Simon Croft had a great run in the Scottish Half Marathon finishing in 16th place in a time of 1.18.41. Natalie Moore also ran and finished well inside the 2 hour mark in 1.55.26. The English Half Marathon also took place on the same weekend in Warrington with half a dozen Red Rose in attendance. , Daniel Hughes ran an impressive 1.20.10, Peter O’Grady improved on his recent times by about 5 minutes for a time of 1.51.18, Gareth Fairey 1.58.08 Mary Conway 2.14.37 Gina Biggs 2.56.56. This was considered a great course, hilly out and downhill 2nd half all helped by a great crowd. A T-shirt, chocolate and a large medal kept everyone happy. In the 10K Nicola Hughes ran 51.22 and Marion O’Grady 1.04.44.
Barry Wheeler and Ben Donoghue headed off to Scafell Pike to complete the last of the 3 peak races, this time joined by Gareth Bell and John Naylor. Ben was again first back, completing the challenging 5 mile, 3000 ft course in 1h:17m closely followed by Barry in 1h:18m. Gareth took advantage of John who struggled downhill, both finishing in 1h:29m.
The Yarrow River Splash 10k was invaded by 35 Red Rose runners. This Mad Bull event was very popular last year and was included in this year’s Grand Prix. Stuart Cann ran brilliantly to be 7th in 47.55 taking the first M50 prize. Simon Robinson was 9th in 48.36, and Barry Wheeler 10th in 49.30. Further high placings were achieved by Phil Butler 13th in 50.17, and John Naylor 20th in 52.28. Ray Taylor ran an excellent time of 53.55 to be first V65. Sarah Hall finished impressively as fourth lady in 54.19 with Paula Plowman just ahead of Joan Gouldthorpe who took the FV 65 prize in 61.52.
Other finishers: Doug Bryden 55.37, Ruth Travis 62.41, Vicky Gore63.32, Anneke Crosby 65.03,Wayne Hope 65.31, Claire Shaw 66.32,Anees Shaikh 66.44, Jim Robinson 70.34, George Fletcher 73.43,Karen Clark 73.45, Allan Howard 73.55, Sarah Haslam 75.50, Jenny Fairclough 78.39,Sandra Rolston 80.56, Arthur Green 81.36, Ann Donoghue 83.56, John Plowman 83.57, Ben Donoghue 83.58, Diane Hill 87.42, Chris Clark 87.40, Tracy Woods 87.40, Samantha Walker 93.48, Paula Cherry 93.55, Janete Cobell 93.55 Lydia Placket 1.42.33.
The Lancaster Castle Half and 10k proved popular but provide a sting in the tail with it’s horrible hill up to the finish line. Steve Boardman ran well for a time of 1.35.41 to take 21st place. Louise McKenna fought hard for her 1.55.08 as did Janice Johnstone in 2.18.17.
The 10k saw Ian Wharton complete the course in 52.57, Debbie Porter finished in 53.14 but the best performance came from Alison Parkinson who ran 51.44 to be first FV 50. Nikki Bentley ran a time of 70.25.
Preston Parkrun success came from Alecia Johnstone in 23.07, Shane Collins 27.22, improving by nearly a minute, Michelle Livesey 27.48, Stephen Walker 27.50 and Denise Fairhurst improving by a mighty 59 second in 33.21. At Cuerden Valley Stuart Mcnair ran an excellent 23.09, and Ginette Philp improved once again in 37.23. Carole Williams ran her new ‘best’ at Southport in 27.07. Maureen Laney ran at Gateshead to finish in 21.51 and recorded a massive age related score of 90.08%. At Fell Foot, Newby Bridge it is great to report that Finty Royle was second lady in 20.47 with Jon Royle posting a PB of 22.27. At Lytham Hall, Margaret Lupton finished in 25.12 and Alice Lodge recorded 26.34.
Apologies to Andrea Davison. She completed the tough Lancaster Half in 2.08.17.
I seem to be missing from the EHM results, I’m down as Red rose running club apparently 1:55:03