The latest Inter Club race was hosted by Wesham Road Runners and saw 325 compete over the 4.5 mile. 98 Red Rose Runners swelled the numbers with some excellent performances. Simon Croft finished in 3rd place in a time of 24.31 followed by an brilliant contest between Matt Holmes 26.08, Duncan Anderson 26.16 and Dan Hughes 26.21. James Simon was 36th overall in a time of 27.30 challenged strongly by Volke Schwarzer in 27.34. Our top ten finishers further comprised of Lee Quibell 28.02, Frank Nightingale 28.03, Gary Corcoran 28.41 and Barry Wheeler 28.49. On the night this earned us 4th place out of the seven clubs. The Women’s team were 4th in a very closely contested competition. Sam Edwards 32.27 lead the team home followed by Hannah McCusker 32.50,Claire Shaw 34.53, Laura Houghton 35.46, Alison Parkinson 36.04. The FV40 team of Sue Brookes 36.17, Pauline Moorcroft 36.54, Amanda Cutler 37.47, Alicia Croft 38.07 also gained fourth place. Our other teams also acquitted themselves well. The Vets team were third, The V50 team were second and the V60 team took first place.
The Lancashire Scorcher series saw some amazing, gutsy performances. Hopefully, I haven’t missed any of the major fetes but there were so many I can’t promise to have done true justice to the club members. One thing is certain, the organisers must have been very thankful for the support the club gave to this event. John Naylor knew what he was doing every day for 7 days. Seven marathons with amazing consistency. His victory of achieving the fastest 7 in 7, saw times between 3.33.09 and 3.58.58. He also won an individual marathon on one of the 7 days. Gina Biggs completed 3 ultras of 50k, 1 marathon,1 half marathon, and seven 5k’s. Ben Smithers ran an ultra, a marathon, a half marathon, and seven 5k’s. Wayne Hope completed the Marathon on Day 6 in 4.47.14 along with Katie Johnson who finished in 5.07.56.
Ben Smithers, Sam Edwards, Mary Conway , Fiona Gutteridge and Faisal Ali ran seven 5k’s with Faisal also completing an Ultra distance on Day 4. Ben was the fastest overall for the 7 5Ks, with Sam a close second.
On Day 6 Red Rose made a Mass Entry for the 5k race with great success. The first three men and first three women were all Red Rose Road Runners. Dan Hughes 18.06, Barry Wheeler 19.12 and Ben Donoghue 19.40. Sarah Chippendale 21.13, Cat D’Ascendis 21.41 and Sam Edwards 21.49.
On Day 7, Steve Murphy celebrated his first place in the half marathon with a PB of 1.41.23 with Ben Smithers second in 1.49.53.
Parkrun Preston saw PB’s for Neil Healy 26.21 and Annie Owens 33.27. At Cuerden Valley Michelle Griffiths posted a new best of 27.12, Wendy Ward knocked nearly 5 minutes off her previous best to finish in 27.51 and Zoe Cain ran 28.53.