The Red Rose 2011 Championship began with the Garstang 10K. In a field of 350, 25 Red Rose club members began the New Year with some good performances. Fred Lynch and Ken Addison took the Vet 55 prizes in times of 39.42 and 40.02 Carol Douglass nursing an injury came second in her age category and Evelyn Elkington again took the Vet 70 prize.
In fine wintry sunshine runners were able to get the year off to a good start. Joe Swarbrick was first home for the club in 38.36 closely followed by Fred Lynch and Ken Addison. In a strong Vet 55 category Richard Oakley, Dave Earnshaw and Dave Hooton all ran within a minute of each other under 43 minutes. A promising run from newcomer Simon Houghton saw him finish in 43.22 closely followed by Simon Murphy in 43.55.
First lady home for Red Rose was Janette Rayton in 47.16 followed by Debbie Kirkman in 48.47. New members, Alison John-Haslam and Julie Coupe finished well in 49.10 and 50.24. In the mother and daughter race Charlene Johnson beat mum Yvonne Johnson by just over two minutes followed closely by Christina Wright in 53.08.
Other results. B. Wheeler 47.03, S.Cann 47.23, L.Earnshaw 48.07, G.Orritt 49.48, A.Howard 56.52, B.Elkington 58:47,K. Clark 61,16, C. Clark 61:18, J. Saynor 70:34.