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).