LSARRC News 27th June 2017

In Lytham St Annes Road Runners’ Club there are one or two people for whom normal race distances just aren’t enough. These are members who like to take part in ultra-distance races, that is any race that is over a full marathon in length. Debbie Cooper is one of these, and proved it by running the South Wales 50 at the weekend. Fifty miles that is.

Due to a navigation error, her group actually ran an incredible 54.69 miles in approximately 13 hours 43 minutes. The total ascent was 10,997 feet, sometimes in damp and misty conditions, and sometimes on paths overgrown with scratching brambles.

Debbie knows she finished as the third lady, and, alongside partner Daryl, eighth overall. And all this was just a warm-up for the big event at the end of July, the Lakeland 100. Yes, that is 100 miles. 

Lytham runners Chris McCarthy, Julia Rolfe and Greg Oulton ran Aggie’s Staircase fell race on Thursday. At 4.1 miles with and just under 1000 feet of ascent, the race starts with a sprint across a field to a narrow path which climbs steeply for a mile to Darwen Tower (officially known as Jubilee Tower), with a slight dip at the half mile point. From the tower it drops for half a mile before rising again via a rough trail through the heather and bracken, before dropping back to the start.

Aggie’s Staircase itself is actually the name of one of the three climbs, the steepest and, fortunately, also the shortest. Run in glorious weather the only thing missing was the mud, which is the norm for a fell race. Despite a fall, Chris finished twelfth in 32:28. Julia came second in her F50 category in 47:30 while Greg was 136th from the 153 finishers in 50:49.

Constantly improving Felicity Wolohan achieved yet another pb on Sunday. A week after her superb performance at Freckleton, this time she was in action in the Penny Lane 10K in Liverpool. Hosted by the Penny Lane Striders club, the course of the race has been improved in recent years to make it faster and flatter. Felicity took full advantage to break her pb by 45 seconds with a time of 40:18, and to finish as the fourth woman. And this was the day after running the 5k Long Eaton Parkrun, in which she was the first woman and 16th overall from 386 competitors.

LSARRC News 20th June 2018

LSARRC at Freckleton Half Marathon

In 42 years of women competing in the Freckleton Half Marathon no team had ever taken the top two positions in the ladies’ race. That was until Sunday when Lytham ladies Jo Goorney and Felicity Wolohan smashed that record by taking first and second.

One of the highlights of the local racing calendar, the Freckleton Half Marathon is the oldest such race in the country. The men’s race was first ran in 1964 with the ladies’ joining them in 1976. Starting at 2pm on a June afternoon it is inevitable that some years will experience exceptionally warm conditions, and that is exactly what happened for Sunday’s race.

Despite the weather, there was a good turnout of Lytham St Annes Road Runners. The race as ever was well-supported by the Freckleton and surrounding district communities who came out with drinks, wet sponges, hose pipes and sweets for the hot and grateful competitors.

Jo Goorney finished as the first woman for the second year on the trot with Felicity Wolohan just a few seconds behind. Michelle Hook in sixth ensured the Lytham ladies team also took first place for a clean sweep of the top prizes.

Not to be totally outdone, Lytham’s men had two in the top five with Mike Toft third and Joe Greenwood fifth. They lead the men’s team to second place, narrowly missing out to Preston Harriers.

Full Lytham results for Freckleton Half: Mike Toft 3rd, 01:19:01; Joe Greenwood 5th, 01:20:16; Tom Howarth 21st, 01:27:53; Paul Veevers 25th, 01:29:06; Alex Tate 29th, 01:29:20; Neil Tate 31st, 01:30:46; Neil Baynton-Roberts, 36th, 01:32:11; Jo Goorney, 43rd & 1st lady, 01:33:14; Felicity Wolohan 45th & 2nd lady, 01:33:55; Michelle Hook 68th & 6th lady, 01:40:05; Ian Tate 86th, 01:42:49; Alan Elstone 135th, 01:49:34; Mark Selby 166th, 01:54:15; Sue Hawitt 241st & 5th FV50, 02:04:49; Chris Bowker 310th, 02:17:16, and Ruth Bye    345th & 17th FV35, 02:23:39.

Wednesday was the night of the Preston Harriers Interclub event – a 4.16 mile course consisting of 2 loops of Avenham Park and Old Tram Road, featuring the notorious Avenham Park hill. The evening was a very hot and humid 25 degrees under a cover of cloud with little to no breeze, making the event a challenge.

LSARRC at the Preston Inter Club

Sandwiched in between the Welsh Castles and Freckleton Lytham were never going to field their best team. Nevertheless, 34 club members turned out with the ladies performing best, coming fourth overall and second in the FV40 category. Excellent performances from Catherine Carrudus , the first lady and FV40, and Jo Goorney in third (second FV40), and Michelle Hook in fifth earned the team their places.

Just five Lytham juniors and one senior made it to the third fixture of the Mid Lancs Track and Field at Hyndburn on Saturday. In very hot conditions the athletes performed well despite their inexperience, with four of the six athletes making their first appearance at Track and Field.

Emily Balshaw at the Mid Lancs T and F

First on the track for Lytham and making her debut was under 15 girls Emily Balshaw in the 800m. Emily ran an excellent tactical race despite her inexperience, gradually working her way through the field finishing strongly taking second place in her heat and third in division 2 in a time of 2m 41.2s, picking up 4 points for the club.

Under 13 boy George Denye opted for the 1500 and dominated the race from the start winning comfortably in 5m 14.2s for 7 points. George also finished second in his heat of the 200m in 31.6s earning another 7 points for the Lytham.

Sydney Ramsden at the Mid Lancs T and F

Another debutant on the track was under 13 girl Sydney Ramsden who finished fifth in the 1500 in a time of 6m 9s but first in division 2 for 7 points. The final T&F debutant was Rebecca Tate in the 200m, finishing in a time of 34.7s for 5th place in division 2 and picking up 2 points. Rebecca also competed in the javelin with a best of 10.25m for 4th place in division 2 and 4 points.

Laura Bremner in just her second ever track trace finished strongly in the under 15 girls 1500 moving up from fifth to third in the last 200m to finish in a pb of 5m 55.7s and earning 5 points for the club for second place in division 2.

The only senior Lytham athlete to make the trip was Ross McKelvie. Ross was also making his first appearance on the track and performed well in the senior men’s 800m race to take third place in a close race finishing in 2m 19.6s for 4 points for Lytham.

Barbara Holmes was third in F55-59 category at Ironman 70.3 in Staffordshire on Sunday.   A 1.2 Mile swim (31:18 ), 56 mile cycle (3:04:04) and 13.1 mile run (2:10:13) made a total time of 05:54:45.   Again, the weather was very hot and, as in the Freckleton race, runners were doused from hosepipes around the course sprayed by kind local residents.

LSARRC News 13th June 2017

Emily and Steve Hargreaves
- stage winners at WCR

This Wednesday George Denye, a Lytham Junior, ran the second race in the Astley Park Trail Junior Series. This was a mile long undulating course on a mixture of grass and trail. George finished in 5:30 for 12th place in a field of 115 dominated by much older children - most being mature teenagers.

This Thursday was the second of the Inter Club fell races, the Welsh Two Lads race. This is a 5.25 mile rcae with just over 1000 feet of climb. It was a tough race with heat, mud, steep ascents and descents, as well as one section along a tree shrouded almost dry, rocky river bed, which made for difficult conditions.

Lytham had 6 runners who took place in this race. Debbie Cooper finished in 49:53, Julia Rolfe in 55:04 and Sue Hawitt in 56:26. Pam Hardman was next in 58:52, Greg Oulton in 1:03:31 and Dawn Lock on 1:18:28.

On Saturday was Lytham Hall’s 75th Parkrun and, 103 runners took part in the race. The first runner back was Lythams own Paul Veevers, who finished the course in 17:56. Morgan Pritchard was the 13th runner back in 21:36 and Liz Boone finished in 28:52.
Other Lytham runner who competed in parkrun’s were James Buckley who ran in the Shipley Country parkrun, finishing his race in 22:47.

On Satuday Rebecca Willetts competed in the Great North mile swim in Windermere. It was a wet and windy day, which made the sea very choppy. Despite this Rebecca finished in 698th place in 37:27!

On Sunday six Lytham juniors competed in the Lytham parkrun junior race. The first back was Morgan Pritchard in 7:35, Eric Wrigley finished his race in 8:23 and Lewis Bentley was next back in 8:27. Clemmie Tierney finished her run in 9:24, Hollie Andserson in 9:44 and Sophie Tate finished in 11:57. George Denye also took part in the Avenham Park Junior Parkrun and finished his race in 7:32. Well done to all our juniors!

Also on Sunday Paul Veevers competed in the EpicMan middle distance triatholon based at Halton in Lancashire, after coming first at Lytham Parkrun! The open water swim was cancelled as the river Lune was too high and fast but the bike and run went ahead. Paul completed the 56-mile bike ride and 13.1 mile run in total time of 5hrs 29 minutes and 16 seconds for 96th place.

Debbie Cooper ran in the Northerns ultra shires and spires race on Sunday. It was a tough race, especially as Debbie thought it was going to be mainly a road race and fairly flat! Even so Debbie finished the 35 mile race in 6:10:06 and was 4th in her age category and 6th lady overall. 

LSARRC supporting on Stage 1 of WCR

This weekend was also the clubs annual Welsh Castles relay weekend. This weekend consist of 20 stages averaging 10 miles per leg creating a 200 mile relay across Wales. It a funny, entertaining and sometime challenging weekend, that I would recommend any new runner try and attend at least once in their time running!

Roy Stevens on Stage 4

The team arrived on Friday from mid afternoon to evening at Caenarfon in pleasant sunny weather, little di they know that would be last bit they saw until nearly the end of leg 19 of 20! The team knocked 38 minutes off the previous team best time that was set back in 2012. The team came in 29th place overall which is their  2nd best result ever, but our best since the number of teams was increased to 66. We had 3 new LSARRC stage records and 1 new female record set, well done to Joe, Chris, Emily and Steve.

Olivia Johnson on Stage 9

Full LSARRC results: Stage 1 Willie Richmond 39th  1:12:20; Stage 2 Terry Hellings 25th 1:16:43; Stage 3 Joe Greenwood 7th in 1:13:28; Stage 4 Roy Stevens 40th 1:15:54; Stage 5 Michelle Hook 17th 1:08:18; Stage 6 Richard Storey 39th 1:24:20. Richard described his race as cold and wet with a howling gale. The course took a route along a wooden footbridge, where Richard was almost blown sideways! Fortunately once on the other side of the woods the rain stopped as the trees provided an almost shelter . Stage 7 was run by Joanna Goorney 31st 1:09:17; Stage 8 Mel Koth 30th 1:19:24, stage 9 Olivia Johnson 45th 1:14:16; stage 10 Chris McCarthy 10th 1:20:05; Stage 11 Tom Howarth 20th 1:21;41; stage 12 Emily Hargreaves 1st Lady 1:13:16; stage 13 Ian Tate 32nd 1:18:05; stage 14 Andy Draper 9th 1:09:41.It was Andy’s 3rd time doing this race and he managed to achieve a pb, which is impressive considering the race consisted of dry spells, then wind, then rain! Stage 15 was run by Steve Hargreaves 2nd 1:13:18; Stage 16 Neil Tate 21st 1:00:27; Stage 17 Als Everest 36th in 1:12:11; Stage 18 Dave Dun 35th 1:08:06; Greg Oulton 44th 1:12:59; Alan Elstone 43rd 1:13:32.

Ian Tate on Stage 13

Alan commented that his leg was a nice mostly flat route which was mainly off road. He said he enjoyed the race especially the support from the team ay the finish line that spurred him on to do an impressive sprint finish! Well done to all the runners who not only raced but organised this brilliant race, it wouldn’t have been the same without all your organisation, thank you!

LSARRC News 6th June 2017

Clemmie Tierney, Jess Ramsden and Jayden Richardson at Park View Junior parkrun

The first race of the week, on the first day of the week, was the Fishwick 5 mile run held on Bank Holiday Monday 29th May. On a breezy and rainy morning, 2 of Lytham’s Men competed in this local event described as a 5 Mile scenic run taking in parts of Guild Wheel, Woodland trail with some nice inclines. Chris McCarthy was first back for the club in 4th place overall and a time of 30:52, followed by Neil Tate in 8th place and a time of 33:15.

On Wednesday 31st, in much more favourable conditions albeit a little humid, was the first of 3 Midsummer Mile events held at UCLAN Sports track; a new event in the calendar run on an accurately measured 1 mile lap of the cycle track. 4 Lytham runners (3 juniors, 1 senior) ran the route in a field of 25 recording 3 Personal Bests for Andy Draper finishing 2nd in 5:02, George Denye finishing 14th in 5:38 and Jessica Ramsden in 7:26, and a Seasons Best for Sydney Ramsden in 7:01.

Thursday evening saw the first of a 3 race series of the Badger 10k run in Cuerden Park. It is a tough 10k around the park with a few nasty climbs, steps, stiles and fields. On a warm, sticky night, Mel Koth and Julia Rolfe took on the challenge, with Mel finishing in 46:07 for 37th place out of 183 and second V40, with Julia finishing in 55:31 and 6th V50.

Saturday 3rd June saw Lytham Runners scattered across a number of local parkruns due to Lytham Hall being out of use this week and yet another warm, sunny and humid morning. At
Preston parkrun we were represented by Tom Howarth on his first run at Preston, who ran the course in 19:14 for 7th place, with Catherine Carrdus on his heels finishing 1 second later in 19:15 for 1st female and 8th place overall out of 343 runners. Robert Parker completed the Lytham line up in 26:30 for 132nd place.

Lytham’s neighbouring parkrun at Blackpool saw 7 LSARRC runners in attendance. First home for the club around the 2 lap course run at Stanley Park was Andy Draper on his first outing at Blackpool, finishing in 3rd place in 17:50. Following Andy was Neil Tate, for 4th place in 18:22. First female overall and for the club was Michelle Hook in a 5k PB time of 20:17, followed by James Buckley in 23:04, Eric Wrigley in 24:15, and Gill Draper and Jennifer Aldworth finishing the run together in 25:47.

Joe Greenwood at Cuerden Valley parkrun

Cuerden Valley parkrun saw Joe Greenwood and Kirsten Burnett tackle the renowned undulating course along with 177 other runners. Joe finished first overall in a great time of 18:56, with Kirsten finishing 92nd in 29:55.

Holly Anderson at Park View Junior parkrun

Eric Wrigley at Park View Junior parkrun

Sunday 4th June saw a number of runner tackling a variety of distances. Firstly, the Park View Junior parkrun saw 8 Lytham juniors take on the run with George Denye finishing first overall in a time of 7:17, close to his course record. Next was Morgan Pritchard setting a new PB in 7:27, followed by Eric Wrigley in 8:28. Clemmie Tierney (9:12), Jessica Ramsden (9:15), Holly Anderson (10:04), Sophie Tate (11:13) and Sebastian Koth-Wragg (12:40) completed the junior line up.


Sunday also saw Greg Oulton tackle the Lakeland Trials Coniston Marathon. The race started in the blazing heat at 7am heading into the town then turning towards Tarn Hows, heading  clockwise round Coniston Water through Grizedale Forest, over High Nibthwaite, round the bottom of the lake and up the west side back to the camp site. With over 3000ft of climb, this is not a race for the feint-hearted. Greg completed the course, after being in hospital the previous week, in 6:10:35. Brilliant running and effort Greg. On the same day, albeit a fraction of the distance but undoubtedly still challenging, John Wild completed the Lakeland Trials Coniston 10k in 1:12:06, and Liz Boon in 1:17:20.

Greg Oulton at Lakeland Trials Coniston Marathon

LSARRC News 30th May 2017

After the dreadful events of last week the Great Manchester Run on Sunday provided a welcome relief. Many expected it to be cancelled but fortunately it went ahead, allowing a show of defiance against terrorists from competitors and spectators alike.

Amid heightened security and in an emotional atmosphere a minute’s silence was observed by over 40,000 people before Tony Walsh’s poem “Do It for Manchester” was read. Lytham’s Mel Koth was still suffering from blistered feet after a recent triathlon but she was going to run no matter what to show respect for the city and its people. Joining her from the club in the various races making up the event were Neil Baynton-Roberts and Jacqui Murray as well as several juniors.

In warm, dry weather Mel had an enjoyable run in the 10K event to finish as the fifth FV40 in 44:01. Also in the 10K was Neil who was 512th overall in 42:31 while Jacqui tackled the half-marathon, coming a respectable 121st in the FV40-44 category with a time of 02:09:42.

Taking part in the mini-Manchester 1500M run from the club were Mel’s 5 year-old son, Sebastien, and Alisha Wrigley. In the 2.5K junior run George Denye and Eric Wrigley were fifth and twelfth respectively. Sydney Ramsden was 19th in the U15 girls and sister Jessica 22nd in the U12s.

Lytham’s only world champion is Barbara Holmes, who holds the title in the FV55-59 category for the triathlon. On Saturday she was at it again, winning the British Triathlon Championship in the same age group at Sprint distance. At the event in Strathclyde, Barbara had to do a 750m open water swim, a 20km bike ride and a 5km run. So now she is a British champion as well as a world one.

Tom Haworth, Alan Elstone, Alex Tate, Neil Tate, Sue Hawitt,
Ruth Bye and Mike Toft at the Blackpool Prom 10 miler

In an extremely busy bank holiday weekend of running seven Lytham club members took part in the Blackpool Promenade 10 Miler, all wearing yellow ribbons in memory of those who suffered in Manchester. Lytham provided three in the top ten including Mike Toft in second place.  In a tight finish Mike just beat the third placed by under two seconds.

Neil Tate, also enjoying a good run of form, was sixth and Tom Haworth eighth. Other men from the club were Alex Tate (12th), and Alan Elstone (46th).

In the heat and the wind FV50 competitor Sue Hawitt ran her slowest ten mile race to date so was pleasantly surprised to win her age category in 01:35:34.  Ruth Bye was the 13th FV35.

Alicia Middlehurst

The second Mid Lancs. Track and Field meeting of 2017 took place at Witton Park, Blackburn on Saturday and Lytham St Annes RRC had just two athletes competing. First to toe the line for the club and making her debut was U15 girl Alicia Middlehurst. In a competitive 800m race Alicia ran well in to finish 4th overall and 2nd in division 2 in a time of 2m 32.4s. Alicia also ran the 200m finishing 4th in her heat and 4th in division 2 in a time of 31.4s.

George Denye

George Denye was the other junior making a promising track debut, opting for the 1500m. At just 11 years old George was one of the youngest athletes competing in the under 13s and his inexperience on the track showed when he set of a little too quickly but recovered very well to finish 3rd in 5m 4.2s taking 1st place in division 2. George also did well in the 200m when he finished 4th in his heat and 1st in division 2 in 31.5s.

The weather conditions for Saturday's Catforth Canter 5k proved a challenge for runners on what is usually a quick course. Andy Draper was first home for Lytham in 6th place (17:38) while his wife Gill continued her run of PBs in 33rd place and 4th lady (22:01). Dawn Bloor completed her first race of an injury-ridden year in 44th place and 7th lady (24:30).

Michelle Hook ran the Edinburgh Marathon Festival 10k on Saturday as a 'tourist' rather than racing. The course climbs through Holyrood Park around the side of Arthur’s Seat allowing Michelle to admire the views of the city below. Despite the relaxed approach and the heat, she still managed a time of 46.45, good enough for the position of 16th woman.

Kirsten Burnett ran her third marathon in a couple of months on Sunday, the Liverpool Rock and Roll marathon. A time of 4:32:36 didn’t provide a personal best but Kirsten was happy with a time of 45 minutes faster than the last time she competed here. Ruth Wheatley tackled the half-marathon in 01:58:26 to come 2,572nd.

The club’s monthly handicap is run on the last Thursday of each month. But when it was run last week competitors found an additional handicap to deal with; the heat! On the hottest day of the year to date 21 club members struggled in the conditions to complete the 4.3 mile course.  Pam Binns was first back on the night but Paula McCandless leads the table so far this season.

LSARRC News 23rd May 2017

The prize winners at the LSARRC Presentation Evening

Friday night was presentation night for Lytham St Annes Road Runners. The annual event is a celebration of another year of competing, and of the club’s successes

One of the club’s most successful athletes over the years is Sue Samme, and she was the guest of honour. In his preamble club chairman Nigel Simpkin listed some of her memorable achievements including her team and individual medals when competing for England in the vets team; and her amazing achievement as the mid-Lancs cross country champion at the FV35 and FV45 levels as well as all of the senior ladies.

Nigel also listed some of the club’s successes over the last twelve months , including the senior ladies cross-country team silver medal and the men’s gold medal in their respective divisions. Barbara Holmes also became the world triathlon champion in the FV55-59 category, and how well the club had performed in various relays.

Chris McCarthy was the Seniors Men’s Champion for the first time, while Joanna Goorney, runner-up last year, was the Women’s Champion.

Dave Wood and Sue Samme

A special award was made to Dave Wood for his unstinting service as a race photographer. He performs this task admirably for all local clubs, and many of the photos featured in the local press are taken by him.

Back in the racing world Pam Hardman and Rebecca Willetts travelled to Western Australia to take part in the Busselton Ironman 70.3 as a relay team with ex Lytham resident Lucy Goodall. The weather and the atmosphere were fantastic. The individual competitors started at 6am, 7am and 8am but there was a shark sighting in the bay and the 8 o’clock swimmers got dragged out of the sea and the beach was closed.  For the first time in Ironman history the swim leg of the team event was cancelled. The 90.1km cycle and the 20.1km run went ahead but the sun was blazing and both Lucy and Pam suffered with the temperature of the tarmac. Both still managed to finish however.

Lucy Goodall, Pam Hardman and Rebecca Willetts

Pam Hardman and Rebecca Willetts returned to the UK and took part in the St Annes sprint Triathlon on Sunday, with a great flat course they finished in positions 322nd and 258th with commendable times of 1:44:49 and 1:33:10 respectively.

Also on Sunday Mel Koth took part in the Outlaw half ironman distance in Nottingham. The race started at 6am with the men, and the ladies started 7am although they a long wait as they had to rack their bikes at 5am.

The swim of 1.2 miles is very tough as everyone tries to get into the best position. Mel was kicked twice in the face but at least her goggles stayed in place! When transitioning from the water they had to run back where the bikes were racked to cycle 56 miles over quite flat terrain with a couple of hills.

Then came the run.  Someone cheekily pinched Mel’s socks out of her running shoes while the cycling was going on so she had to run a half-marathon distance of 13.1 miles without socks and so with blistering. But she did it, and managed to finish more than three minutes faster than a couple of years ago. The official results are still awaited.

A contingent of Lytham club members ran the Crazy Cow 10K in Avenham Park in Preston on Saturday in rather hot conditions. Jennifer Aldworth was the first back out of the gang, finishing 102nd, and 12th woman with a chip time of 46:16. Lee Morrison was next, 211th from 733 competitors, followed by Robert Parker a couple of minutes later in 264th.  Laura Byrne in 418th, Penny Morrison in 564th and Michelle Sheridan, 600th, made up the rest of the group.

Juniors George Denye and Sydney Ramsden ran the Lancaster 5k on Saturday with George using it as a training run in preparing for next weeks Great Manchester junior run where he is hoping to be on the podium again. George broke the 20 minute barrier by six seconds, and finished 28th out of over 100 despite him being one of the few juniors. Sydney was 50th in 23:59.

George then did the Lytham Park View junior Parkrun for the 5th time clocking up his 5th win.

LSARRC News 16th May 2017

Ross McKelvie and Mike Toft at start of Lytham Inter Club

Barbara Holmes followed by Mel Koth

Lytham St Annes Road Runners hosted a record-breaking, highly successful inter-club race on Thursday. Ably organised by Bob Clough, the second race of the summer series broke all attendance records with 413 competitors running the five miles making for a superb atmosphere.

Despite many Lytham club members putting their racing shoes to one side for marshalling duties, the club also enjoyed its most successful inter-club race for many years. Chris McCarthy, Mike Toft and Joe Greenwood braved the strong headwind, typical of St Annes Promenade, to finish in the top ten and lead the open team to third place.

Lytham top ten finishers: Chris McCarthy, 5th, 27:49; Mike Toft, 8TH, 28:27; Joe Greenwood, 9th, 28:36; Andy Draper, 12th, 29:20; Alex Tate, 19th, 29:55; Tom Howarth, 2926th, 30:10; Neil Tate, 30th, 30:20; Paul Veevers, 35th, 30:39; Catherine Carrdus 48th, 31:39  and Ross McKelvie 49th, 31:43.

Catherine Carrdus

This was bettered by the ladies who, lead home by Catherine Carrdus in second, Jo Goorney in third, and with Michelle Hook also in the ladies’ top ten, finished first, beating Blackpool by a single point. Barbara Holmes and Mel Koth were the other members of the successful team.

The same ladies but with Kathy Gaunt instead of Michelle Hook finished second in the FV40 category while Graham Webster, Terry Hellings and Colin Laidlaw were third in the vet 60s to round off an excellent night for Lytham.

Gill Draper, Jennifer Aldworth and Stephen Tate at the start of the Inter Club

One of Lytham’s best ever athletes is Sue Samme but on Saturday it was her daughter’s turn to show what she can do. Proud mother Sue watched from the stands as Layla Foley ran in her first 1500 metres race at the Lancashire County Championships in Blackpool. Proving that genes really do make a difference, 20 year-old Layla, a Manchester University student, ran a tactical race to gradually make her way through the field. Despite having little track experience, Layla overtook four athletes on the final lap to win in 04:56.9. 

Layla Foley at the Lancashire Track and Field Championships

On Sunday Lytham juniors were well-represented in the Worden Park 1mile fun run in Leyland on Sunday, taking the first five places and with a total of twelve in the top 20. First as ever was 11 year-old George Denye in 6:07, closely followed by Morgan Pritchard and Sophie Bohannon. In contrast, Neil Tate ploughed a lonely furrow for the club in the full 10K race to take 17th spot in 38:58.

On Friday Greg Oulton ran the 5.1 mile Pinhaw fell race from Earby, in Pendle. The race includes 800 feet of ascent in the first half before rounding the trig point and returning down the same way. After the recent good weather there was no mud to contend with on the off road sections, but it still wasn't easy. Greg finished in 52:22, well within his target time of an hour.