LSARRC News 26th April 2016

Rachael Wignall.

In a busy week for Lytham St Annes RRC they had athletes from age 10 to 64 racing over distances from 5k to 26.2 miles.  The main event of the weekend was undoubtedly the 36th London Marathon and 9 Lytham members headed to the capital to join 38000 others on the start line.  First home for Lytham was Steve Hargreaves in a time of 2:42:24 for 401st place closely followed by Andy Draper in 2:45:28 for 571st position.  Neil Tate improved on his previous best by over 7 minutes finishing in 2:54:37 for 1216th place.  Chris McCarthy was next for Lytham in 2:58:05 for 1722nd place.  Emily Hargreaves finished in 3:08:56 (204th female).  Melanie Koth in her 10th London Marathon finished 1371st female in 3:36:32. Ruth Wheatley     (5:06:43, 10009th female), Rachael Wignall in her first marathon finished in 5:13:51, 10561st female) and raised £2630 for Kidney Research UK in the process and Alex Wiggins (5:25:55, 33143rd) also ran for Lytham.

Closer to home the Lytham Hall parkrun attracted 10 Lytham members with Ross McKelvie 4th in 18:18, Andy Unsworth 7th in 18:42, 10 year old Morgan Pritchard 32nd in 23:14, Sue Hawitt 54th in 24:32, and Greg Oulton 63rd in 25:21 all recording personal best times.  2 Lytham athletes, junior Laura Bremner 65th in 25:28 and Liz Boon 119th in 29.15 did well competing in their first Lytham Hall parkrun.  Mark Selby 12th in 20:10, Bob Clough 93rd in 27:41 and Jeremy McCandless 99th in 28:15 were also flying the Lytham flag,

Sunday saw Joe Greenwood compete in the Blackpool half marathon finishing in 1:21:22 for 11thplace.  Ross McKelvie in his second race of the weekend ran     1:31:42 for 41st position.

Steve Ashton, training for his Iron Man later in the year, ran in the Rivington 10 mile trail race a tough off road race with over 1000 feet of climbing.  Steve finished in 2:01:56.

The Bolton 10k is challenging course incorporating the undulating roads around and within Leverhulme Park but this did not discourage Lytham members Julia Rolfe and Greg Oulton (his second race of the weekend) who completed the course in 52:02 and 56:05 for 260th and 356th place respectively.

Morgan Pritchard at Lytham Hall parkrun

LSARRC News 19th April 2016

Neil Tate at Lytham Hall parkrun

Graham Webster ran 4 races at Cleckheaton last Wednesday at the  evening Northern Masters AC Track and Field Meeting .  All within the space of 1 and half hours, his first race was the 800m where he finished 3rd in 2:27.9, then the 3000m where he was 5th in 11:50.0, then the 1500m where he was 5th in 5:42.4 and lastly the 400m in 75.6 for 7th place.  Graham was 1st 60 in all the races.

The Valiant's Half Marathon on Sunday from Valiant's Equestrian Centre, Out Rawcliffe attracted 2 Lytham St Annes runners.  With 76 finishers, the race was won by Rob Danson of Wesham in 1:14.06.  Tom Howarth finished in 7th place in 21:07 4 Howarth Thomas  whilst Ian Tate recorded a PB with 1:39:17 finihsing in 24 place.

In his first track race of the season, junior Zane Seddon headed to South Manchester for the Trafford A.C. Medal Meeting from  Trafford A.C. Medal Meeting at Longford Park Stretford.  Competing in the under 13 boys 800m, Zane led for most of the race finishing in 1st place with a time of 2:22.3.

With all the media attention surrounding the Little Stoke parkrun this last week, it was hardly surprising that it boosted the numbers at the 20th Lytham Hall parkrun but with 243 runners, the previous record of 207 was easily surpassed.  2 club member, Barbara Holmes and Sue Hawitt acted as pacers for the run helping people attain PBs whilst Caroline Betmead of Blackpool, Wyre and Fylde broke her own female course record again with 18:58.  Andy Draper equalled his PB for the course finishing in 2nd place with 17:43 with Chris McCarthy just behind in 3rd with 17:45.  Ross McKelvie was 7th 18:38, Neil Tate was 14th in 20:15, Morgan Pritchard was 38th in 23:43, Graham Webster was 39th in 23:43, Claire England was 44th in 24:04, Barbara Holmes was 58th in 25:02, Clemmie Tierney was 123rd in 29:46 with a new course PB, Sue Hawitt was 139th in 30:42 and Jeremy McCandless was 257th in 32:00.

Ian Tate ran in the 121st Warrington parkrun where there were 331 finishers.  He finished in 25th place in a time of 21:07 for the 5k course.

Jeremy McCandless and Mollie

Andy Draper

LSARRC News 12th April 2016

Lytham ladies warming up for the Inter Club

The first Inter Club race in the 2016 series was held on Wednesday night at Stanley Park. Hosted by Blackpool Wyre and Fylde AC, the 4 mile race takes in 2 laps of the park. Last year's overall winner Rob Danson of Wesham Road Runners carried on from where he left off winning by over half a minute in 20:27. Lytham St Annes had an excellent turnout with 29 runners out of the 311 finishers. Andy Draper was first home for the club in 9th place and 22:46 just beating Tom Howarth in 10th place with 22:48. Ross McKelvie made up an impressive debut for the club in 23rd place with 23:33. Along with Joe Greenwood and Neil Tate, this gave the club 5 members in the top 25. Joanna Goorney was first female home for the club and 4th female overall in 25:16.

Andy Draper

LSARRC results: Andy Draper 9th 22:46, Tom Howarth 10th 22:48; Joe Greenwood 16th 23:18; Neil Tate 21st; Ross McKelvie 23rd 23:33; Alex Tate 47th 25:04; Joanna Goorney 51st 25:16; Justin Allitt 55th 25:28; Alan Elstone 73rd 26:15; Graham Webster 78th 26:33; Terry Hellings 96th 27:25; Ian Tate 118th 28:18; Melanie Koth 129th 28:57; Barbara Holmes 130th 29:11; Claire England 171st 30:57; Alex Everest 175th 31:11; Nigel Simpkin 178th 31:14; Gemma Czarnota 180th 31:17; Roy Stevens 182nd 31:19; Susan Hawitt 194th 31:57; Steven Ashton 212nd 32:49; Julia Rolfe 213th 32:50; Debbie Cooper 222nd 33:27; Greg Oulton 223rd 33:28; Jeremy McCandless 237th 34:34; Rachael Wignall 264th 36:58; Karen Lanigan 281st 39:10; Bill Lock 294th 42:19; Dawn Lock 309th 49:45;

Ladies Inter Club Fell Race Champions

Joe Greenwood

 In the team events, Lytham St Annes also faired well scoring best in the new female vet 40 category where they finished 2nd overall. In the open category, the club were unlucky to finish 5th since the scores were very tight. After the race at Blackpool Cricket Club, an excellent buffet was provided by BWF AC which was followed by the Inter Club presentation evening for last year's road race series and fell race series. Lytham St Annes had much success overall particularly in the fell race series where they won the Ladies Team trophy, had first overall male (Joe Greenwood), 1st female vet 40 (Joanna Goorney), and 1st female (Debbie Cooper).

On Sunday morning, Tom Howarth ran the Cheshire 10k which starts at Arley Hall. The race is renowned as a fast, flat 10k taking in rural roads around Antrobus and with good weather provided perfect conditions. First home of the 1115 finishers by over a minute was Patrick Martin of Stockport Harriers. Tom had an excellent run smashing his PB by over half a minute to finish in 27th place overall in 35:51.

Tom Howarth

The Fleetwood 10k on Sunday morning had 204 finishers. Andy Draper finished as superb 3rd overall in a time of 36:03. Claire England was 54th in 48:41, Roy Stevens was 55th in 48:48 and Sue Hawitt was 70th in 51:09.

The 19th Lytham Hall parkrun had to revert back to the B course on Saturday morning due to herons nesting near the pond on the A course. This didn't deter runners though and a record field of 207 took part. Andy Draper was 1st finisher in 17:43 whilst Caroline Betmead of Blackpool, Wyre and Fylde was 1st lady again lowering the course record to 19:01. Andy Unsworth was 6th in 19:38, Chris Mccarthy was 9th in 20:12; Morgan Pritchard was 31st in 23:26, Graham Webster was 32nd in 23:27, Debbie Cooper was 60th in 26:28, Neil Bayntun-Roberts 73rd in 27:06, Rebecca Willetts was 96th 28:26, Clemmie Tierney was 147th in 31:46, Karen Lanigan was 149th in 31:51 and Jeremy McCandless was 156th in 32:14.

LSARRC News 5th April 2016

Pendle Fell Race

The Pendle Fell Race starting in the village of Barley on Saturday afternoon.  Although fairly short (4.5 miles), the 1499ft of ascent makes the course quite challenging.  And murky conditions with limited visibility on the summit and plenty of mud added extra spice.  Despite that though the first man home, Sam Tosh of Rossendale Harriers, still was back in 33:46.  The race was also selected by LSARRC as the first race in the club's fell championship and attracted three members.  Joanna Goorney was 7th lady and 65th overall in 46:11, Julia Rolfe was 160th in 1:05:11 and Greg Oulton was 166th in 1:06:56.

Simon Holt

The first Mid Lancs. Track and Field fixture of 2016 took place at Stanley Park on Saturday 2nd April.  The undoubted star of the meeting for Lytham St Annes was under 13 boy Simon Holt picking up a total of 16 points for the club.  Simon achieved a distance of 6.81m in the shot to win the competition outright earning 7 points. Simon’s next event was the 800m finishing in 2m 45.1s and 3rd in division 2 for 4 points.  Final event of the day for Simon was the 200m finishing 2nd in his heat and 3rd in division 2 for 4 points.  Making her debut for LSARRC at track and field and picking up 8 points was senior woman Rachael Wignall.  Rachael was 3rd in her heat of the 100m in 18.9s for 4th place in division 2 and 3 points.  Rachael also earned 3 points in the shot with a distance of 5.93m and 2 points in the discus with a distance of 15.24m for 4th and 5th place in division respectively.  Senior man Jeremy McCandless also competed for Lytham taking 3rd place in division 2 in the hammer with a distance of 15.95m and 2nd in division 2 in the shot with 13.72m for 5 points.

Rachael Wignall

Graham Webster ran the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park 10k in London which included the  BMAF & VAC 10k Road Championships on Saturday.  He finished 82nd out of 605 in 41.59 over an extended course on mostly flat terrain.

The inaugural Darwen Heritage Half Marathon on Sunday morning organised by Darwen Dashers proved a tough cookie by all accounts.  Won by Ben Fish of Blackburn Harriers by over 7 minutes in a time of 1:12:40, the race had over 400 finishers.  Mel Koth fitted it into her training for the London Marathon which is now only 3 weeks away.  She finished in 116th place in a time of 1:43:45.

Felicity Wolohan had an excellent run at the Paris Marathon on Sunday recording a PB of 3:31:04.  She finished 296th female out of 10084 and 5268th overall out of 41708.

Graham Young and Bob Clough at Lytham Hall parkrun

The 18th Lytham Hall parkrun on Saturday morning still attracted 180 runners despite the drizzly conditions on Saturday morning.  Ben Wolfarth of Salford Harriers was the first finisher in 16:41 whilst Caroline Betmead of Blackpool Wyre and Fylde was the first lady breaking the ladies course record with 19:34.  First home for the club was Tom Howarth in 4th place and 18:23 with Neil Tate just 3 seconds behind in 5th.  Alan Elstone was 21st in 21 :10, Mark Selby was 24th in 21:33, Morgan Pritchard was 39th in 23:52, Claire England was 42nd and 4th lady in 24:05, Sue Hawitt was 65th in 26:45, Bob Clough was 93rd in 28:50, Graham Young was 113th in 30:35, Hebe Tierney was 159th in 35:35, Clemmie Tierney was 160th in 35:35 and Alex Tate was 179th in 38:44.

Alan Elstone at Lytham Hall parkrun

Greg Oulton was the winner of the March club handicap race on Thursday night that was notable for four competitors, Will McCallister, Jeremy McCandless, Claire England and Sue Hawitt, all recording PBs. The best time of the evening was by new member Chris McCarthy who ran a very quick 3.44 miles in 19:26 on his first run on the course.

Full results: 1, Greg Oulton, 30.55; 2, Will McCallister, 23.35; 3, Jeremy McCandless, 29.22; 4, Claire England, , 26.47; 5, Tom Howarth, 20.26; 6, Sue Hawitt, 27.46; 7, Julia Rolfe, 29.05; 8, Justin Allitt, 23.10; 9, Karen Lanigan, 34.22; 10, Dawn Lock, 47.26; n/c Chris McCarthy, 19.26; Colin Laidlaw, 26.53; Paul Haywood, 23.09.

The March race was the finale of the year's competition for the Handicap Plate. Congratulations to Sue Hawitt who is the undoubted 2015-16 champion. Over twelve months of continual improvement Sue has recorded a PB every time she's run. The runner-up, last year's champion Jeremy McCandless, is a worthy winner of the silver medal as he has followed on with a further year of consistently better times.

Leading scores for 2015-16; Sue Hawitt 237, Jeremy McCandless 212; Neil Tate 204; Debbie Cooper 192, Tom Howarth 192, Dawn Lock 185, Alan Elstone 176.

LSARRC News 29th March 2016

Calder Vale 10 miler

There were plenty of races on offer over the Easter weekend for Lytham St Annes runners to get their teeth into, the closest and most popular being the Calder Vale 10 mile on Good Friday which attracted 196 runners.  The race was won by Gary Pennington of Preston Harriers over 4 minutes clear of the rest of the field.  Ian Tate was first home for the club in 76th place with a time of 1:18:59.  Claire England had an excellent run to win 1st vet 50 in 105th place and a time of 1:26:51 whilst not far behind Sue Hawitt finished in 122nd place and 1:29:37

Also on Friday morning was the fast, flat Salford 10k, a 2 lap course from Salford Sports Village.  With 573 finishers, first home was Willian Mycroft of Enfield and Haringey AC.  Andy Draper was the club's sole representative finishing in 58th place in a time of 35:44.

The World Half Marathon Championships were held in Cardiff on Saturday.  With far from perfect weather conditions deteriorating badly towards the end, Steve Hargreaves still managed to finish in 106th place in a time of 1:15:40

On Saturday afternoon, Joanna Goorney headed over to Horwich for the Rivington Pike Fell Race.  Organised by Horwich RMI Harriers, the race is a straight up and down 3.2mile race with 699 feet of ascent.  The great Ron Hill was making his 40th appearance at the race and was later presented with a tankard to commemorate the occasion.  Incidentally, Lytham St Annes' Sue Samme used to hold the Ladies course record having won the race back in 1980 by over a minute and a quarter.  Joanna finished in 86th place and was 7th lady and 1st vet 45.

On Easter Monday, Greg Oulton ran the Ackworth Half Marathon, near Wakefield.  The undulating scenic one lap course was not made any easier by the rain and gale force wind and the final hill, arrived at mile 12 for half a mile, along with a strong head wind was not a good combination.  On the plus side, it was also the first half marathon that Greg has finished where he didn't need to walk for a rest before the end.  Greg managed to get round in 2:03:09 in 218th place.

Johnny Wild

The previous Saturday (19th),  Johnny Wild ran the Cartmel Trail 18k Challenge which is part of the Lakeland Trails series.  He finished in 2:13:54 coming in 293rd place out of 490 finishers

Chris McCarthy

The 17th Lytham Hall parkrun on Saturday morning successfully moved back onto the 3 lap “A” course which has had new paths laid on it vastly improving the track.  With 191 runners,  the second highest since the parkrun began, the rain luckily held off till after the event.  Lytham St Annes had the first male and first female finishers also this week with Chris McCarthy getting round the course in 17:49 whilst Joanna Goorney in 12th place overall finished in 20:06.  Alan Elstone was 18th in 21:09.  Felicity Wolohan was 3rd lady in 21st place in 21:36 with Sue Samme just behind in 23rd and 21:46.  Neil Bayntun-Roberts was 32nd in 22:52, Morgan Pritchard was 43rd in 23:45 Graham Webster was 44th in 23:46, Dawn Bloor  was 47th in 23:50, Jeremy McCandless was 107th in 29:24, Karen Lanigan in her first ever parkrun was 127th in 30:43, Clemmie Tierney was 164th in 34:56 and Hebe Tierney was 165th in 34:57.

Morgan Pritchard followed by Graham Webster

LSARRC News 21st March 2016

LSARRC at Grasmere YHA club training weekend

Sylvia Gittins and Richard Storey represented the club at the Coniston 14 mile road race on Saturday.  Conditions were perfect as over 1100 runners set off from the village for a circuit of the stunning lake.  Sylvia was 1st WV70, 790th overall, in 2:14:10, Richard coming 381th overall in 1:54:09. The race was won by Sam Stead of Keswick AC is 1:16:27.

LSARRC at the Trimpell 20

Steve Ashton and Rachael Wignall

The big attraction for Lytham St Annes athletes this weekend was the Trimpell 20 on Sunday morning.  Starting from Lancaster Castle, this very popular 20 mile race is a great warmup for anyone with a spring marathon approaching with a number in the club preparing for London.  The race was comfortably won by Iraitz Arrospide, over 3 minutes clear in 1:52:36.  Andy Draper was first home for LSARRC in an excellent 16th place and 2:07:57 with Tom Howarth not far behind in 19th with 2:09:11 followed by Neil Tate in 30th place and 2:10:48.  Graham Webster was 1st vet 60 in 143rd place with 2:30:16, Mel Koth was 213th in 2:37:59, Ian Tate was 293rd in 2:48:21, Steve Ashton was 522nd in 3:15:51, Ruth Wheatly was 561st in 3:23:37 and Rachael Wignall was 651st in 3:43:04.  There were 718 finishers


The Fleetwood Rotary 10k was held on Sunday morning.  Starting on the promenade behind the Marine Hall and finishing in the Marine Gardens, the race was held in perfect spring conditions.  Paul Muller of Horwich RMI was first home in 36.17.  There were 2 representatives from LSARRC.  Joanna finished 1st lady and 4th overall in 39:33 whilst Dave Dunn was 20th in a time of 46:10.

Morgan Prichard at the Lytham Hall Parkrun

The 16th Lytham Hall parkrun on Saturday morning was won by Paul Muller of Horwich RMI in 17:29 and more significantly with an superb age grade percentage of 90.94.  With 164 runners, LSARRC was well represented.  Chris McCarthy was 2nd in 17:40, Andy Unsworth  was 7th with a new course PB of 19:13, Joanna Goorney was 9th and 1st lady in 19:50, Alan Elstone  was 13th in 20:35 and Neil Bayntun-Roberts was 18th in 21:28.  10 year old Morgan Pritchard was 30th in only his 2nd parkrun running a course PB of 23:14.  There were also course PBs for Claire England in 35th place with 23:31, Rebecca Tate in 46th with 24:39, Sue Hawitt in 50th with 24:52, Hebe Tierney in 133rd and  35:17 and Clemmie Tierney in 138th 35:46.

Joanna Goorney followed by Alan Elstone

 Over in Liverpool, Felicity Wolohan ran the Princes parkrun.  She finished 3rd lady in 36th place overall in 21:12, a new course PB. There were 231 finishers.

Over on the other side of the world, Bob Clough ran in the Maitland parkrun in Walka Recreation & Wildlife Reserve, Oakhampton Heights, New South Wales, Australia.  With 384 runners, Bob finished in 114th place in 27:17

Training weekend

Eleven members of Lytham St Annes RRC headed off to the Lake District for the weekend with a return to Grasmere YHA for their latest biannual training weekend and 2 days of hard activity.

The weekend’s training included a short run before dinner on Friday.  Saturday started with an early morning pre-breakfast run, followed by a 6.7 mile late morning run across Loughrigg Terrace with spectacular views of Grasmere and Rydal lakes and the surrounding hills then back along the lakeside.

Sunday started again with the pre-breakfast run followed by a mid-morning undulating run again taking in Loughrigg Terrace and a full loop around Loughrigg Fell covering 10 miles and over 1200 feet of hill climbs.

Sunday lunch time was a final get together at YHA hostel for lunch before heading back to the real world.  The weather was very kind and everyone enjoyed the weekend and are looking forward to the next trip which is planned autumn 2016.

LSARRC News 15th March 2015

LSARRC runners at the Lytham Hall parkrun

Lytham St Annes RRC took over the organising of the Lytham Hall Park run this week and were out in force. There was something for everyone with Lytham providing 20 helpers and 21 competitors from age 9 to over 70 and from complete beginners to former GB internationals athletes.

Colin Laidlaw

First home for Lytham was new recruit Chris McCarthy in 17:39 for 3rd place, Andy Unsworth , Neil Roberts and Ian Tate were next in 19:19, 21:09 and 21:17 respectively (10th, 17th and 18th) all recording personal best times for the Lytham Hall parkrun. Others competing for Lytham were Alan Elstone (24th, 22:00), Mark Selby (32nd, 22:51) and Graham Webster (42nd, 23:32) running with Morgan Pritchard in his first ever 5k race. Morgan ran exceptionally well to record a time of 23:3 for 41st place overall and first under 11 boy. John Wild was next home in 28>22 (95th), 10 year old girls Keira Van Bogerijen and Amara Thorpe also in their first 5ks were next home for Lytham in 31:29 and 32:12 with Rebecca Willets keeping Amara company in (131st, 32:13) closely followed by Louise Charnock (32:19, 134th). Neil Tate ran with his 7 year old daughter Sophie who ran very well finishing in 35.44 for 163rd place. Other Lytham juniors were under 11 siblings Clemmie and Hebe Tierney finishing in 37:34 and 37:35 for 171st and 172nd place.

LSARRC marshalls at the Lytham Hall parkrun

Vicky Wylie (32:25), Michelle Theobald (34:09), Sarah Bagshaw (35:38), Katie Newton (35:36), Vicky Benson (35:37)Jenny Lewandowski (36:03) and Nina Dyer from the Lytham St Annes Road Runners beginners group were accompanied by experienced runners Sue Samme and Nigel Simpkin and did well to complete their first parkrun after just a few weeks of training. Jeremy Mcandless accompanied by his dog Ella in a Lytham club vest acted as sweep.

Over in Liverpool, Felicity Wolohan ran the Princes parkrun whwew there were 209 finishers.  She finished in 47th and 2nd lady in a time of 23:35

On Saturday, Debbie Cooper ran the Howarth Hobble which traverses gritstone moors around Haworth, Todmorden and Hebden Bridge.  The course if 34 miles with 4400 feet of ascent/descent.  She completed the course in 6:27:30 in167th place.

Andy Draper

Claire England

The Sweatshop 10 was the big local race on Sunday morning attracting a large contingent of LSARRC runners.  The 10 mile race from Bispham, Blackpool takes in 2 laps of the north promenade.  The race was won by James Kevan of Horwich RMI Harriers in 53:04 whilst Sharon Johnstone of Wilmslow RC was first lady in 1:03:35.  Andy Draper was first home for the club in 15th place just missing sub 1 hour in 1:00:25.  Just behind in 19th place was Tom Howarth in 1:01:19.  Graham Webster showing his current excellent form was 65th and 1st vet 60 in 1:09:31.  Dave Dunn was 109th in 1:16:26, Claire England was 141st in 1:21:51,  Sue Hawitt was 166th in 1:27:17 LC, Sylvia Gittins was 190th and 1st vet70 1:33:25 which was also a club record, Jeremy McCandless was 191st in 1:33:28 and Pamela Hardman was 201st in 1:35:43.

The Don Morrison Memorial Edale Skyline Fell Race was held on Sunday.  Weather conditions for this tough 21.1 mile race with 4505 feet of ascent in the heart of the Peak District were nearly perfect although the previous weekend's snowfall had left the second half of the course on the southern edge of the Kinder plateau difficult underfoot with slushy snow covering much of the terrain.  Joanna Goorney was pleased to complete the course in 4:22:00 finishing in 114th place.

Greg Oulton ran the Roddlesworth Roller 5.5 trail race from Abbey Village finishing in 199th place in 58:42   He found it a great race in beautiful surroundings (Roddlesworth reservoir / Tockholes woodland) with lots of hills included.

After the Roller there was a junior race, the Daffodil Doddle which went along the road alongside the reservoir and then into the woods.  Eleven year old Max Talbert represented the club doing really well, with a brilliant sprint finish at the end to pass another runner and pip him at the post.  Max finished in 24th place in 8:57 for the 2.2km course out of 183 finishers.

Als and Rachael

Racheal Wignall and Alex Everest completed the Vitality Liverpool Half Marathon on Sunday.  For Racheal, this run was treated as a training run to help prepare her for the London Marathon this year whilst for Alex, it  was her first half marathon.

The race began with very mild conditions, which became very sunnier as the race progressed, with Rachel getting sunburnt whilst running!  The race started at the Albert Docks, through Princes Road, Devonshire Road, Belvidere Road and onto Sefton Park.  It then went round Sefton park and back along the Liverpool Leeds Canal, eventually finishing back at the Albert Docks.

As runners from the the Fylde coast, the girls don't encounter many hills so when they had to run up and down 4 before the 5th mile, they were a little worried about the ‘undulating’ Sefton Park part of the race.  By the time they got to Sefton Park, the course had settled down though and they we were only faced with very slight undulation.  Around eight miles, Alex started to feel her body crash but was spurred on by a friendly face, fellow LSARRC Felicity Wolohon.  The last three miles were very picturesque, running along the Liverpool, Leeds canal!  All in all, Alex found it a very hard course, with a few more hills than she was used to, very hot towards the end and thoroughly enjoyable.

Alex finished in 2061st place in an excellent first half marathon time of 1:53:53 whilst Racheal was 3294th  in a time of 2:07:34.