Red Rose had a great day out at the Rivington Trail half Marathon this weekend. All the runners were really appreciative of the support from friends along the course and once again the Red Rose team spirit added to the success of the event. The course was in good condition this year and some great times were achieved. Ken Addison had another impressive run finishing 21st overall and first in the V55 category in 1.33.37. Stuart Cann finished 40th overall and ‘first’ V50 in 1.38.24. Jon Royle had a great run to finish in 1.48.41 just ahead of Janine Needham with her excellent 1.49.06.
Pete Battersby ran well for 1.52.23 staying ahead of team mates Doug Bryden (1.54.15) and Frank Nightingale (1.54.28). Ian Wharton enjoyed the run (see pictures !) with a time of 1.57.16. Bernie Mitchell took on the longer distance in his quest for a return to his former times, just missing the two hour barrier with a time of 2.01.04. Margaret Lupton ran well in a time of 2.04.05 with Paula Plowman close behind but unable to catch her in 2.04.30. Steve Taylor impressed with a time of 2.05.06 with Debbie Porter enjoying the trail terrain with a time of 2.08.03. Red Rose provided 21 runners to the field of 438 in this event . Joan Gouldthorpe and Carol Douglass finished together in 2.14.11 with Carol taking the V60+ prize. The Red Rose team was completed with Martin Simpson 2.09.10, John Ross 2.11.31, Alison Mercer 2.15.50,John Plowman 2.16.07, Catherine Karn 2.21.06, Allan Howard 2.25.11,Jim Robinson 2.27.45, Sarah Haslam 2.41.32.
At Cuerden Valley Parkrun the top spot was taken by Karl Hodgson with Chris Charnley in 2nd and Sam Harrison 4th. PB’s were achieved by Gareth Fairey in 31.51 and Junior runner Billy Butterworth in 35.13. At Preston, PB’s were achieved by Richard Maughan in 20.00 Steven Robertson ran 22.03 and Carole Williams finished in 31.57.
Duncan Anderson managed an excellent sub 3hr time of 2.57.49 at the Chester Marathon. Karl Hodgson continued his challenge of running every day this year with his first attempt at the marathon distance. He ran a great time of 3.28. Hopefully he’ll still feel like running tomorrow! Dave Brunton was catching him in the final stages finishing in 3.27.54 with Michael Pate also chasing them down to record 3.28.08. The most accomplished performance of the day should go to Nicola Cleave with a superbly paced run with a halfway split of 1.50.27 and finishing time of 3.42.12 to achieve a GFA time for a London place. Steve Worswick improved his PB by a massive 25 minutes with a new time of 4.28.08.
The penultimate weekend in the 2015 Lakeland Trails series saw 10 Red Rose Road Runners venturing to the Lake District to tackle the tough and technical but stunningly beautiful Coniston Trail starting from Coniston Old Hall.
Vicky Gore followed up recent PBs at Run Preston 10k and parkrun, leading home the ladies in the morning’s Coniston Trail 10k in a time of 1:09:29. Vicky was followed by Claire Shaw 1:16:50, Davina Bowling 1:19:19 and Louise Walsh 1:19:46.
In the 2pm Coniston Trail Race 15k, Alan Jolly (1:09:26) was a little unfortunate to finish as 2nd MV50 as for the first time the top 5 had a MV50 representative in Graham Bungay from Winchester & District AC who finished in 1:04:47. Michael Jeffryes also completed his first Lakeland Trail in an excellent 1:41:53.
In the Coniston Trail Challenge 15k, which started an hour earlier than the 15k race and is an option for the less competitive runners and fitness walkers, Philip Davidson continued his return from injury leading home the Red Rose contingent of Emma Johnson 1:45:00, Mary Conway 2:08:44 and Wendy Ward 2:08:45 in a time of 1:22:49.
Susan Heatley completed the Great Cumbrian Run,13.1 miles through the city of Carlisle as a memory to her grandparents who came from the city. Her time was 2hr 43 mins.