lytham Hall parkrun with Matthew Holton 1st home finishing 8th overall and as 1st in his JM11-14 age group with a personal best time of 20:15 (his 4th consecutive pb).  Freddie Markham also finished 2nd in his JM10 age group in a tome of 25:00 for 89th position overall.  Ella Wiseman finished 306th in 43:26.

Sunday’s Junior parkrun saw 12 of Lytham’s junior take part and Matthew Holton was again 1st home for Lytham finishing 2nd overall in 7:36 his 2nd personal best of the weekend.  Eric Wrigley (4th in 8:55), Adam Jackson (5th in 8:59), Finlay Hughes (7th in 9:00) and Roman Holmes (8th in 9:00) all finished within 5 seconds of each other with not far behind (9th in 9:07).  Also representing Lytham were Georgina Andrews (14ht in 10:07), Jayden Richardson (23rd in 10:56) Kiefer Richardson (25ht in 10:59), James McAfee (26th in 11:01), Evie Alker (28th in 11:04) and Joshua McAfee (51st in 13:01).

On Sunday senior, Mel Koth completed the 4 Villages Half marathon in Helsby.  Koth reported that the conditions weren’t ideal with it being very foggy and freezing.  However, the atmosphere was fantastic, lots of local villagers supported all the runners.  The route went through the 4 surrounding villages of Helsby. Not a very flat course.  This race got chosen as a qualifier for a GB master vest in the half marathon distance, so the field of runners were high class.  Koth had a decent run and finished in a time of 01:31:16, which is 35 sec faster than last year.  Koth came 322 overall out of 1720runners, 32 lady and 7th in her v45 age group.

Lots of Lytham runners completed parkruns.  At the Lytham Hall parkrun Ross McKelvie was 1st overall, Paul Veevers was 3rd and Alistair Leivers was 8th.  Not to be outdone the first 2 ladies spots went to Susan Samme and Gill Draper.  Sylvia Gittins also finished the course in 30:58.

Mark Hughes and Maria Tierney were tourists at the Witton park parkrun, and Claire England completed the Fleetwood Promenade parkrun.  At the Storthes Hall parkrun Joanna Goorney was first female.

LSARRC News 14th January 2020

Lytham Ladies excel at the Burnley cross-country fixture.

LSARRC ladies at Burnley

 The fourth meeting of this season’s Mid-Lancs Cross Country saw the Lytham runners travel to Towneley Park in Burnley, on Saturday 11th January.  Not to be put off by the blustery and overcast conditions, 9 senior Ladies and 9 Senior Men took to their respective start lines.

The ladies were first up to tackle their 5.8km course, continuing to show their fine running form of late. Joanna Goorney was once again first back for Lytham, 14th overall, 3rd in the L35 category and 2nd in the L45 category, in a time of 23m18s. Next home for Lytham was Catherine Carrdus, 18th overall, 4th in the L35 category and 3rd overall in the L45 category (23m35s). Mel Koth then finished in 21st overall, 5th in the L35 category and 4th in the L45 category (23m55s), ensuring that Lytham ‘A’ finished in the team event 3rd overall and 1st in both the L35 and L45 events.

More LSARRC ladies at Burnley XC

Barbara Holmes was next across the finish line, 41st overall and 1st in the L55 category (25m10s). Claire Markham, 77th overall (27m05s) was the 5th Lytham runner to finish, followed by a sprint to the line between Julia Rolfe, 110th overall (29m07s) and Pam Hardman (29m10s). Holmes, Markham and Rolfe ensured that the Lytham ‘B’ team finished 23rd overall. Holmes, Rolfe and Hardman secured 2nd place in the L55 team category. The two remaining runners, Kirsten Burnett and Gillian Oliver, brought the Lytham team home ensuring that the Ladies team featured three times in the overall results table.

Peter Thomson

Andy Draper

ate finished 85th overall (40m23s), Ross McKelvie 95th overall (40m37s) with Peter Thomson bring home the Lytham runners, 262nd overall (55m01s).

Although the final results have yet to be confirmed the Ladies should move up to 2nd place in Division 2, move up to 1st in the V35 teams, maintain their 1st place in the V45 teams and move up to 4th place in the V55 teams. The senior males leapfrogged Leven Valley to take up 2nd place in Division 2. Fantastic running from all involved.

The next event in the cross-country calendar is on 8th February at Lawson’s Ground, Blackpool.

11 of Lytham St Anne’s Road Running Club junior athletes made the trip to the 4th fixture of the Mid Lancashire Cross Country League held at Townley Park, Burnley on Saturday 11th.  First race of the day was the 2k under 11 girls race and Cassie Houlihan, Lytham’s sole representative, in only her 2nd cross country race ran well to finish 60th in 9:52.  The under 11 boys ran the same distance and Lytham were well represented by Archie Belfield finishing 26th in 7:50 and Freddie Markham who finished 59th in 8:39.

Lytham also had 2 representatives in the under 13 boys 3.2k race with Oliver Thomson first home for Lytham finishing 27th in 12:12 and Eric Wrigley 53rd in 14:06.  Sophie Bohannon was first home for Lytham in the under 15 girls’ race completing the 3.2k in 11:34 for 5th place.  Brogane Murphy finished 31st in 12:49 with Evie Houlihan finishing 29th in 13:25 to bring the team home in 4th place.

In the under 15 boys 4k race Morgan Pritchard and James Andrews had a close race with James just getting the better of Morgan in the 2nd half of the race to finish 29th in 16:29 with Morgan Pritchard 31st in 16:49.  The last of Lytham’s juniors to compete was under 17 girl Maddy Markham who finished strongly to finish 5th in 16:03.

11-year-old Eric Wrigley was competing again on Sunday in the Garstang 2-mile fun run and ran well to finish 4th in 13:26.

Matthew Holton was Lytham’s only junior athletes at Lytham Hall’s parkrun on Saturday and continued his good form running a personal best time of 20:56 for 13th place overall and finishing 1st in his JM11-14 age category.

6 of Lytham’s junior athletes ran in the Park View Junior parkrun on Sunday.  First to finish for Lytham and taking 2nd place overall in 8:30 was Joe Alker.  Georgina Andrews and Jayden Richardson finished 5th and 6th with the identical time of 9:46. Also representing Lytham were Evie Alker (18th in 11:22) and brothers Joshua and James McAfee finishing 22nd and 33rd in 11:41 and 13:41 respectively.

At the Lytham Hall parkrun on 11th January 2020 LSARRC had 5 runners who finished in the first 10 laces., the highlight being Ross McKelvie finishing first. Full Results:  Ross McKelvie 17:42 (1st), Chris McCarthy 19:33 (3rd), Alistair Leivers 20:38 (7th), Gill Draper 20:41 (8th overall, 1st female), Mark Selby 20:43 (9th), Susan Samme 20:53 (11th), Neil Tate 20:54 (12th), Darran Ames 21:48 (28th), Lewis McAfee 22:54 (41st), Kev Murray 23:48 (56th), James Buckley 25:28 (93rd), Simon Smith 25:30 (94th), Kathy Gaunt 26:35 (128th), Susan Hawitt 26:38 (129th), Adrian Sargent 27:53 (166th), Jen Trohear 27:58 (169th), Bob Clough 28:07 (173rd), Elizabeth Canavan 28:14 (174th), Jacqui Murray 28:45 (190th), Andrew Mullaney 28:47 (193rd), Claire England 29:34 (209th), Maria Tierney 29:38 (211th), Karen Lanigan 29:53 (221st), Ruth Bye 30:46 (245th), Sylvia Gittins 31:34 (258th), Jeremy McCandless 32:30 (278th), Michelle Sheridan 33:06 (286th), Robert Parker 33:11 (288th) and Graham Young 33:26 (289th).

Liz Abbott was the first lady to complete the Preston parkrun in a great time of 18:33, and Sue Henry, Julie Wiseman and Kirsten Burnett were tourists at the Clitheroe Castle parkrun.

LSARRC at the Garstang 10k

LSARRC News 7th January 2020

LSARCC compete at Lancashire Cross Country Championships

Senior Ladies - 3rd vet team at Lancs Champs

On Saturday 4th January 2020 perfect conditions greeted the runners at the Lancashire Cross Country Championships, held once again at Witton Park in Blackburn. Coming so soon after the Christmas break it was a good opportunity to get rid of any cobwebs going into the New Year.

The ladies were first up to tackle their 6.7km course, taking in three visits to The Saucer. Joanna Goorney was first back for Lytham, 13th overall and 1st in the L50 category, in a time of 28m10s. Next home for Lytham was Barbara Holmes, 42nd overall and 1st in the L60 category (31m51s). Julia Rolfe saw the Lytham trio home, 63rd overall and 4th in the L55 category (35m33s). The ladies results also meant that they finished 3rd in the Veterans category. Good running all round and well-done ladies.

Joe Greenwood

The final event of the day saw the three Lytham men tackle the 9.8km course, taking in four laps of The Saucer. First back for Lytham was Joe Greenwood, 45th overall in a time of 38m40s. Next across the line saw Tom Howarth finish 78th overall in a time of 41m23s, with Neil Tate bringing home the Lytham trio, 85th overall in a time of 42m03s.

Other news, on Sunday Barbara Holmes and Melanie Koth completed the Central Lancashire Half Marathon.  Melanie placed 2nd lady overall in 1:31:39 and Barbara was 2nd FV60 in 1:47:46.

New Year’s Day was an opportunity for some runners to do a double parkrun.   Joanna Goorney headed over into Yorkshire to the other side of Wakefield for a double parkrun.  First up was Nostell parkrun held in the parkland surrounding Nostell Priory.  She finished in 20th place and 3rd female in a time 22:02.  Next up was Frickley Country parkrun (held in Frickley Country Park, an Open Space created on the site of the former Frickley Colliery) where she completed the course in 21:34 for 17th place and 1st female.

On Saturday 4th January, due to the cross-country fixture not as many LSARRC attended parkruns, however several runners were in attendance. First home for LSARRC and 3rd overall, with a new personal best time was Alistair Leivers.  Full Results are as follows:   Alistair Leivers 17:13 (3rd), Paul Veevers 18:37 (4th), Darran Ames 21:43 (21st), Jonathon Mark Ladd 21:53 (24th), Stephen Wise 23:03 (53rd), Kathy Gaunt 24:19 (77th), Kev Murray 24:43 (88th), Peter Thomson 25:02 (95th), Simon Smith 25:47 (114th), Roy Stevens 26:16 (120th), James Buckley 26:48 (133rd), Jen Trohear 27:29 (146th), Ross McKelvie 27:52 (153rd), Elizabeth Canavan 28:13 (166th), Maria Tierney 28:21 (171st), Adrian Sargent 28:22 (172nd), Kirsten Burnett 29:11 (198th), Claire England 29:30 (205th), Karen Lanigan 29:32 (207th), Jeremy McCandless 30:38 (232nd), Robert Parker 32:11 (259th), Michelle Sheridan 34:44 (284th), Ella Wiseman 45:16 (325th), Sue Henry 49:33 (336th), and Julie Wiseman 49:52(338th).  Additionally, Jennifer Hill completed the Blackpool parkrun.

Junior news. 

The Lancashire County Cross Country Championships were held at Witton Park Blackburn on Saturday 4th. Lancashire XC and 10 of Lytham St Anne’s RRC junior athletes competed.  Nicholas Holton was Lytham’s only representative in the first race of the day completing the 1.8k under 11 boys’ race in 10:56 for 58th place.  Cassie Houlihan and Lucy Andrews both making their debut for Lytham completed the 1.8k under 11 girls race in 9:43 and 10:29 respectively for 39th and 44th places.

Lytham had 2 representatives in the 3.2k under 13 boys’ race with Mathew Holton running well to take 19th place in 11:38 and Finlay Hughes finishing 54th in 14:56.  James Andrews completed the 3.8k under 15 boy race in 17:21 for 41st place.  In the 3.8k under 15 girls race Sophie Bohannon was Lytham’s highest place finisher taking 8th place in 15:08 to earn selection for Lancashire despite losing a shoe in the mud and running the last half mile with one shoe.  Also running for Lytham in the under 15 girls’ race were Brogane Murphy (37th in 17:10) and Evie Houlihan (46th in 18:22).  Adhamh Holton was Lytham’s only representative in the under 17 men’s race and completed the 5.5k course in 26:14 for 29th place.

Just 4 of Lytham’s junior athletes took part in the Lytham Hall parkrun on New Year’s Day with Maddy Markham first home in 46th place and 1st in her JW15-17 age group in 21:32.  Also representative Lytham were Oliver Thomson (77th in 22:32), Morgan Pritchard (88th in 23:02) and Eric Wrigley (194th in 26:59).  All 4 of Lytham’s juniors immediately made their way to Stanley Park to take part in the Blackpool parkrun.  Maddy Markham was again 1st home for Lytham juniors in 77th place and was again 1st in her JW15-17 age group.  Freddie Markham was next home in 25:56 for 158th place and 1st JM10.  Oliver Thomson, Morgan Pritchard and Eric Wrigley all in their 2nd park run of the day finished in 27:09, 27:27 and 29:37 for 201st, 214th and 309th places respectively.

Oliver Thomson was back at Lytham Hall for Saturday’s parkrun finishing 36th in 22:29 just ahead of teammate Charlie Ormerod 40th in 22:36.  Ella Wiseman finished 325th in 45:16.

13 of Lytham’s junior athletes took part in the Park View junior parkrun.  Finishing 1st overall in a personal best time of 7:59 was Oliver Thomson with Jayden Richardson 2nd and 1st JM10 in 8:09.  Adam Jackson and Roman Holmes finished i7th and 8th with identical times of 8:42 a personal best for Roman.  Freddie Markham outsprinted Eric Wrigley to finish 10th just 1 place and 1 second ahead in 8:58th.  Also representing Lytham were Joe Alker (13th in 9:23), Finlay Hughes and Georgina Andrews who finished 21st and 22nd both in 10:04, Lewis Ames (27th in 10:37), James McAfee (37th in 10:51), Evie Alker (45th in 11:35) and Joshua McAfee (56th in 12:42).