Great picture! A glass of bubbly for the team after the Edinburgh Marathon
It was a very busy week for athletics locally as the late spring weather took a further turn for the worst but this did not dampen the spirits of Wesham members and fortunately conditions were ideal for the first race in the Catforth 5k series. With a record turnout of runners Rob Danson was in no mood for hanging around and he soon strung out the field, whipping round the gently undulating single loop on quiet country roads in 15:34, winning the race just 4 seconds short of the course record. Lee Barlow was back to good form finishing 7th and 1st M40 in 17:35. Alex Rowe improved on his recent 5,000m time to 17:49 coming in 10th and 1st M55. Peter Cruse was 17th in 18:27, second M50 and Garry Barnett 18th with 18:31 but the Wesham men were beaten for the team win by Blackburn Harriers who turned out a crack squad. The women’s race was won by two Claires, with Wesham’s Helen Lawrenson 4th and 1st W45 in 43rd place with a time of 21:19. Tracey Hulme was 9th and 1st W50 in 22:19; Kath Hoyer 12th and 1st W55 in 22:45. The women’s team were pipped by 50 seconds by Blackpool for the women’s team. Gemma Owen was 14th with 22:53 (62nd); Anne Mayers-Smith 16th and 2nd W35 in 23:09 (65th); Sarah Heaps 19th with 24:06 (71st); and Kerry Eccles 22nd in 24:50 (76th). For the men Steven Gore finished 21st in 19:27, a great run; Alan Hudson was 1st M65 and 29th overall in 20@24; Graham Cunliffe 2nd M55 and 31st with 20:35; Sean Murray 42nd in 21:18; Jonathan Lawson 56th with 21:18; Roger Leadbeater 68th in 23:52, 4th M55; Dave Waywell was 1st M70 and 73rd with 24:18; Dave Young 97th and 3rd M65 in 27:40; and Robert Danson senior 98th in 27:42.
In the Edinburgh Marathon Stuart Topping had a great run in difficult conditions to finish 764th in 3:27:01. Sally Deacon and Diane Blagden ran together and finished 4960th and 4961st in 4:37:15. The full race results are not yet available.
There were no Wesham runners in the opening Inter Club Fell Race at Harrock Hill but they had a good team at the second race of the Kendal 10k series at Levens. The men’s team were narrowly beaten by home club Kendal AC; Alex Rowe was 1st M50, EmmaPass 3rd woman, and John Collier was 1st M60.
In the Crazy Cow 10k on Sunday in Preston, Victoria Kollard won the women’s race and was 29th overall in 44:40 and Finlay McCalman was 163rd with 55:15. 1st W40
The Vernons 5k on Tuesday saw Wesham’s David Taylor record 18:14, a tremendous time on a fast course with some ups and downs and sharp corners. George Kennedy was 33rd in 22:06 taking the M55 honours with Nicola Unsworth4th woman and 34th in 22:07. Sarah Heaps was 9th woman and 46th with 24:11.
In the Preston parkrun on Saturday morning Alex Rowe ran a sleepy 18:34 for an M55 age graded performance of 84.92%. Steve Myerscough on post marathon legs clocked 19:44 for M40 69.68%; Phil Leaver 23:02 for M60 70.26% and Elliot Costello 24:27 for 52.76% after some weeks out injured.