At the Mad Dog 6, ‘Raiders of the lost Bark’,Red Rose Runners had a couple of our little red rose pups braving the winds in the ‘crazy pups’ 2K fun run. Lucie Clipston was the first back in an impressive time of 9:59. We also had Lexie Colquhoun out in her full minion fancy dress outfit with a great time of 12:06. Well done pups!
So on final counting it seems we had 32 mad dogs battling the elements to complete the 6th running of this popular 10k road race. The results were a little difficult to pull together given the ever growing popularity of our club and newer members having clearly signed up for the race before becoming official members. The 40+mph head winds for the first 3 miles ensured everyone got the opportunity to practice running negative splits and it certainly made for a testing race. Collective sighs of relief were made as the course came off the coastal road and headed back on itself with the wind wagging those tails behind. Despite these tough conditions a number of runners managed 10k PBs and everyone was happy with the excellent doggy bags at the finish line.
First back for the club was Richard Ward who powered through the wind to finish in a solid time of 47:07. The star performance of the day however goes to Anneke Crosby who despite those winds managed to achieve her desired sub 48 PB with an impressive time of 47:26 to be our first lady home and also manage a top 10 finish in her category. Gareth Bell (47:26) barked orders and was a general dog’s body throughout the run ensuring Anneke reached her goal and continuing his recent performances as a 10k pacer. Rob Mather continued his comeback from injury with a great time of 48:15 and Pete O’Grady (48:37), Lisa Bolton (48:43) and David Bayliss (49:16) made up the rest of the sub 50 club.
The remaining red rose dogs returned to the kennels as follows; Matt Ashton (50:56), Steve Taylor (52:56), Anees Shaikh (53:05), James Mclean (54:02), Judi Ingham (54:14), Jon Butterworth (54:28), Claire Shaw (55:39), Peter Rothwell (57:40), Kate Clipston (57:59), Jenny Bradley (57:59), Louise Davitt (59:13), Louise Walsh (1:00:36), Wendy Ward (1:01:19), Helen Greenhalgh (1:01:30), Sharon Birbeck (1:02:20), Andrea Davison (1:02:36), Aimee Midgley (1:04:34), Marion O’Grady (1:04:36), Simon Kirkham (1:05:22), Carol Heaton (1:05:23), Emily Ingham (1:05:23), Janette Covell (1:08:04), Nikki Bentley (1:08:44), Nina Colquhoun (1:09:40), and last but never least Gina Biggs (1:15:57). All times & details are based on the event chip times taken from the results website.
The Winter Warmer 10k has been a popular race for years now and this year’s entries closed well before race day. The race begins on the 400 metre athletic track but that is the last the runners saw of flat conditions. The climb from the park, out on to Buncer Lane is the start of about two miles of ‘up’. Cold and wintry conditions are normal on the exposed roads looking over the countryside as the course leads to Plessington. For Red Rose, John Naylor was in good form with a time of 41.42 in 32nd place. In 36th place Stuart Cann was 4th V50 in a time of 42.04. Steve Bladon had a strong run in 61st position in a time of 44.27. The testing course makes everyone work hard for times close to their best. Chris Brown came home in 47.49. Also breaking 50 minutes we had Ian Wharton, 48.56 and John Wiseman in 49.14. The field of 440 runners could get spread out making it difficult to maintain pace and momentum. David Dyson recorded 51.14, with John Ross nearly a minute behind in 52.04. Martin Simpson finished in 53.25 followed by Paula Plowman,54.07, both using the race as the middle part of their marathon training run . This was the first experience of this race for a few of our runners and Alison Mercer ran 55.30, Lee Burton 56.57 and Mac McCormack completing the run in 71.55.
Just to be different from everyone doing Winter Warmer or Mad Dog 10k’s, Ruth Travis did the Grizedale Trail Marathon. She was pleased with her time of 5:51:18 (for 27 miles) having set a 6 hour target . It was a two lap course – the first lap was mostly through the forest itself with just a small section of moorland; the second lap had more varied terrain and was a lot more technical – fields, roads and forest, plus nice views around the edge of Esthwaite Water and the West bank of Lake Windermere.
Phil Davidson travelled to Todmorden for the Red Hot Toddy 10k in aid of the Calder Valley Flood Relief. His time in tough conditions was 46.29 to be 44th out of 201.
PB’s at Cuerden Valley were aplenty. Ciaron Roddy was first home with a time of 18.22. Mark Willett 21.01, Richard Field 22.36, Alison Parkinson 25.35, Claire Shaw 29.10, Sarah Haslam 32.07. At Preston Amanda Berry ran 30.23 and Carole Williams 30.25.