Three classic races ‘Through the Villages’ the ‘Derwentwater 10 mile’ and the ‘Lancaster Half Marathon’ were the targets for Red Rose this week.
Mark Billington led the Red Rose contingent home at the Lancaster Half Marathon in a great time of 1.30.21. In excellent conditions many new members were able to record PB’s . Lee Bennett was next in, in 1.40.58 with three ladies comfortably beating the 2 hour mark. Paula Plowman doing well in 1.54.25 after her injury scare the week before, with Viv Sherry and Yvonne Johnson running strongly in 1.56.11 and 1.57.38. Roger Johnson completed the run in 2.01.50 and Christina Wright, improving all the time, finishing in 2.02.00. Another strong run from Caroline Devaney saw her home in 2.05.30 and Lee Brown and Emma Cowie Shaw finished well together in 2.08.16.
Great conditions again helped the runners at the Wheelton venue with Julie Coupe taking 3 minutes off last year’s time and Simon Houghton taking two minutes off. Stuart Cann finished the hilly course in 65.48 followed closely behind by Claire Bunce finishing as fifth lady in 65.02. Carol Douglass and Bernard Elkington completed the club’s performance taking prizes in the V65 and V70 categories.
At the 52nd annual Derwentwater 10 mile, Joe Swarbrick and Ken Addison represented the club with times of 63.06 and 64.59 to take first and fourth V55 prizes. The early pace was fast as the runners ran towards Grange on the east side of the lake before hitting a series of hills on the other side of the lake which provided a challenge to all the runners. The long held course record, run by the legendary fell runner Kenny Stuart was finally broken by Yarod Hagos of Bradford and Airedale in 49.05.