LSARRC News 16th June 2015

LSARRC runners at Preston IC

 The third race in the Inter-Club Road Race Series took place on Wednesday night.  Preston Harriers hosted the 4 mile race which starts at the Vernon-Carus Sports Ground in Penwortham and takes in a couple of laps of Avenham Park.  Conditions were perfect being a lovely summer's evening.  Rob Danson of Wesham Road Runners kept up his winning streak to be first home in a time of 20:06 and it was a similar story for the first lady home, Emily Japp of Blackpool, Wyre and Fylde who finished in a time of 24:00 and 23rd overall.

Andy Draper

Debbie Cooper

First home for Lytham St Annes was Joe Greenwood who finished in an excellent 12th place in 22:28 whilst Mel Koth was first female home for the club in 112th place and 11th female in 28:48.  Graham Webster was 1st vet 60 in 62nd place in 26:08.

Results: Joe Greenwood 12th, 22:28; Tom Howarth 22nd, 23:59; Simon Denye 24th, 24:02; Andy Draper 36th, 24:37; Andy Unsworth 42nd, 25:05; Neil Tate 44th, 25:11; Mark Willett 61st, 26:08; Graham Webster 62nd, 26:08; Terry Hellings 106th, 28:32; Colin Laidlaw 111th, 28:45; Mel Koth112th, 28:48; Des Heron 165th, 31:18; Nigel Simpkin 169th, 31:39; Dawn Bloor 175th, 31:51, Greg Oulton 186th, 32:36; Alex Wiggins 194th, 33:16; Louisa Ruman 196th, 33:24; Alex Everest 203rd, 33:50; Julia Rolfe 210th, 34:07; Jeremy McCandless 230th, 35:56; Pam Binns 235th, 26:28th, Debbie Cooper 245th, 37:13, Dawn Lock 295th, 49:53.

In the team results, Lytham St Annes finished 5th in the open category, 6th in the ladies, 5th in vets, 5th in vet 50 and 4th in vet 60 category.

Justin Allitt and Graham Webster

Alex Everest

On Saturday afternoon, Steve and Emily Hargreaves completed the Peter Lowe Memorial Hollins Green 5k set in the pleasant surroundings of Hollins Green village, in the far east of Warrington and organised by Spectrum Striders Running Club.  The race was won by Gavin Tomlinson of Trafford AC in 15:53 and had 170 finishers.  Steve finished in 11th place in 16:27 whilst Emily was 46th, 6th lady and 2nd vet 35 in 19:45.

On Sunday, Julia Rolfe was down south for the St Alban's Half Marathon.  It was a very well organised event with 2480 finishers.  The course was hilly starting in the park and through traffic free country lanes.  Julia was 1129th and 27th vet 45 in 1.56.03 chip time, 1.57.17. gun time.  Julia had not had great preparation for the race because of injury, so was very happy with the result.

Also on Sunday, Fiona Geldard completed the Deva Triathlon which was held in Chester and organised by City of Chester Triathlon Club.  As well as it being Fiona's first Olympic distance triathlon (1500m Swim - 40km Bike - 10km Run), it was also her first incorporating an open water swim.  Starting in Grovenor Park, the bike route actually went out into Wales whilst the run was around the city centre.  Fiona did herself proud finishing in 3:11:28 and 1036th overall and 227th female.  (Splits: Swim 39:15, T1: 4:17, Cycle: 01:32:59, T2: 01:57, Run: 52:58.

Juniors from the club were also in action over the weekend.  On Saturday at Wigan Ella Moulding and Chloe Norman represented Fylde in the Lancashire Schools Track & Field competition. Chloe fished 3rd  in her heat of the Junior Girls 800m and thus qualified for the final in which she ran a personal best of 2:31 to finish 5th. Ella competed in the Junior girls 1500m and won comfortably in 4:47 which is within the qualifying time for English Schools. On Sunday, Connor Norman competed in the Burnley AC under 11’s competition and performed brilliantly. He took three golds – Long Jump 3.21m (PB) , 150m 24.4s (new course record for under 9’s) and 50m 8.5s.

Greg Oulton being presented by Dave Rigby

Saturday night saw the Annual Presentation evening for Lytham St Annes Road Runners which was held at the club's headquarters at Lytham YMCA.  Awards were presented by the club’s two coaches to the adult section: Terry Hellings and Dave Rigby.  The presentation was followed by food and a disco.

Club Championship – Male: Steve Hargreaves, Female: Joanna Goorney
Monthly Handicap Shield – Jeremy McCandless;
Founders Cup (Awarded to the Vet with the best WAVA scores) – Graham Webster;
Windmill Plate (Recognition of services to the Club) – Greg Oulton;
Fell Race Championship – Male: Greg Oulton, Female: Joanna Goorney;
Winter Handicap – Male: Neil Tate, Female: Fiona Geldard;
Mike Crowe Plate (Awarded to the most prolific road racer) – Greg Oulton
Bill White Trophy and Marjorie White Trophy (Awarded to the most improved athletes) – Male: Greg Oulton, Female: Fiona Geldard;
Track and Field Trophy - Male: Tony Norman, Female: Joanna Goorney;

 

LSARRC News 9th June 2015

LSARRC at the start of the WCR

Lytham St Annes Road Runners headed off to Wales for the weekend for the annual Welsh Castles Relay.  The 20 stage 210 mile race organised by Les Croupiers Running Club in Cardiff, runs from Caernarfon Castle to Cardiff Castle with 65 teams taking part this year.  Although conditions were very windy on Saturday, there was still blue skies all day whilst Sunday was a calm summer's day.

The relay was won overall by Serpentine completing the 20 stages in 19:43:31.  Lytham St Annes finished in 41st overall with a total time of 26:02:18 , a great position considering the size of the club and the opposition.  Serpentine also won the King of the Mountains whilst LSA finished 34th out of 44.  There were some outstanding performances over the weekend with many stage records being broken.  In Stage 20, Martin Rees, a 62 year old from Les Croupiers was 3rd in the final stage which was a phenomenal performance for a vet 60.

There was much success for Lytham St Annes starting with Emily Hargreaves being first lady on the opening stage from Caernarfon Castle, Steve Hargreaves being 3rd on Leg 2 and Joanna Goorney being first lady on stage 10, a tough 13.1 mile hilly run at the end of day 1.  Both ladies were thrilled to be awarded yellow jerseys for their wins.  Andy Draper also managed a top 10 finish on Stage 15.

LSARRC also had three first timers to the relays in the team all doing the club proud.  Jeremy McCandless was 60th on Stage 9, Felicity Wolohan was 56th on Stage 13 in whilst Alex Everest was 56th on Stage 18.  Alex only started running in January this year and her leg of 9.1 miles was her longest ever race.

Stage 1: Emily Hargreaves, 13th 1:06:42 (9.1 miles)
Stage 2: Steve Hargreaves, 3th 1:01:53 (10.1 Miles)
Stage 3: Graham Webster , 33rd 1:25:12 (12.3 miles mountain stage)
Stage 4: Greg Oulton 48th, 1:19:30 (9.5 miles)
Stage 5: Nigel Simpkin 43rd , 1:18:48 (9.6 miles)
Stage 6:Fiona Geldard 43rd: 1:23:34 (10.7 miles)
Stage 7: Terry Hellings 50th. 1:13:25 (9.5 miles mountain stage)
Stage 8: Richard Storey 48th, 1:22:16 (10.8 miles)
Stage 9: Jeremy McCandless 60th, 1:15:09 (8.5 miles)
Stage 10: Joanna Goorney 39th, 1:31:54 (13.1 miles mountain stage)
Stage 11: Neil Tate 26th, 1:23:05 (12.3 miles mountain stage)
Stage 12: Dave Dunn 38th, 1:19:45 (11.2 miles)
Stage 13: Felicity Wolohan 56th, 1:27:53 (10.6 miles)
Stage 14: Tom Howarth, 33rd, 1:13:28 (10.8 miles mountain stage)
Stage 15: Andy Draper 10th, 1:18:12 (12.8 miles)
Stage 16: Steve Quarmby 57th 1:18:12 (8.8 miles mountain stage)
Stage 17: Pam Hardman 49th, 1:15:46 (9.2 miles)
Stage 18: Alex Everest 56th, 1:21:04 (9.1 miles)
Stage 19: Pam Binns 62nd, 1:12:11 (7.7 miles)
Stage 20: Kevin Ashworth 46th 1:21:04 (10.7 miles)

LSARRC at the finish of the WCR

Not content with one long race in a weekend, three members of the club who ran on Saturday at the relays (Emily Hargreaves, Steve Hargreaves and Greg Oulton) then headed up to Lakes for the Coniston Trail Marathon on Sunday.  They were joined by 3 other members of the club, Liz Boon, John Wild and Mark Willett.

The marathon takes in a complete circuit of Coniston Water along footpaths and bridleways taking in Tarn Hows and the elevated Beacon Tarn.  There were 2 options for the Marathon, either starting at 7am with a 8 hour cut-off time (Marathon Challenge) or 9am with a 6 hour cut-off time (Marathon Race).

John Wild, Liz Boon and Greg Oulton

In the Marathon race, despite having run the previous day, Steve Hargreaves was 5th in 3:25:27 whilst Emily Hargreaves was 23rd and 3rd female in 3:59:48.  Mark Willett was 99th in 4:35:47.  In the Marathon Challenge, Greg Oulton was 79th in 5:15::58:, Liz Boon was 165th in 6:07:07 and John Wild was 166th  also in 6:07:07

On Saturday morning, Julia Rolfe ran the Preston Parkrun.  She was 108th in 25:30.

Last Tuesday night Greg Oulton headed over to the Bowland Fells for Paddy's Pole Fell Race.  The 3.7 mile course with 1102ft of ascent takes in both Parlick and Fairsnape.  The race was won by Andrew Newton in 30:05 from the host club, Preston Harriers.  Greg finished in 97th place with a time of 48:21.

LSARRC New 2nd June 2015

On Bank Holiday Monday was the Fishwick Five Trail Race in Preston.  Neil Tate was 7th finishing in 32:58 whilst Greg Oulton was 37th in 43:47 knocking 10 seconds off his time from last year.

Also, on Monday, Colin Laidlaw , took park in the Rigg Race in Balerno on the outskirts of Edinburgh.  The 6 mile course starts in Malleny Park, home of Currie RFC and heads up through the village of Balerno and up towards the Pentland hills.  Colini finished 53rd out of 150 runners in a time of 43:12.

The ever popular Harrock Hill Fell Race series started last Wednesday with the first race in the series of four.  The race was also used as the first race in the Inter Club Fell Race Championship and as a result attracted quite a number of Lytham St Annes runners.  The race was won by Daniel Miller of Endurance Store in a time of  34:04 while the first lady, Lindsey Brindle of Horwich finished in 26:45, only a few seconds outside the ladies course record.

First home for Lytham, was Joe Greenwood in 8th place in 36:02.  Joanna Goorney was 2nd lady and 1st vet 45 in 44th place and 40:19.  In his first fell race in nearly 30 years, Graham Webster was 77th and 2nd vet 60 in 43:29.  Next home was Terry Hellings in 97th and 44:52.  Greg Oulton was 171st in 52:24, Fiona Geldard, in her first ever fell race was 172th in 52:32, Julia Rolfe was 193rd in 55:06. Pamela Hardman was 201st in 57:42 and Dawn Lock was 230th in 78:52.  There were 232 finishers.

Thursday night saw the second race in the club's monthly handicap series.  Sue Hawitt, one of the newer club members repeated her win in the previous month and has taken an early lead in the annual competition. Sue made her club training pay off handsomely with a time two minutes better than her previous race over the 4.35 miles course. Last year's champion Jeremy McCandless remained in fine form with successive PBs while Karen Lanigan, who narrowly missed winning a medal last season, ran well in third place to move up to second on the points table.

May Handicap results: 1, Sue Hawitt, 38.21, PB; 2, Pam Binns, 41.01; 3, Karen Lanigan, 41.12; 4, Roy Stevens, 33.06; 5, Jeremy McCandless, 37.51, PB; 6, Tom Howarth, 25.49; 7, Derek Caborn, 39.50; 8, Roy Upton, 31.22; 9, Neil Tate, 27.15; 10, Greg Oulton, 35.17; 11, Dawn Lock, 60.54; N/C Brian Porter, 34.12; Steve Quarmby, 32.46; Graham Young, 39.28. Leading Scores: Sue Hawitt 62 points; Karen Lanigan 52; Greg Oulton 48; Jeremy McCandless 48; Dawn Lock41; Derek Caborn 41.


On Saturday night, it was the Catforth Canter 5k.  The race was won by Rob Danson in 15:34 and had 112 finishers.  First home for LSARRC in 8th place, was Simon Denye in 17.41.  Greg Oulton was 66th in 23:17 (despite being hit in the eye about half way round by a fly and leaving him running the second half with one eye closed), Jim Whitworth was 84th in 25:58 and Louisa Ruman was 86th in 26:27.

On Sunday, Greg Oulton was back out on the fells completing the Edenfield Fell Race and his 5th race in a week.  The ground was boggy and muddy with the path turning into a babbling brook in places not helped also by the cold and windy conditions.  Despite having tired legs, he completed the 10.3km with 477m of ascent in 1:15:06 and 31st place, only 8 seconds slower than last year.

Mel Koth took part in the Outlaw Half Triathlon from National Water Sports Centre in Nottingham on Sunday.  The event consisted of a 1.2km swim 56 mile bike ride and finished with a 13.1 mile run. Despite brutal weather conditions, Mel completed the course in 5:50:47.

LSARRC News 26th May 2015

In a exciting sporting weekend Lytham members won gold and silver medals at the Lancashire Track and Field Championships while elsewhere one member completed a hundred mile event.

Outstanding in the Lancashire Track & Field Championships held at the Stanley Park arena and hosted by Blackpool Wyre & Fylde AC was Ella Moulding who won gold in the 1500m and silver in the 800m and Simon Denye who won silver in the veterans' 5000m.

On Saturday Ella Moulding, a talented athlete, ran from the front in a field of twelve U15 girls in the 1500m fighting off a strong late-stage challenge from the second-placed runner to win gold in an excellent time of 4 minutes 51.3 seconds. A day later she took silver in the 800m with 2 minutes19.9seconds. In a field of fourteen runners of mixed ages and genders Simon Denye ran a well judged 5000m race, his first on the track, finishing in the third fastest time of 17 minutes 26.3seconds to take the veteran silver medal in a stylish performance.

Others competing were: U13G Georgia Norman, 5th in heat in 100m in 15.1, 5th in heat in 800m in 3:03.8, 10th in long jump with 3m68; Holly Winstanley, 10th in 1500m in 5:32.5: U13B Simon Holt, 5th in 200m in 29,7, 7th in 800m in 2:41.9: U15G Chloe Norman, 5th in long jump in 4m47: Vets Graham Webster, 6th in 5000m in 19:28.0.

Daryl Bentley and Debbie Cooper

At the other end of the distance spectrum Debbie Cooper completed her first 100 mile challenge having finished a 50 mile event previously.

The Long Distance Walkers Association's Red Rose 100, now its twenty-fourth year, takes in some of Lancashire's most attractive and remote moorland. Starting out from Rivington Reservoir it heads over Winter Hill to Darwen Tower, skirts Blackburn and Whalley and takes in Pendle Hill, Stocks Reservoir, Houghton Tower and Brinscall.

Debbie Cooper accompanied by Daryl Bentley of Bolton United Harriers, completed the gruelling route over the bank holiday weekend. Starting on Saturday at 2pm, they arrived back at the Anderton Centre at 9:18pm on Sunday having completed the 100 miles in an excellent 31 hours and 18 minutes coming 49th. Of the 503 starters just

361 finished making Debbie's achievement very creditable and adding to the charity she is collecting for, the Sick Children's Fund.

Somewhat more modest in length but still providing an interesting tour of Lancashire countryside is the Fishwick Five. Starting in an outlying southern Preston suburb it descends steeply to the flat Fishwick Bottoms and climbs twice to the level of the town before finishing near the start. Neil Tate finished 7th in 32:58 and Greg Oulton 36th in 43:47.

LSARRC News 19th May 2015

LSARRC runners and marshals

Last Thursday, Lytham St Annes RRC hosted the second race in the summer Inter Club series.  The 5 mile course starting by St Annes swimming pool takes in a lap of Fairhaven Lake.  Although conditions were windy, the rain kept off and attracted over 280 runners.  The club still managed to field 24 runners despite many members taking on marshaling duties instead of competing.  A excellent buffet was provided by club members back at the club's headquarters at Lytham YMCA afterwards.

Roy Stevens

Alex Everest

The race was won by Rob Danson of Wesham Road Runners, in a time of 26:21 being nearly and minute and a half clear of the rest of the field.  Emily Japp of Blackpool, Wyre and Fylde was first lady in 30:02.  First home for LSARRC was Simon Denye in 12th place and 29:05 while Joanna Goorney was first lady for the club in 48th place, 5th female and 31:55. Notable performances included Neil Tate who knocked nearly a minute of his PB to finish in 32nd placee and 30:54 and Alex Everest running her first road race for the club finishing in 19t7th in 41:29.

Jeremy McCandless

In the team competitions, LSARRC finished 5th in the open category, 3rd in the ladies, 4th in the vets, 6th in the vet 50s and were just pipped into 2nd by Blackpool, Wyre and Fylde in the Vet 60s.

Louise Charnock marshaling

LSARRC Results: Simon Denye 12th, 29:05; Tom Howarth 19th, 29:59; Andy Draper 24th, 30:15; Neil Tate 32nd, 30:54; Andy Unsworth 38th 31:24; Joanna Goorney 48th 31:55; Graham Webster 55th 32:13; Mark Willett 63rd 32:37; Justin Allitt 70th, 33:06; Mark Selby 75th, 33:28; Melanie Koth 97th, 34:26; Terry Hellings 109th, 35:00; Richard Storey 113th, 35:17; Roy Upton 126th, 36:02; Colin Laidlaw 131st, 36:18; Dawn Bloor 152nd, 37:49; Greg Oulton 157th, 38:04; Fiona Geldard 170th, 38:54; Roy Stevens 171st , 38:55; Alex Everest 197th, 41:29; Brian Porter 206th, 42:27; Jeremy McCandless, 210th 42:50; Karen Lanigan 254th, 47:40; Bob Clough 278th, 1:08:46 (sweep);

Bec Willetts and Pam Hardman

 Three members of the club Terry Hellings, Graham Webster and Russ Chew headed to Leigh on Sunday afternoon for the Northern Vets Track and Field Championships.  First to toe the  line for Lytham were Graham and Terry in the 1500m, Graham taking the v60 gold medal in a time of 5m 20.1s and Terry the v60 bronze in 5m 54.4s.  Graham was on the start line again for the 400m and again took v60 gold in 68.7s.    Russ joined Graham and Terry for the 3000m and in his first ever 3000m race ran well to take v50 bronze in 12m 40s.  Graham picked up his third gold medal 11m 46.6s with Terry taking v60 silver in a seasons best time of 12m 13.7s.  Not wishing to miss an opportunity to win another medal Graham lined up for his first 200m race for more years than he cares to remember but hung on for his fourth gold of the day in 33.8s.  The final race of the day was the 800m were Russ again joined Terry and Graham on the start line.  Graham was just pipped for gold in his fifth race of the day but won v60 silver in 2m 46.6s with Terry again picking up bronze in 3m 5.8s and Russ v50 bronze medal winner in 2m 51.7s.  A successful trip for the three Lytham athletes, 10 races and 10 medals including 4 golds from Graham.

Colin Laidlaw

 On Sunday morning, it was the Worden Park 10k in Leyland which was very well organised by Red Rose Runners.  The race was won by Rob Danson of Wesham Road Runners in his second emphatic victory in a matter of days in 32.49.  First home for Lytham St Annes was Tom Howarth in 19th place and 39:36.  Colin Laidlaw was 70th and was pleased to finish in  44:58 while Jim Whitworth was 233rd in 57:39.

Fiona Geldard and Barbara Holmes were also in action on Sunday morning at the St Anne's Triathlon.  Barbara was 3rd whilst Fiona came 45th lady out of 132.  Conditions were very windy and as a consequence Fiona lost 2 minutes in transition when her equipment blew over and the youth course was cut short.  Overall, though, a well organised event.

Fiona Geldard

LSARRC News 12th May 2015

It's been a busy weekend for racing with Lytham members busy at the track on Saturday and on the road on Sunday with a fell race thrown  in mid-week for good measure.  Locally, the Beaverbrook's Blackpool 10K is as popular as ever but this year is in competition with the mass-participation Manchester City 10K and, on a smaller scale, the Blacksticks Blue 10K.

Starting the weekend was the second round of the Mid Lancs League's track and field match at Litherland in Merseyside.  Both seniors and juniors from LSARRC attended and took part in a  range of events including sprints and middle -distance on the track and four field events.

With a great team effort, LSARRC amassed a total of 41.4 for 6th place out of the twelve teams in Division 2 and an excellent start to the season.

On the track Joe Greenwood, Thomas Howarth and Graham Webster tool part in the 800m, 1500m and 3000m where they were joined by Terry Hellings and Jeremy Mccandless to score collectively the maximum 7 points.  The former four joined forces to compete in the 4 x 400m for a good collective time of 4:47.8 and 5 points.

Greg Oulton confined himself to the field, having already completed a tough fell race in the week, taking part in the shot putt, discus and javelin while Maccandless mixed disciplines with shot, discus and, introduced to the Mid Lancs only this season, the hammer where he was delighted to score the full 7 points for his team.

Juniors also were in evidence with Simon Holt, U13B, running 200m, 800m and doing long jump.  U15G Chloe Norman did the 800m and long jump with sister Georgia, U13G, competing in the 100m and 800m.  They were joined by Ella Moulding, U15G, and Holly Winstanley, U13G, in the 1500m.  All scored team points with the best, Ella's 7 points for first in the 1500m.  Simon finished 3rd in the 800m.   

FULL RESULTS: 100m - G. Norman, U13G, 10th in 15.1: 800m - G. Norman, 11th in 3:03.0, S. Holt, U13B, 3rd in 2:44.2; C. Norman, U15G, 5th in 2:38.1; J. Greenwood, SM, 8th on 2:22.0; T. Howarth, SM, 9th in 2:32.8; G. Webster, 11th in 2:40.0: 1500m - H. Winstanley, U13G, 6th in 5:39.6; E. Moulding, U15G, 1st in 5:02.5; J. Greenwood, SM, 4th in 4:45.5, T. Howarth, SM, 6th in 4:59.7; G. Webster, SM, 7th in 5:26.4: 3000m -  ; J. Greenwood, SM, 4th in 10:04.0, T. Howarth, SM, 5th in 10:44.1; G. Webster, SM, 8th in 11:29.5; Terry Hellings, SM, 10th in 12:29.2, J. Maccandless: LONG JUMP - S. Holt, U13B, 13th for 3.29m; C. Norman, U15G, 11th  for 4.15m: HAMMER - J. Maccandless, SM, 7th for 14:16: SHOT - J. Maccandless, SM, 5th for 5.56;  G. Oulton, SM, 5th for 5.59: JAVELIN - G. Oulton, SM, 6th for 12.89: DISCUS - J. Maccandless, SM,7th for 16.71;  G. Oulton, SM, 8th for 14:03.

The Great Manchester Run attracted 40,000 runners causing crushes and a slow start but didn't stop Melanie Koth managing a excellent 42:34, 39th woman and 760th overall.  Koth was 5th in her V40 category.  In the children's version also in Heaton Park with Paula Radcliffe causing a lot of interest, George Denye, ran the 2 mile park loop in 14:22 finishing a high 21st in a field of 159 and Sydney Ramsden finished 37th out of 143 in the girls version

Several club members were out on Blackpool Promenade on Sunday for the 30th running of the Beaverbrooks 10K which annually attracts around 4000 competitors and is popular with all the Fylde clubs.  Lytham was represented by Simon Denye, Neil Tate, Graham Webster, Fiona Geldard and Nigel Simpkin amongst others.

Those members of the Club preferring hillier challenges eschewed the flat Blackpool Prom for the Blacksticks Blue 10K.  Starting at Whitechapel Village in the Forest of Bowland, the race climbs to the road circulating Beacon Fell before descending precipitously back to finish in the local school to which race profits are directed.  Mark Willett was LSARRC's first home 39th in 44:03.  Richard Storey took 47:16 for 62nd and Greg Oulton, V45, running his third competition of the week, 51:55.  Sylvia Gittings, V65, managed a very creditable 58:38.

Earlier in the week Oulton, a prolific races and particularly fond of fell racing, took himself to Rawtenstall for the Fo Edge Fell Race.  In spite of a seriously wet course which hampered competitors, Oulton finished 10 minutes up on last year's time in a self-timed 53 minutes.

LSARRC News 5th May 2015

With several 2015 big marathons being concertinaed into eight days, Lytham runners have been representing the Club in various parts. At Manchester on the 19th Simon Denye finished in the Club's best time for the year, 2:44:42. Others competing were Felicity Wolohan in 3:49:01 and Bob Clough with a creditable time for his V60 category of 4:39:12. Seven days later London collected the largest number of members with Andy Draper beginning to regain his former level of performance in 2:53:32 and Tom Howarth doing a good 2:57:44. Club place representatives were Neil Tate in 3:01:40 and Graham Webster in 3:18:04, another impressive V60 performance, and the others taking part were Mel Koth, 3:16:45, Des Heron, 4:14:29, Pamela Binns, with a good V70 time of 4:34:44, and Karen Kidner, 4:40:32. Nearest and furthest from home respectively were Ian Tate at Blackpool in his first attempt at the distance with a promising 3:54:47 and Ruth Wheatley, who likes to combine holidays and running, with a PB of 4:21:58 at Madrid.

The gritty demanding marathon training stretches through the short dark days of winter but come the finer spring weather it's time to concentrate on speed and shorter distances with LSARRC's own race, the St. Annes Carnival 5K on 12th July, an ideal target. Held in peak summer months, it's a good distance for the hotter season. Locals hold both the male and female course records set just last year. Rob Danson of Wesham RR ran 16:38 on 6th July 2014 and Emily Japp, of Blackpool Wyre & Fylde AC, 18:45. Successes at last month's highly competitive Inter-Club Grand Prix show Danson and Jepp to be in peak condition so the Carnival 5K records seem unlikely to survive another year in their hands.

The competitive Bank Holiday weekend started earlier for Lytham with Thursday evening's Handicap and the Ripley St. Thomas Supper Run.

A delighted Sue Hawitt was the comfortable winner of the club's April Handicap. Hawitt, one of the club's newest members, was having her first run on the 4.35 miles summer course and finished well clear of the field. On a fine evening conducive to good times, others who ran well and recorded PBs were Sylvia Gittins and Justin Allitt in 2nd and 3rd places, Alan Elstone, Jeremy Mccandless and Joe Greenwood. Greenwood's time was especially noteworthy as he continues to challenge the course record that has stood since 2008.

Full Handicap Results: 1. Sue Hawitt, 40.17; 2. Sylvia Gittins, 38:04; 3. Justin Allitt, 28:13; 4. Greg Oulton, 33:35; 5. Alan Elston, 30:46; 6. Richard Storey, 30:56; 7. Alexandra Everest, 34:45; 8. Joe Greenwood, 23:51; 9. Karen Lanigan, 42:09; 10. Dawn Lock, 56:59; 11. Jeremy Mccandless, 38:24; 12.Graham Webster, 28:41; 13. Willie Richmond, 29:45; 14. Derek Caborn, 39:32; 15. Bec Willetts, 42:17; n/c Nigel Simpkin, 33:17; n/c Pam Hardman, 36:43; n/c Roy Upton, 31:11.

Members' involvement at the usually popular Ripley St. Thomas Supper Run was curtailed by the clash leaving James Whitworth as the Club's only representative. He completed the 4 mile undulating course in 34:50, in the top half of the 300-runner field.

Three members set off to open their scoring in the revised LSARRC Fell Competition at the first of the thirteen events, the Great Hameldon Hill Race. Starting from the Peel Park Hotel in the suburbs of Accrington, the race climbs along lanes to the foot of the hill before starting the serious slog to the top of the 400m summit in a d-shaped course that takes leaders skimming downwards past tail-enders struggling upwards. Accredited runner Richard Burney of Liverpool Harriers topped 183 with a time of 38:27 for the 9.6k. Terry Hellings, V60, was Lytham's best performer with a time 53:50 for 85th place. He was followed by Colin Laidlaw, V55, 106th in 56:15 and Greg Oulton, V45, 140th in 1:02:11. No doubt other members of the Club will want to contest the second round at Harrock Hill on Wednesday 27th May which doubles as the Inter-Club fell race.