LSARRC News 25th April 2017

Andy Draper

Last weekend was marathon weekend with both the London and Blackpool marathons on the same day.

Conditions on Sunday in London were near perfect with cool, dry weather and a light breeze. Runners had the pleasure of live music around the course with a fantastic crowd giving enthusiastic support throughout.

Andy Draper wasn't in personal best (PB) shape following some injuries earlier in the year so was running with the aim of hitting 2:50. However after a great run to go through the halfway point in 1:24:32 he felt strong enough to push harder through the second half. He achieved a “negative split”, that is running the second half faster than the first. Out of a record 40,000 plus finishers Andy came 682nd.

Chris McCarthy

Unless you are one of the faster elite, London is a very crowded race and it can be difficult for runners to achieve their desired pace. Despite this Chris McCarthy knocked nearly four minutes off his pb, and Mel Koth shaved nearly 20 minutes from her time last year. Mel reported that members from all of the Fylde’s running clubs supported each other throughout the race in keeping with the spirit of the event.

Lytham results from London: Andy Draper 2:47:51, 682nd; Chris McCarthy 2:54:07, 1168th; Mel Koth 3:20:45, 4676th and 84th FV40-44; Graham Webster 3:25:51, 5456th and 15th vet 65-69; Fiona Geldard 4:36:18, 22170th.

Meanwhile in Blackpool, Lytham St Annes Road Runners Mike Toft, and brothers Neil and Alex Tate all managed top 25 finishes. On a fast course and in good conditions, Mike broke the three-hour barrier to finish sixth in 2:55:16. Neil suffered from starting too quick but still happy to finish 16th in 3:02:10 while younger brother Neil also did well to finish 25th from nearly 500 finishers. Running her first marathon, Natalie Toft finished 442nd in 5:16:59.

As well as the marathon, the Blackpool 10K and half-marathons took place. Achieving a personal best in the half was Sue Hawitt with a time of 1:53:52. Sue was also the fourth lady vet over 50.

Sue Hawitt

In the 10K Kathy Gaunt was also the fourth FV50 and Kirsten Burnett the second FV40. Lytham’s other entrant, Rob Parker, was 76th overall.

Joanna Goorney (courtesy of woodentops.co.uk)

Prolific fell racer Joanna Goorney ran the Anniversary Waltz Fell Race on Saturday.  The race takes in the classic Newlands horseshoe in the North Lakes starting from the village hall in Stair.  It was just over 11 and half miles with 3600 feet of ascent.  Weather was perfect, sunshine and a light breeze giving excellent visibility of the surrounding fells.  Joanna finished in 172nd place, and 1st WV40 in a time of 2:19:13.

Greg Oulton isn’t usually one to complain but he found the Wray Scarecrow 10K in North Lancashire tough going on Saturday. The race, which is part of the Scarecrow Festival and Fair, is undulating and Greg struggled to get back to the village inside the hour on a warm day, finishing 132nd.

In the Parkrun races Michelle Hook was the first lady at the Preston meeting on Saturday. On the same day in Lytham nine year old Jessica Ramsden smashed her pb despite having to stop at one point to wait for her accompanying adult - new PB 25:30.

George Denye ran the junior Parkrun in Lytham on Sunday for the fourth time and clocked up win number four comfortably in 7:23 despite a fall at the last corner that cost him several seconds. Jessica Ramsden took her age category record in a new PB of 8:58 only just behind older sister Sydney.

LSARRC News 18th April 2017

Lee Morrison at Caldervale 10

On Good Friday was the Caldervale 10 mile race, a race not for the faint hearted or lover of a flat race course! What started out as a murky, windy, rainy morning thankfully cleared a bit so it was dry and only breezy for the race at 1pm. Lytham had 2 runners representing the club, Lee Morrison and Michelle Hook. The first 2 miles is a glorious 2 mile down hill which for a second makes you forget about the hills to come! Almost bang on 2 miles the hills began for a solid 5 miles of incline (612ft of gain total) that was seriously character building. Thankfully the home stretch was pretty flat and down hill in comparison so some time could be made up on the other side. Michelle was 1st back for the club out of the 168 runners  in 1:15:01 for 44th overall and 8th female. Lee Morrison closely followed in 1:16:26.

This week 26 Lytham Road runner took part in parkruns up and down the country. For Lytham Halls parkrun we had 16 runners turned out, the first runner back was Joanna Goorney who was first women back in 19:33! The next runner back was Neil Bayntun- Roberts in 20:18, Michelle Hook in 20:33, Neil Tate in 20:40 and Felicity Wolohan in 20:47. The next Lytham runner back was Babara Holmes in 20:55, Babara was the 5th female to finish the race and earned a 25 second PB! Terry Hellings was next back in in 21:19, Sue Hawitt in 24:19, Jeremy McCandless in 28:55 and Laura Byrne in 29:21. Ruth Bye and Gillian Oliver finished their race together in 29:37, Liz Boon was next back in 29:52, David Rigby in 30:19, Michelle Sheridan in 31:50 and Sarah Bradshaw in 34:35.

Michelle Hook at Caldervale 10

In other parkruns, Eric Wrigley and Penny Morrison both ran in the Stanley Park Parkun and came 24:30 and 31:02. Paul Veevers ran in the Crosby parkrun and finished in an impressive time of 17:34 coming second male in the race. Andrew Draper and Gillian Draper both ran in the Fell Foor Parkrun in Newby Bridge. Andrew who is training for the London Marathon finished in 18:15 and Gillian in 23:31. Graham Webster ran in the Exeter Riverside Parkrun and finished his race in 19:48. Greg Oulton ran in the Cuerden Valley parkrun and completed his race in 30:17. Ian Tate ran the Warrington park run in 20:41. Catherine Carrdus came second female in the Preston parkrun in 20:01 and Sylvia Gittins ran in the Bushy parkrun in 29:46. Well done to all Lytham Parkrunners.

LSARRC News 11th April 2017

Lytham Ladies at Blackpool Inter Club

Chris McCarthy

A sure sign that summer is round the corner as the first race of the 2017 inter-club season was held in Stanley Park on Wednesday. The inter-club is an annual series of seven races, each hosted by one of the clubs in our part of Lancashire.

In this event, hosted by Blackpool, Wyre and Fylde AC, a record 390 competitors raced a two lap, four mile course in and around Stanley Park. Another record was that 37 turned out for Lytham St Annes Road Runners. Although the club were still one of the smallest there, they punched above their weight in the results, especially in the women’s categories.

First back for Lytham was Chris McCarthy in 6th position, closely followed by Joe Greenwood in 9th and Andy Draper in 11th. Mike Toft, running his first inter-club, also posted an excellent result by finishing 14th. Paul Veevers in 26th and Alex Tate in 29th were Lytham’s other top 30 finishers, leading the team to a creditable fourth place in the standings.

Gill Draper

For the ladies, Jo Goorney was the second woman, and the first FV40 with Michelle Hook 5th. Barbara Holmes in 11th, Mel Koth in 12th, and a rapidly-improving Gill Draper in 23rd formed the rest of the team that finished the second in the ladies’ category.

The FV40 team went one better and won their category. Again, Jo Goorney, Barbara Holmes and Mel Koth, this time with Kathy Gaunt and Debbie Cooper, were the stars.

Another winner was Joe Greenwood in the Fleetwood 10K on Sunday. Winning a road race for the first time, Joe lead the field by over a minute with a finishing time of 35:16. In very warm conditions, Mel Koth was Lytham’s first lady home to finish second in the ladies category, and the first FV40 in 44:34. Gill Draper and Kathy Gaunt also had good runs to come eighth and nineth ladies respectively, in 47:44 and 47:51. Sarah Bagshaw also ran, the 94th lady.

Mike Toft

Meanwhile on the South coast, prolific marathon runner Roy Stevens was one of the 12,000 plus competitors in the Brighton marathon on the hottest day of the year. Despite the heat, 65 year-old Roy still broke the four-hour barrier to finish 2,183rd, and ninth from 53 in his vet 65 category.

Aiming to become a prolific marathon runner, Kirsten Burnett ran her sixth race at this distance in Manchester the previous weekend. Last weekend she ran her seventh in Paris. In the Schneider Electric Marathon de Paris, and in 24 degrees of heat, Kirsten was slower than the previous weekend but still managed the 26.2 miles in in 04:36:18 to finish 28,236th!

Happy birthday to George Denye, who is 11 this week. In his last race as a 10 year-old George won the Avenham Park Junior Parkrun for the eighth time, and by over a minute. He leaves his age category holding the category records for Lytham and Blackpool Parkruns ,as well as the local junior Parkruns. He now has new goals in the 11 – 14 age group.

Neil Tate and Paul Veevers

LSARRC News 4th April 2017

Felicity Wolohan

Felicity Wolohan is one of Lytham St Annes Road Runners most improved athletes of recent years. To underline this she knocked over 16 minutes off her previous personal best in the Manchester Marathon on Sunday.

Running in near perfect conditions on a superfast course with great crowd support was always going to be advantageous and Felicity took full advantage with a time of 03:14:50. Felicity was also 8th in her category, 49th female and 947th overall in a race between over 8,500 competitors.

Also running for Lytham were Thomas Howarth, Paul Veevers and Kirsten Burnett. Thomas broke the three hour barrier with a time of 02:59:33 to finish 400th. Paul was a bit further back in 1012th, 03:16:03. Meanwhile Kirsten was 5844th with a time of 04:26:13 in her sixth marathon. The dreaded cramp struck during mile 22 to drag her time down but she is still determined to run her seventh marathon in Paris this weekend.

The final club handicap race of the year-long season took place on Thursday.  Mark Selby had a convincing win but the outstanding run of the evening was a PB for Joe Greenwood, the fastest on the winter course by anyone this year.

In a remarkably tight finale to the season Colin Laidlaw came out on top to win the Handicap Plate trophy, just one point ahead of Greg Oulton who takes the runner-up medal and three better than Sue Hawitt. On the night Colin was just three seconds ahead of the next placed person; had he been slightly slower there would not have been a clear winner.

Mel Koth was the first V40 and fourth lady at the Darwin Heritage Half Marathon on Sunday. Finishing 80th overall out of 311, in a time of 1:42:04 Mel happily recorded that she was 1:43 minutes faster than last year. Not an easy task on a course nicknamed the “rollercoaster” due to its hills.

Jo Goorney at Pendle Fell Race

Meanwhile over on the fells Jo Goorney ran the Pendle Hill Fell race, which included the Lancashire Championships. The 4 and a half mile race started by the village hall in Barley and has 1499 feet of ascent including a tough steep climb up Pendle Hill's Big End. 190 brave souls managed this great effort, and Jo was the ninth woman.

Ten-year-old George Denye was at it again on Sunday at the Avenham Park Junior Park Run in Preston. He won it for the seventh time in a new personal best time, and with a new Avenham Park age category record of 7:29. Turning 11 next week will give George a new list of records to break.

Jeremy and Paula McCandless at Lytham Hall parkrun

At the Lytham Hall Parkrun on Saturday LSARRC members took four of the top five places. Chris McCarthy was first with a new pb of 16:52. Andy Draper, Ross McKelvie (new pb) and Neil Tate were the other three. Also achieving new pbs from the club were Eric Wrigley, Stu Wharrior and Paula McCandless.

83 juniors took park in the Lytham Park View Junior Parkrun the following day. LSARRC again provided the winner in Morgan Pritchard, with Eric Wrigley coming fourth and Archie Tate setting himself a new pb of 08:37 to finish fifth. Also setting new pbs were Jack Greaves and Sophie Tate, with Charlotte Thompson running the event for the first time.

LSARRC News 28th March 2017

Michelle Hook at the relays

The North of England men’s 12 stage Road Relays and ladies’ 6 stage Road Relays returned to Stanley Park on Saturday.  The event attracts the best clubs from all over the North of England and is a qualifying event for the National Finals. The men’s relay race is run over approximately 80 kilometres divided into 12 stages ,4 of 10km and 8 of 5km and run in and around Stanley Park. 

Late withdrawals meant Lytham had a slightly weakened team but performed well against tough opposition to finish as 52nd team from 69 teams starting the race.  Mike Toft was on the competitive first leg for Lytham and finished in 44th position with a time of 33:58 easily Lytham’s fastest long leg runner.  Rest of the team in order were Terry Hellings (22:21), Thomas Howarth (36:17), Andrew Draper (18:18, fastest short leg runner for Lytham), Neil Tate (38:09), Paul Veevers (18:31), Graham Webster (40:10), Andrew Unsworth (19:33), Ross McKelvie (19:10), Lee Morrison (21:35), Alan Elstone (22:04) and Ian Tate (21:15).

In the ladies’ 6 stage Road Relays. Lytham St Annes Road Runners fielded two teams with each team having to run four long legs and two short.

Terry Hellings at the relays

Taking the long legs in the 'A' Team were Mel Koth on Leg 1, 41:42 and Michelle Hook, running her first relay for LSARRC on Leg 4 in 40:36.   Mel led out finishing in 34th place and Michelle consolidated this to 26th.  Team 'A' short legs were done by Gillian Draper, Leg 2, 23:26; Felicity Wolohan, Leg 3 with the Club's fastest of 21:47; Claire England, Leg 5, 26:05 and Susan Hawitt, Leg 6, 25:46.  The team finished in 29th place from 50 top-class teams with a time of 2:59:22.  

For the 'B' team Alexandra Everest, 47:18, and Jacqui Murray, 53:06, took the long legs for while Olivia Johnson-Allen, 26:58, Laura Byrne, 29:24, Patricia Bullen, 29:34 and Ruth Bye, 25:59, took Legs 2, 3, 5 and 6 respectively.  The team finished 47th in 3:29:12.

Andy Draper at the relays

Sunday saw Lytham take over the organising of the Park View Junior parkrun.   74 young athletes completed the 2K course with LSARRC athletes finishing in 5 out of the first 6 places.  10 year old George Denye was first home in 7:13 breaking his own course record by 19 seconds.  Sophie Bohannon finished 2nd in her first junior parkrun setting a new girls’ course record of 7:46.  Many of the other Lytham juniors set personal best times including Morgan Pritchard (7:59, 4th),Eric Wrigley (8:27, 6th), Laura Bremner (8:28, 7th), Lewis Bentley (8:51, 11th), Lucy Bohannon (9:07, 16th), Amara Thorpe (9:08, 17th), Clemmie Tierney (9:48, 26th), Sophie Tate (12:09, 46th). Lucy Montgomery (9:34, 21st), Sebastien Koth-Wragg (12:03, 45th), Hebe Tierney (9:45, 25th) and Katie Bremner (10:11, 30th) ran well on their Junior parkrun debuts.  Also representing Lytham were Charlie Ormerod (8:06, 5th) and sisters Jessica (9:29, 20th) and Sydney Ramsden (8:55, 14th) both running  very close to their best times.

On Saturday four Lytham runners were lucky enough to take part in the fabulously located Coniston 14. This 14-mile race took place in warm sunshine with a backdrop of snow-capped mountains, and with plenty of local support along the route. On a hilly course Sylvia Gittins and Pam Binns were 6th and 7th respectively in the F65+ category. Pam Hardman was 25th in her F55+ category while Ruth Wheatley was 52nd in the F45+s.

Jo Goorney ran the Long Mynd Valleys English Championships Fell Race yesterday from Carding Mill Valley, Church Stretton, Shropshire.  The race was about 11 miles with 4500 feet of ascent.  The sting in the tail was that most of the ascent was in the last 4 miles with 3 very steep hills to get over.  There was perfect spring weather with blue sky and no wind although the heat and dehydration started to get to Jo on the second hill from the finish and she massively slowed.  She finished in 2:20:26 in 271st position out of 387 and 45th female.

LSARRC News 21st March 2017

Jacqui Murray and Laura Byrne - Trimpell 20

Lytham’s under 15 athlete Alicia Middlehurst was selected to represent Lancashire in the English Schools Cross Country Championships held at Norwich Show Ground on the 18th March.  All English counties are represented and the event attracts some of the best athletes in the country including the likes of Mo Farah and Paula Radcliffe in their early athletic careers.
Alicia ran well to complete the 3250m junior girls course in 12:07 for 125th place from a field of 344 and was 5th counter for the Lancashire team who finished 13th from the 44 counties represented.

Last week Fiona Geldard and Graham Webster completed the Silverstone Half Marathon. Fiona finished her race in 2hours and 12 minutes, whilst Graham finished his race in an impressive 1:31:52. Well done both of you.

This week was Lytham Hall 64th Parkrun, Lytham Had 15 runners competing in this race all completing their race within 33 minutes! The first lytham runner back was Paul Veevers in an impressive 17:41. Next back was Chris McCarthy in 19:25, Andrew Draper was next in 19:26, Morgan Pritchard in 21:57 and Graham Webster in 21:58. Gill Draper was next to finish in 22:51, Eric Wrigley and Terry Hellings both finished in 23:27, Kirsten Burnett in 24:16, earning her a new PB! Greg Oulton finished in 27:18, Stu Wharrier in 27:19, Pat Bullen in 28:01 and Jeremy McCandless in 29:20. Next to finisd was Penny Morrison in 32:02 and Sarah Bagshaw completed the Lytham Road Runner set in 32:46.

Joanna Goorney also competed in the Huddersfield parkrun in 20:09, coming in as first female! Neil Bayntun- Roberts also ran in Aldersham, finishing his race in 22:29.

Also on Saturday was the Cartmel 18k Trail Challenge. Two Lytham Runners ran this trail run. This was a very difficult course with steep hills, lots of mud and big puddles! Barbara Holmes was 2nd Female Vet 50 and finished her run in 1:54:02. Gerry Brown also ran finishing his run in 2:05:47.

Mike Toft - Trimpell 20

On Sunday was the annual Waters Wilmslow Half Marathon. The British weather typically took a turn for the worse towards the latter end of the week which meant the tail end of Storm Stella was hanging around for the race. 15mph winds and rain from about 30 mins into the race made for a chilly and challenging run on the ‘fast and flat’ course – which was anything but flat with a few nasty hills and a 387ft elevation gain across the 13.1 miles.

4 Lytham runners represented the club in the race. Chris McCarthy and Andy Draper, both in contention for the Lytham men’s club championship spot, had a superb race, with Chris achieving a 1 second personal best in 1:15:15 for 32nd place overall out of a field of 3114 runners. Chris was closely followed by Andy in 58th position overall and a time of 1:18:51. Great running guys!

The women were represented by Michelle Hook who achieved a 5+ minute PB in 1:36:25 for 51st female out of 1080, and Felicity Wolohan using the race as a last marathon-paced training run before the Manchester Marathon but still completing the course in a fantastic time of 1:37:20.

Mel Koth - Tirmpell 20

Also this Sunday was the Trimpell 20 mile race. This race is a fairly flat race, which is often used as a training run for marathon runners. This year Lytham had 8 runners, braving this long run in the miserable British weather. Mike toft was first Lytham runner back in 2:09:54, Neil Tate finished in 2 hours and 12 minutes, Graham Webster was next in 2:27:51 and Melanie Koth in 2:35:32, finishing 3 minutes faster than last year. Louise De-gier Flood finished in 2:54:59; Jacqui Murray and Laura Bryne both finished in 3:34:16 and Michelle Sheridan completed her race in 4:33:14.

LSARRC News 14th March 2017

George Denye

Ten-year-old George Denye set a new Lytham St Annes Road Runners’ junior 5K record on Sunday with an excellent time of 18:55 at the Fastrax 5K race in Barrowford. The race consists of one kilometre loops and lends itself to fast times with only a metre of climb on each loop, sweeping bends and a traffic free route. George finished 19th overall from 48, beating most adult competitors in his second of three weekend races.

Sydney Ramsden

George warmed up for the race the previous day by posting 19:11 in the Lytham Parkrun to finish fourth. After setting his record on Sunday he popped over to Abbey village to warm down in the Daffodil Doddle 2.2K junior race where he also won the JM10 category and finished fifth overall. George is eleven next month and shows tremendous promise for the future.


Sydney Ramsden was the only female junior in the Fastrax 5K, and she also ran well to finish the 9th female in 23:28. She also ran the Daffodil Doddle with sister Jess. Jess was the fourth in the J9 category in 9:51 while Sydney posted 10:28 to come 6th in the F12s.


Another club record was also broken on Sunday, this time for 10 miles in the FV55 category. Barbara Holmes made the short trip to Bispham for the very competitive Sweatshop 10 mile to finish 5th in her category in a time of 1:16:56 to beat the old record by 12 minutes, and to achieve a club diamond standard.

Barbara Holmes

Three Lytham road runners were amongst the 219 competitors in the 29th running of the 5.9 mile Roddlesworth Roller Trail Race. Starting on the periphery of Abbey Village, the route winds past Roddlesworth Reservoirs before heading up through Roddlesworth Woods, incorporating an ascent of more than 600 feet. On the return there are some fast downhill stretches before finishing back at the reservoirs.  Julia Rolfe was first female in the 50 and over age group finishing in 52:57 for 149th position, Colin Laidlaw (46:03) came 98th and Richard Storey (49:34) for 126th place.

Finally Felicity Wolohan ran the 20 mile event of the Wrexham festival of running on Sunday. On a mildly undulating course in good weather conditions Felicity set yet another personal best with 2:30:41 to come fourth in female 21-34 category, and 44th overall.