The Preston 10 miler was the big event of the weekend and in spite of the prospect of strong winds to hamper chances of great performances, over 400 runners turned up for this local classic race.
The two lap course held a few surprises for the runners with head on winds in the early parts of each course and no particular advantage once they reached the straight section heading back towards Hutton. First home for Red Rose was Dan Hughes with a top 30 place in a time of 63.02. Joe Swarbrick was next in to be first V55 in a time of 65.30. Andrew Christie had a great run in 66.13 ahead of a close race between Richard Maughan (68.57) and Stuart Cann(69.18). Janine Needham was 13th in the women’s race in a very good time of 72.18. Next, Steve Boardman, running for Red Rose for the first time, managed a PB of 73.19. The field tended to get strung out as the second lap unfolded and gaps began to appear between our runners. Stuart Humphreys finished in 77.22 with Ray Taylor next in 78.19 and second V65. John ‘Movember’ Wiseman was in crowd pleasing form with a time of 79.07 and Steve Murphy finished in 82.47. Steve Taylor finished just ahead of David Orritt in a time of 85.26, David’s time being 85.59. Carol Douglass was pleased with her F65 prize of a very large bottle of Prosecco and time of 87.16. Joan Gouldthorpe was on her heels in a time of 87.48 and Deborah Orritt was only a further 20 seconds behind in a time of 88.08.
Pete O’Grady finished in a time of 92.00 before Judi Ingham crossed the line in 94.32 and Allan Howard in 94.56. A group of four team mates completed the race in close company with Aimee Midgley leading the way in 1.46.47 before Carol Heaton, Emily Ingham and Marion O’Grady crossed the line together in 1.49.52.Tom Hilton completed the team of 24 in 2.19.13.
Weekend winds made PB’s hard to achieve at local Parkruns but Pita Oates managed 30.43 at Cuerden Valley and Carole Williams ran 30.58 at Preston.
Four Red Rose Road Runners set off from Preston early Sunday to defy the wind and rain at the 30th anniversary edition of the Age UK Leeds Abbey Dash 10k. With 25% fewer than the 12,000 registered runners amassed at the start on Wellington Street, Alan Jolly completed the out and back course from Leeds City Centre to Kirkstall Abbey in 39:07 followed by John Naylor 40:35, Philip Davidson 43:58 and Damien Russell 47:12. At Haigh Woodland parkrun on Saturday, Megan Gore improved her parkrun pb by 31 seconds with a time of 34:27. Mum Vicky (33:58) was joined by Angela Brooks (33:58) and Philip Davidson (34:28) in a spot of parkrun tourism on the woodland paths around Haigh Country Park. Megan now has her own entry on runbritain, ranking second U11W for her postcode!