Red Rose Runner, Anthony Durkin competed in the Lewa Marathon in Kenya. His trip of a lifetime culminated in finishing 19th in this race with a time of 3.30.50. The undoubted effects of altitude and high temperatures make this a brilliant achievement and a memory to savour for the rest of his life.
A little nearer home, Alan Jolly took part in the White Bear Challenge. A brilliant run over the 21 mile course saw him win finishing in 2 hours and 4 minutes.
Andrew Stell was the first Red Rose home in the Pennine 10k race in 44.54. Anneke Crosby was the first Red Rose woman to finish in 49.53. Other results. Keith Burrows 53.45, Paula Stell 56.30, Judith Ingham 60.16, Lydia Drain 60.28, Simon Kirkman 64.35, Louise Walsh 63.19 Carol Heaton 64.58.
The latest Grand Prix run, the Wigan Trail Race was enjoyed by everyone. Ben Donoghue was 4th overall in 37.37. Barry Wheeler had an excellent run to be placed 22nd in 42.07. Another strong run came from John Naylor in 43.13. Mark McCrea held off Frank Nightingale by 13 seconds with a time of 44.35. Ray Taylor was first V60 in 46.44 followed by Janine Needham who was 2nd F40. Other prize winners were Joan Gouldthorpe finishing in 53.08 to be first F60 and Carol Douglass was first F65 in 53.11. Other results: Peter Battersby 47.15,Ian Wharton 47.35,Steve Taylor 48.51, John Wiseman48.59, Paula Plowman 51.08, Catherine Newton 51.54, Rob Mather 53.39, Vicky Gore 56.26, John Plowman 56.40, Peter Rothwell 57.32, Allan Howard 59.15, Diane Hill 60.07, Sarah Haslam 67.12, Lydia Plackett 74.02, Mary Conway 74.03.
A new event ‘Race the Train’ saw well over 200 runners run from Bury to Rawtenstall. The train was to arrive in Rawtenstall approximately 90 minutes after leaving Bury. A slight alteration and shortening of the course was required at short notice. This benefitted the runners allowing many of them the glory of beating the train. Joe Swarbrick 1.19.21, Peter O’Grady 1.33.04, Karen Clark 2.01.09, Chris Clark 2.01.09.
John Shepherd had another successful race, this time at the Lancaster 5k. He finished in 17.46 taking the V50 prize. William Platt and Andrew Baxendale both had good runs with times of 23.40 and 24.20. Steve Bladon ran a PB of 20.01 at the Vernon’s 5k narrowly beating Richard Maughan(20.22). Improved times for this series were also achieved by John Wiseman 22.16 and Aimee Midgley 28.55.