LSARRC News 15th September 2015

 With two athletics tracks, a few kilometres of paths, landscaped grounds and a up-to-the-minute sports centre only opened on 1st September, Ormskirk's Edge Hill University made for a grand setting to the 16th staging of the North West Counties Relay Championships on Saturday.

Proximity to Liverpool's and Manchester's many running clubs made for a large and particularly strong entry for 2015.   Liverpool Harriers took three of the top six spots in the Seniors' Races with Salford Harriers and Preston Harriers well up in the men's and Cheshire's Vale Royal AC clinching the women's championship.

Ten members of Lytham St. Annes RRC competed, finishing a full men's and women's team and a couple of incomplete teams.  The women's A team finished 40th out of 47 teams, 12th in Lancashire with a combined time of 1:13:57 against Vale Royal's 54:51 and the men were 51st overall in 1:19:11 verses Liverpool Harriers' 1:04:30 and 17th in Lancashire.

Our runners put in creditable performances for the 5k campus course.  Starting at 1:15pm Susan Hawitt gamely led off the team in her first relay finishing 14th Lancashire team in 25:18.  Claire England, another one new to relay running, put in the team's fastest leg in 23:23:46 gaining a place and anchor leg runner Alex Everest gained a further place with 24:53.  Silvia Gittins ran 27:53 and Rachel Scott, 29:49 in the B Team.

Sylvia Gittins at the Relays

Thomas Howarth led out the men at 2:30pm  finishing in 18:28 and handing over to second leg runner and team captain Joe Greenwood.  Greenwoods, 18:16, the club's fastest leg, pulled up two places to 14th in Lancashire and handed over to Richard Storey, 22:08.  Graham Webster put in a good run of 20:19 on fourth leg.  Terry Hellings ran 21:25.

Betws-y-Coed in North Wales hosted the World Masters Mountain Running Championships on Saturday.  Runners ran in age category races and Colin Laidlaw took part in the V60 race.  This was his 3rd World Masters Mountain Running Championships having run in Keswick 2005 and Dolni Morava in the Czech Republic in 2008.  He finished 29th out of 41 runners in a time of 53:06 on the 8.7 km course with 450m of ascent.

Joanna Goorney at Hodder Valley Fell Race

The Hodder Valley provided a beautiful setting for the Hodder Valley Fell Race organised by Bowland Fell Runners.  It was held as part of the Hodder Valley Show at Butts Farm, in between Slaidburn and Newton and covered 6.8 miles with 1083 ft of ascent taking in Dunsop Head.  The rain luckily stopped just before the start although the showground ended up very muddy.  The race was won by Paul Webb of Settle Harriers in a time of 51:33.  Joanna Goorney of LSARRC was 1st lady in 19th place in a time of 1:02:11.

Mark Willett and a hippo

Mark Willett was the sole representative from the club running  The Great North Run in Newcastle.  He was pleased with sub-7 minute miles and 1.31.25 overall for the half marathon distance but suffered in the middle in the heat.  He was also relieved not to have been beaten by George from Rainbow!


2 juniors from the club were also in action in Newcastle in the Morrisons Junior Great North Run 2015. George Denye was in the 9-10 boys race completing the 4km course in an excellent 18:11 for 38th place while Sydney Ramsden was 65th in 21:20 in the 9-10 girls race.

George Denye

Sydney Ramsden

Six LSARRC junior athletes competed at the open Track and Field meeting at Stanley Park on Sunday 13th.    Chloe Norman was first to compete for Lytham in the under 15 girls high jump jumping 1.40m equalling her pb and taking the bronze medal.  Straight from the high jump Chloe lined up for the 800m finishing in 3rd place for another bronze medal in a time of 2m 35.9s. Long jump was Chloe's final event of the day where she equalled her pb with a jump of 4.47m for 1st place and a gold medal.  Chloe's young brother Connor Norman, not to be outdone by his big sister, jumped a pb of 3.36m for first place and a gold medal in the under11 boys long jump.  Connor also took silver in the under11 boys 80m in a time of 13.00s.

Lucie McNally in her first competition did well in the under11 girls long jump taking 4th place with a jump of 2.72m just one place ahead of her team mate from Lytham Charlotte Thomson who jumped a pb of 2.64m.   Lucie and Charlotte both competed in the 80m, Lucie finishing 4th in her heat in a time of 14.8s with Charlotte taking 5th in her heat in 15s.  Charlotte also competed in the 600m finishing 9th in 2m 31.8s.

Simon Holt picked up two gold medals finishing 1st in the under 13 boys 800m in 2m 39.5s and also ran very well to finish first in the 200m in 29.8s.

Ellie McNally in her first outing for Lytham finished 4th in her heat of the 100m in 16.6s and 5th in her heat of the 200m in 35.8s.

LSARRC News 8th September 2015

LSARRC at Red Rose Inter Club

Wednesday night saw the final and 7th race in the Inter-Club Road Race Series from Worden Park, Leyland.  The usual 4 mile course around the park had to changed this year due to repairs to the main entrance to the park.  Instead, an excellent alternative 4.2 mile course was devised by the host club, Red Rose Runners.  It was a perfect evening for running attracting 243 runners.  An excellent buffet was then provided at Leyland Cricket Club by the host club.

LSARRC at Red Rose IC buffet

Terry Hellings

The race was won by Patrick Dever, a junior from Preston Harriers in a time of 22:22.  First lady was Nichola Jackson, also of Preston Harriers.  Lytham St Annes had a great turn out with 23 runners.  First home for the club was Joe Greenwood in 10th place in a time 24:16 whilst Joanna Goorney was the first female in 48th place and 2nd female overall in 27:21.  It was also great to see Rachael Wignall and Rachel Salt making their inter club debut for the club.

Ian Tate

Full results: Joe Greenwood 10th 24:16; Tom Howarth, 19th 25:09;Neil Tate 39th 26:29; Joanna Goorney 48th 27:21; Mark Willett 57th 27:37; Graham Webster 63rd 28:03; Terry Hellings 93rd 29:20; Mel Koth 108th 29:57; Alan Elstone 135th 31:53; Ian Tate 136th 31:58; Claire England 152nd 32:42; Des Heron 154th 32:48; Nigel Simpkin 168th 34:30; Hannah McCandless 175th 35:04; Julia Rolfe 183rd 35:42; Alex Everest 188th 36:13; Greg Oulton 199th 37:05; Debbie Cooper 200th 37:08; Sylvia Gittins 209th 38:50; Rachael Wignall 212th 39:05; Rachel Salt 224th 42:09; Bill Lock 230th 43:55; Dawn Lock 240th 50:31.

In the team event, in the open category, the club finished 6th, in the ladies, 4th, vets 6th, vet 50 6th, and vet 60 3rd.

In the overall series, the club finished 5th in the open category, 4th in the ladies, 6th in the vets, 6th in the vet 50s and just missed the top spot by 1 point finishing 2nd in the vet 60s.

Joanna Goorney at Blackshaw Head Fell Race

On Saturday morning, Joanna Goorney ran the Huddersfield Parkrun.  This is one of the largest Parkruns in the country and this weekend's run was no exception with 581 finishers.  The run is held in Greenhead Park and includes two large undulating loops around the park.  Joanna was pleased to complete the 5k in 19:09 and was 16th overall and 1st lady.

In the afternoon, she then headed over to Hebden Bridge for the 14th Blackshaw Head Fell Race.  The 5.5 mile course with 900 feet of ascent headed out along the Pennine Bridleway onto Heptonstall Moor and back along the Pennine Way.  Joanna was 25th overall and 1st lady in a time of 45:12.

Felicity Wolohan headed off to Lancaster for the Golden Ball 20 Mile Road Race.  The race starts & finishes at Salt Ayre Leisure Centre and using the network of paths the route head towards Lancaster Lancaster before returning back to Salt Ayre.  Martin Lalor of Barlick Fell Runners was first home of the 98 finishers in 1:59:12.  Felicity was 42nd in 2:49:15

A bright Sunday saw eight members of the Club awaiting the start of the ultimate Summer Run of the season organized by Richard Storey to take in the first five miles of the interesting Guild Wheel inaugurated at the 2012 twenty-year Preston Guild.  Participants were treated to the beauties of the River Ribble at Avenham Park, Fiswick Bottoms and a section through Brockholes Nature Reserve.

Summer run along the Guild Wheel

LSARRC News 1st September 2015

The perils of fell racing - Jeremy's sprained ankle

Hannah McCandless and Joanna Goorney

  Wednesday night saw the final race of 4 in the Harrock Hill Fell Race Series and also the final race in the club's fell race championship.  6 Lytham athletes were in action for this excellent 5.3 mile fell race and conditions were almost perfect with the threatening black clouds in the distance not materialising.  The race was won by Darren Kay of Pudsey and Bramley in 33.40 while Horwich's Lindsey Brindle was as dominant as ever for first lady in 38:20.

Joanna Goorney was first home for Lytham St Annes in 41st place and also 2nd lady in 40:59 and picked up the usual winnings for this race of a great veggie box..  Terry Hellings 72nd in 43:54.  Hannah McCandless had an excellent race for 153rd and was also 1st under 23 so also picking up a veggie box. She was followed not far behind by Pam Hardman in 163rd in 55:23 and Julia Rolfe in 170th in 56:03.  Jeremy McCandless limped in in 200th place in 74:22 after coming a cropper about a mile from the finish, spraining his ankle.

Julia Rolfe

Pam Hardman

The club's August Handicap was on Thursday night with some excellent times being produced with no less than five of the eighteen runners posting PBs and four more recording their best time of the summer.  There were encouraging PBs for newcomers Hannah McCandless, Rachael Wignall, Rachel Scott and Claire England plus a very notable one for Neil Tate, a veteran of many handicaps.

Race winner was Oliver Hirsh running only his second handicap after a long absence.  Quickest round the 4.35 miles course was Joe Greenwood in 24.39 while FV50 Claire England's 31.51 was the fastest by a lady.

Full results: 1 Oliver Hirsh 32:05 SB; 2 Debbie Cooper 37:22 SB; 3 Hannah McCandless 36:08 PB; 4 Rachel Scott 40:30 PB; 5 Roy Stevens 32:17 SB; 6 Rachael Wignall 38:00 PB; 7 Roy Upton 30.58 SB; 8 Neil Tate 22:23 PB; 9 Ian Tate 32:44; 10 Graham Webster 28:32; 11 Claire England 31:51 PB; 12 Alex Everest 35:23; Joe Greenwood 24:39; 14 Nigel Simpkin 34:38; 15 Tom Howarth 26:24; 16 Dawn Lock 61:35; 17 Justin Allitt 36:36; 18 Fiona Geldard 44:01;

Simon Holt

The final fixture of the Mid Lancs. Track and Field league took place at Stanley Park on Saturday afternoon. and 6 athletes from Lytham St Anne's RRC made the short trip.  This was also the Medal Meet where to qualify, athletes need to have competed in at least 2 other Mid Lancs meets this summer.  First to compete for Lytham was Chloe Norman in the under 15 girls long jump with a best jump of 4.25m for 10th place. Unable to compete in her usual 800m due to a late change in the running order of events Chloe switched to the 200m and was rewarded with first place in her heat and a pb of 30.2s.  Final event of the day for Chloe was the high jump where she equalled her pb of 1.40m for 3rd place and a bronze medal.

Under 13 girl Georgia Norman ran well in the 100m finishing in 15.2s but again because of the amended order of events had to go immediately to the long jump where she jumped 3.56m for 10th place.  Georgia's final event of the day was the 200m where she ran well to finish in 32s.

Chloe Norman

Simon was next up for Lytham in the under 13 boys 800m and ran his second pb in as many races finishing in 2m 33.2s for 3rd place and a bronze medal.  Simon also competed in his first long jump competition for over a year and jumped well to come close to his pb jumping 3.74m for 8th place.  Simon also ran well in the under 13 boys 200m.

James Nicholas, returning from injury, ran 14.6s in the under 13 boys 100m for 5th place.

Lytham's only senior woman was Hannah McCandless who in her first ever long jump competition jumped 3.24m for a bronze medal and also achieved a pb of 5.80m in the shot.

Graham Webster

Any opportunity to compete locally will see Lytham's Graham Webster toeing the line.  This Mid Lancs. meeting was no exception with Graham taking the gold medal in the senior men's 1500m in 5m 25.4s and bronze in the 3000m in a time of 11m 34.3s.

The Lancaster 5k Summer Series was up to its 4th race out of 5 on Saturday night in beautiful weather (sunny and only a slight breeze)   The race was won by Matt Whitfield of Bristol and West AC.  Tom Howarth and Mark Willett were in action for the club, both having superb runs to record PBs.  Tom was 20th in 17:20 just holding off the 2 leading ladies Carolyne Baxter of Lancaster and Morcambe and Mhairi Duff of Dumfries RC who finished within a second of each other battling it out for top. Tom is currently in heavy training for the Chester Marathon at the start of October and looking in great shape.  Mark Willett was 54th and a little disappointed to just miss out on dipping under 19 minutes with 19:02 .  This was also after having run the Preston Parkrun in the morning where he recorded a time of 30:28 for 210th place after accompanying his 11 year soon-to-be niece around the course.

Hannah McCandless

LSARRC News 25th August 2015

Ella Moulding at the Inter Counties

On Saturday, it was the Northern Athletics Inter Counties U15/U17 Championships which were held at Witton Park in Blackburn. Ella Moulding  competed for Lancashire in the Under 15 Girls 800 metres race.  She finished 6th in the A race in 2:22.00.

The Fleetwood Half Marathon was held on Sunday morning.  The two lap course started behind the Marine Hall Gardens and ran along Fleetwood's Outer Promenade and Esplanade.  The race was won by Rob Affleck of Preston Harriers in 1:13:25.  It was left to Half Marathon debutants Claire England and Rachael Wignall to fly the flag for Lytham St Annes Road Runners.  Claire was first home for Lytham in a time of 1:46:43.9s picking up the first FV50 prize and achieving a club gold standard in the process.  Rachael finished in 2:04:43.4s for 78th female.

Rachael Wignall

Claire England

Also on Sunday morning, Oliver Hirsh ran the Pilling 10k.  The race was won by Raymond Edgar of Lancaster and Morcambe AC in 32:36, over a minute clear of 2nd place with 100 finishers.  For Oliver, it was his first road race in over a year after been back training properly for about the last 6 weeks.  His aim was under 50 minutes but in the event, Oliver completely surpassed that finishing in 25th place in a time of 45:21 and 3rd vet 45.

Colin Laidlaw headed over to Warrington for the ever popular Birchwood 10k organised by Spectrum Striders.  Nigel Martin of Sale Harriers was first home in 33:05 closely followed by Rob Danson of Wesham Road Runners.  Kirsty Longley of Liverpool Pembroke Sefton was first lady in 38:04 and 32nd overall.  Colin finished in 46:48 in 232nd place out of 940 finishers and 9th vet 60.  Although disappointed with his time, he wasn't totally despondent considering the warm conditions (24° during the race).  He was also very pleased to receive his legendary Birchwood 10k luxury bath towels, the souvenir for all finishers.

The Inter Club team results at the Darwin Gala Fell Race, the final race in the fell series last Saturday have now been published.  LSARRC finished 3rd overall, 4th in the vet 40s, 4th in the Vet 50s, 1st in the Vet 60s, 2nd in the Vet 70s and 1st in the Ladies Category.

For the whole Inter Club Fell Race Series, LSARRC finished 3rd overall, 4th in the Vet 40s, 4th in the vet 50s, 2nd in the vet 60s, 1st in the vet 70s and 1st in the ladies.  In the individual awards, Lytham St Annes had both the 1st man and 1st  lady with Joe Greenwood and Joanna Goorney.  Terry Hellings was first Vet 60 and Dawn Lock was 1st vet 70 – excellent results.

Mark Willett and Roy Stevens were at Cuerden Valley on Saturday morning for the weekly Parkrun.  Mark, finishing in 14th place, recorded a PB for the tough 5k course with 21:06 whilst Roy was 40th with a time of 26:32.

LSARRC at Lytham Brewery

Andy Draper organised a very successful brewery tour to Lytham Brewery on Saturday evening, attracting 15 members of the club.  After starting off at the Trawlboat, the team headed at 7:30 to the brewery for the tour, lots of beer a pie and peas.

Andy Draper

LSARRC News18th August 2015

LSARRC at Chorley Inter Club

 Sunny evenings seem to have become somewhat of a tradition with 2015's Inter-Club Road Series and the sixth round, taking place this week at Astley Park, Chorley, was no exception.

Two hundred and fifty-two runners set off on this demanding race, amongst them a good turn out of twenty-nine representing Lytham St. Annes RRC. From a start opposite the North-West's premier Jacobean Hall with its knighted loin-of-beef throne, the course climbs and descends almost constantly through the Park and out onto the road side three times, each time turning back towards the Hall. The really tough section comes a mile into the race when athletes start the long haul up Southport Road only to have to repeat it later in the race.

Constantly improving Joe Greenwood achieved his target of a top ten finish with a great run of 28.16 for the hilly approximate 4.8 mile course. Thomas Howarth, fast finding his earlier form, finished 20th in 29.46 and third finisher was Neil Tate, 35th in 31.23. Other members of Lytham's Open Team which finished 5th were Justin Allitt, V40, 51st in 32:50; Terry Hellings, V60, 66th in 34:01; Melanie Koth, F40, 87th in 35:21; Colin Laidlaw, V60, 103rd in 36:32; 108th Roy Upton, V45, 108th in 36:41 and Oliver Hirsh, V45, 114th in 36:56

Coming fourth for Lytham and, even more notably, first woman, was Joanna Goorney who finished in an excellent 31.26 and 36th place leading the team into fourth place. Completing the women's team were Melanie Koth, 10th woman, Claire England, 31st, Fiona Geldard, 40th and Susan Hawitt, 41st.

But it was the older runners who set the pace for LSARRC with the Vet 60's team consisting of Terry Hellings, 2nd V60, Colin Laidlaw, 7th V60 and Roy Stevens, 13th V60 achieving second. The V60s go into the final round with 32 points for the series chasing leaders Blackpool on 34.

FULL RESULTS: 9th Joe Greenwood, SM 28:16; 20th Tom Howarth, SM, 29:46; 35th Neil Tate, SM, 31:23; 36th Joanna Goorney, F45, 31:26; 51st Justin Allitt, V40, 32:50; 66th Terry Hellings, V60, 34:01; 87th Melanie Koth, F40, 35:21; 103rd Colin Laidlaw, V60, 36:32; 108th Roy Upton, V45, 36:41; 114th Oliver Hirsh, V45, 36:56; 115th Richard Storey, V40, 36:58; 141st Des Heron, V40, 38:33; 146th Ian Tate, SM, 38:45; 147th Claire England, F50, 38:47; 150th Roy Stevens, V60, 38:58; 172nd Nigel Simpkin, V55, 41:36; 175th Fiona Geldard, F50, 41:41; 176th Susan Hawitt, F50, 41:47; 180th Pamela Hardman, F55, 42:05; 185th Hannah McCandlesss, SF, 42:24; 187th Julia Rolfe, F50, 42:28; 188th Alex Wiggins, SM, 42:44; 189th Debbie Cooper, F40, 42:49; 195th Jeremy McCandless, V50, 43:20; 199th Derek Caborn, V60, 43:55; 202nd Alexandra Everest, SF, 44:04; 213th Sylvia Gittins, F65, 46:42; 218th Bill Lock, V70, 48:07; 237th Dawn Lock, F70 , 58:59.

There's exciting prospects coming up for Lytham members when the popular North West Counties Relays move to a new venue on Saturday 12th September. For the first time runners will see the fine development of the Edge Hill University Campus in Ormskirk. The North West Counties gives a real opportunity to clubs like LSARRC to achieve medals as the

competition is limited to clubs within each of the five countries and Lytham Ladies have an excellent record of medals in the Lancashire Championships over many years.

But in 2014 it was Lytham's younger ladies who showed the way. At Wood Bank Park, Stockport in September 2014 the team of Under 15 Girls Chloe Norman, Hannah Riley and Ella Moulding took the Lancashire AA Gold Medal, a real thrill for the Club.

The North West Counties Relays will be followed a week later by the high-standard Northern Athletic Championships on home territory. Lytham members will have the balancing act of competing and marshalling at Stanley Park on the 19th.

The Inter-Club Fell Series reached a conclusion with the well-chosen Darwen Gala Fell Race on Saturday with the town festivities adding to the general atmosphere and the day enhanced by glorious sunshine. Organizers Darwen Community Runners added a nice touch by treating all finishers to hot dogs and a glass of the local beer.

A good entry including a large contingent of inter-club competitors ran this 7.5k race with 928ft of climb. Nine members of the Lytham took up the tough challenge to climb from town level straight up to Darwen Tower with a further challenge when the course looped downwards to once again to regain tower level before circling behind the tower and adding a tricky slippery descent on narrow paths back to the Bold Venture Park finish.

Terry after taking a tumble at the Darwen Gala Fell Race

Lytham's best fell runners were well up. Joe Greenwood finished 9th in 35.50, high enough to be in a good position to secure a season prize while Joanna Goorney, 41st in 41.00, was second women and second female veteran over 40 meriting two prizes. Dawn Lock, 139th in 1.12.23, was awarded the FV70 prize.

Making up the open team with Greenwood and Goorney were Terry Hellings, 45th in 41.10, who, hampered by a tumble, missed out on the V60 prize, Mark Selby, 55th in 43.15 and Debbie Cooper, 101st in 51.15. Julia Rolfe, 105th in 53.01, joined Goorney and Cooper in the women's team. Pamela Hardman, 106th in 53.02, came in immediately behind Rolfe and Jeremy McCandless, who has only taken up fell running this season, finished creditably in 117th in 56.55.

Two Lytham members ran the evening Catforth 5K, won by a sizzling performance by Wesham's Rob Danson of 15.27. Thomas Howarth finished 12th in 17.40 and Mark Willett, 34th in 19.18.

LSARRC News 11th August 2015

LSARRC's Brian Porter - Race Adjudicator
for Blackpool Airshow 10k

After a busy few weeks, local races were quite sparse this last week.

The main event was the Blackpool Air Show 10k on Sunday morning.  With headquarters at Bispham Fire Station, the course started from Bispham Tram Stop, headed North to Little Bispham and then South along the promenade turning back just before North Pier.  The race was excellently organised by Dave Waywell and Kath Hoyer who, with the current recommendation not to drink tap water, both went to the trouble of boiling gallons of water for the thirsty runners.  Although a potential PB course, being so flat, the strong southerly wind slowed many people down.

First home of the 227 finishers was Darren Newbould of Hallamshire Harriers in a time of 34:34 whilst Louise Blizzard of Belgrave Harriers was first lady in 40:17.  Lytham St Annes had 2 representatives.  Joanna Goorney was 24th and 2nd lady in 40:30 whilst Steve Quarmby was 135th in 52:25.

Joanna Goorney approaching the finish

Steve Quarmby on the promenade

Over the summer, the club has organised a series of summer runs on a Sunday morning.  Last Sunday was the 3rd in the series where Dawn Lock led a surprisingly attractive route starting and finishing in Haslam Park, Preston.  The route, taking full advantage of the Preston-Tewitfield canal towpath, passed through the UCLAN Sports Arena and encompassed part of the Preston Guild Wheel.

Bill Lock and Oliver Hirsh on the Summer Run

Previous runs included one from Hurst Green led by Debbie Cooper, with a section of the Ribble Way and a beautiful day to show the countryside at is best and another from Conder Green, which was also a canal-side run, led by Bill Lock.

Those interested in the Guild Wheel as a potential source of many flattish and easily-followable miles should turn up for the fourth of the series starting at Avenham Park on Sunday 6th and led by Richard Storey.

With summer rapidly flying by, it won't be long now until the Green Drive Five and Green Drive Junior Mile on the 18th October.  The Green Drive Five is a fast and accurately measured five miles suitable for both elite and slower runners. Starting and finishing in the attractive surroundings of Green Drive in Lytham, the flat course is perfect for achieving PBs.  The Green Drive Junior Mile is an accurately measured mile held in advance of the senior race for athletes aged 8 to 15. Starting at the same location as the Green Drive Five, the course takes a safe off-road out and back route to the far end of Green Drive. All finishers receive a medal.  Further details can be found on the LSARRC website www.lythamrunners.org.uk and online entry is available at https://bookitzone.com/mark_selby/cI2FFX

LSARRC News 4th August 2015

(the first ever) Lytham St Annes 4x100m Relay Team at Hyndburn T&F

The Northern Vets AC had a track and Field meet on Wednesday night at Leigh Sports Village and incorporated the NVAC 5,000m Championships.   Jeremy McCandless competed in the 5000m for age categories V35, V40, 45, 50 and 55 knocking 30 seconds of his PB helped by the friendly supportive atmosphere.  Graham Webster also had a good night on the track.  In the 2nd  5000m race for age categories V60, 65, 70 75, he was 3rd vet 60 in a time of 19:27 and then just 10 minutes later was 1st out of 7 in the open 1500m with a time of 5:22.  Jeremy also competed in the Javelin and Discus but no results are currently available.

Thursday night saw the 4th race in the club's monthly handicap series.  The calm summer's evening provided nearly perfect running conditions and a number of PBs.  Sue Hawitt was first home with her 3rd win in four races and another PB.  Hot on her heels, was Tom Hawarth followed only 6 seconds later by Jeremy McCandless.

Full results: 1 Sue Hawitt 36:32 PB; 2 Tom Howarth 24:51 PB; 3 Jeremy McCandless 36:27 PB; 4 Justin Allitt 28:02 PB; 5 Roy Upton 31:27; 6 Roy Stevens 33:28; 7 Neil Tate 26:45; 8 Sylvia Gittins 38:33; 9 DawnLock 55:40; 10 Alex Everest 35:14; 11 Alan Elstone 31:38; 12 Pam Binns 40:15; 13 Joe Greenwood 25:28; 14 Ian Tate 32:19; 15 Julia Rolfe 38:25; N/C  - Ross McKelvie 26:47; Rachel Scott 41:21; Rachael Wignall 38:20; Oliver Hirsh 34:55; Andy Unsworth 26:53;

On Saturday morning, only a week after completing the Lakeland 50, Mark Willett was at the Cuerden Valley Parkrun.  He finished in 10th place in 21:23, just seconds outside his PB for the course.



 
Heavy downpours were the unforecasted(!) feature of the 5th MidLancs Track and Field Meet at Hyndburn on Saturday afternoon.  Despite the weather though, there was still a good turnout of athletes with a record 5 juniors and 7 seniors competing from Lytham St Annes.

The first event of the afternoon on the track was the 800m and unfortunately most of the runners ended up with quite a soaking.  Graham Webster was in the senior men's 800m where he finished 9th in 2:44.70 finding conditions quite slippy after accidentally leaving his spikes at home.  He was on the track again for the 1500m where he finished 4th in 5:27.80.  He was joined by Russ Chew who was 5th in 6:01.00 and Jeremy McCandless who was delighted to break the 7 minute barrier with 6:50.60 for 6th place.  In the 5000m, Graham was 6th in 11:24.00, Terry Hellings was 8th in 12:29.70 and Russ Chew was 9th in 12:47.40.  Jeremy McCandless was also in action on the field along with Greg Oulton.  In the Shot Putt, Greg finished 8th with a throw of 5.42m.  In the Discus, Jeremy was 10th with 16:58m and Greg was 11th with 14.24m.  Greg then went onto throw the javelin a distance of 12.87m for 4th place and Jeremy threw the hammer 14.20m for 8th place.

Hannah McCandless

Luckily by the time the senior women came to run the 800m, the rain had just stopped.  Joanna Goorney was 2nd in 2:37.50 and Hannah McCandless was 4th in 3:10.6.  In the 1500m, Joanna was 2nd in 5:17.10 whilst in the 3000m, she finished third in 11:30.20.

Simon Holt was the first of the juniors in action on the track in the Under 13 Boys 800m Heat 1.  Having only just turned 11, he was delighted to knock a second off this PB to finish in 6th in 2:34.30.  He was in action again in heat 2 of the Under 13 Boys 200m finishing 3rd in 29.40.  James Nicholas had a superb afternoon with PBs in both the Under 13 Boys 100m and 200m.  In the 100m, he clocked 13.20 for 2nd place and in the 200m, knocked nearly a second off his previous PB to finish 1st in 27.70.

Terry Hellings

Ella Moulding had a great run in the Under 15 Girls 300m to just be pipped into 2nd place in 44.20.  She also dominated from the gun in the under 15 Girls 800m finishing a clear 1st in 2:23.20.  Chloe Norman was 7th in 2:33.40.  Georgia Norman was 3rd in the Under 13 girls 100m Heat 5 in 15.30 and also 3rd in Heat 2 of the 200m in 32.00.  After only just finishing the 800m. Chloe was back in action in the U15 Girls Long Jump finishing 8th with 4:13m and then equalled her PB in High Jump to finish equal first with 1.40m.  Georgia was involved in the U13 Girls Long Jump finishing 11th with 3.60.

Men's 4x400m Relay Team

Rounding of the afternoon, was the relays.  For the first time ever, Lytham St Annes women had a 4x100m relay team.  Consisting of Joanna Goorney, Hannah McCandless, Chloe Norman and Georgia Norman, they finished 2nd in 65.10.  The men's 4x400m relay team (Graham Webster, Terry Hellings, Russ Chew, Jeremy McCandless) were also 2nd in 5:23.40.

On Sunday, it was the annual Prudent Riverside (formerly known as the Wagon and Horses) 10mile Road Race from Lancaster.  The race was won by Grant Johnson of Salford Harriers in 53:44 and had 145 finishers.  Mel Koth was Lytham St Annes' sole representative finishing in 43rd in 1:15.0.