An extensive field of Red Rose Road Runners tackled the Great North West Half Marathon on Sunday. Particular kudos to Samantha Edwards and John Naylor who also participated in the Lancaster Cross Country on Saturday.
In perfect conditions for Blackpool – cool weather, low winds and sunshine over a flat lapping course we got some excellent results. New joiner from Salford Harriers, Philip Marsden led the field with an extremely impressive 1:21:50 for 20th place and third in the M45 category in a very competitive race. Next we had David Parkinson in 1:24:40 to win the M50 category in 39th place, followed by Sam Harrison in 1:24:41 for 45th place and John Naylor in 1:29:28 for 94th place – his second fastest half marathon time. Not too far behind were Gary Corcoran with 1:31:42 and Scott Jackson with 1:31:57 which was a personal best time for him.
Samantha Edwards was the first Red Rose lady home with an impressive 1.42.43 which was a personal best by a considerable margin. Other finishers were Christopher Hargreaves 1.47.14, Ben Smithers 1.47.17, Gail Bristo 1.53.58, Iain Mitchell 1.54.11, Lynne Kenyon 1.55.23, James Butler 1.56.52, Brian Hanley 1.59.13, Louise Withnell 2.06.20, Davina Bowling 2.07.39, Lee Burton 2.07.31, Faisal Ali 2.30.46 and Nikki Bentley 2.49.17.
Ruth Travis was our lone representative at the Parbold Hill Race. Not for the faint-hearted, she toiled over the multi terrain course across extremely muddy fields and up the infamous Parbold Hill at 2.5 miles to finish the 6.75 mile course in 1.22.20.
The Mid Lancs cross country event took place in Ryelands Park, Lancaster with Red Rose F55 team of Pauline Moorcroft, 30.25, Joan Gouldthorpe 32.46 and Alison Mercer 35.11 gaining second team place over the 6k course. Further success came with Carla Davies making a Red Rose appearance and finishing sixth in an excellent time of 23.12. Sam Edwards started the weekend with a good time of 28.17 followed by Laura Houghton 31.05, Faron Jones 31.25, Amanda Cutler 33.40, Jenny Fairclough 38.52, Pita Oates 38.52, Emma Cowan 42.13 and Nina Colquhoun 43.08. Another brave performance by our only Under 11 athlete came from Lexie Colquhoun who covered the 2k course in 12.38.
The Men managed to turn two teams out over a distance of 9.6k. The first consisting of John Naylor 40.39, Gareth Case 41.53, Ken Addison 42.53,(3rd V60), Manolo Mendoza 43.13, Barry Wheeler 43.41, Lee Quibell 43.56. The ‘B’ team saw Mike Hall finish in 45.24, Simon Shaw 45.57, Phil Dean 48.51, Richard Field 51.51, John Wiseman 52.20 and Wayne Sharples 55.06.
Parkrun success came from Dan Hughes and Nicola Hughes who took the Rushmere event by surprise by being the first man and lady to finish in times of 19.54 and 22.49. At Preston, Red Rose went PB crazy with John Wood 22.55, Jo Worswick 27.41, Toria Callaghan 28.36, Carol Rhodes 30.39, Karen Smith 31.08, Andrew Ashcroft 32.19 and Susan Heatley 32.31. At Lytham, Steven Willetts ran 20.50 and Melanie Lowe finished in 25.08. Simon Robinson ran Blackpool in 18.27 and Wendy McNair ran her best at Cuerden Valley in 30.45.
Apologies to anyone I have missed.