The St. Annes 10 mile road race on Sunday included the Lancashire Championships and Northern Veterans Championships.
The course takes the runners along the coast from just north of St. Annes town centre to the windmill at Lytham and back so it can be exposed to the weather. This year the elements were fairly kind with only light winds to contend with and not so much sand on the pavements.
Ken Addison ran an even paced race and was delighted to win the V55 category and the Lancashire Championship finishing in 33rd overall with a time of 63.13.
Richard Oakley consistently beats 70 minutes and he once again beat that mark with 68.46. Simon Houghton was 100th in 74.41, Debbie Kirkman 111th 76.15, Cliff Utting 129th 78.51 and George Fletcher 212th 93.32.
Marathon training was the focus for the Trimpell 20 this weekend. John Shepherd continued with his single minded pursuit of another great marathon time, finishing 9th in a field of 420. His time of 2hr 4 minutes was good enough to take the V45 prize against some excellent competition. Steven Gore put in an great performance with a well paced race and a ‘negative split’ finishing in 2hr 45 min. Jo Duffy and Peter Gibson continued their preparations with an evenly paced time of 2hr 46min. Barry Wheeler ran steadily for 2hr 56 mins with Julie Thorley only slightly behind with a great time of 2.58. Debbie Bevitt showed great determination at this distance with a time of 3hr 23 min.
New member Michael Pate ran the Gin Pit marathon, held near Leigh, which involved part road, part tracks, canal towpath with an added bonus of great scenery He finished a creditable11th out of 39 entries with a time of 3hrs 49 mins. The day stayed dry, but the paths were very muddy towards the end which was very tiring on the legs.
David Wilkinson and Janice Johnstone both put in good performances at the Liverpool Half Marathon with David finishing in 1hr 38min and Janice coming through strongly in the second half of the race to finish in 2hr 9 min.
congrats to ken