Karl Lee and Garry Barnett before the start of the Berlin Marathon
It was an extremely busy weekend for running in the local area but there were not too many Wesham members out racing.
Rob Danson however won the Run Preston 10k on Sunday in a superb show of strength in a time of around 33:30 as the full results are not yet available. The course from the centre of Preston descends into Avenham Park for a 5km loop with a stiff climb back out into the city before repeating a second lap. Paul Hetherington was in the leading mix of runners but his time and position is not yet known. There was an accompanying 5km race over one lap of the course but no Wesham runners took part.
Karl Lee and Garry Barnett represented Wesham in the Berlin Marathon, arguably the world’s fastest course now with several world record performances, culminating for the time being with another one this year as Dennis Kimeto took 26 seconds off last year’s record to run a phenomenal 2:02:57. Neither Wesham man was in the best of form, with Karl Lee due to take a break from marathon running to concentrate on shorter distances and Garry Barnett still returning from injury. Lee ran a metronomic 30k at around 4:07 per kilometre, just fading up to 30 secs per k over the final 10.2km to finish 829th in 2:57:17, 2:56:46 chip time, an excellent performance with a reduced training mileage. Barnett was not far behind with an initial pace of 4:16 per kilometre, slowing to 4:40 over the final 2.2km to cross the line 2232nd just after running through the Brandenburg Gate with a time of 3:12:09, 3:11:14 on the chip.
Lee Barlow ran the final Lancaster 5km race at Salt Ayre on Saturday evening clocking a fine 17:19 for 12th place and 2nd M40 just 2 seconds behind Chris Brewer from Keswick. Steve Myerscough was just short of his personal best by a couple of seconds and he came in 14th with 17:27 as 4th M40. Myerscough had also run the Preston parkrun at 9:00 that morning, scoring an easy 19:01 for an M40 age graded performance of 71.78%. Two weeks previously he ran his 50th parkrun, all at Preston, the first Wesham runner to reach this mark, having run 18:51 for 72.41%.
Alex Rowe ran the fastest time at the 180th Pennington Flash parkrun on Saturday morning clocking 18:28 for an M55 age graded performance of 84.66%. On Sunday he ran in the Northern Veterans Monthly Run at Edgworth around the beautiful Wayoh and Entwistle Reservoirs finishing the 6.4 mile course 2nd in 41:13. Russell Mabbett was 7th in 55:26.
Helen Lawrenson was 4th woman and 2nd W40 in the Race to Remember 8km multi terrain race at in Wyresdale Park at Scorton in a time of 46:51 in 35th place overall. Gemma Owen was 15th woman and 74th in the race with 53:30. John Howorth was 67th in 52:26.finishing 8th M60.
Gemma Owen had run the Yarrow Bridge 10k Trail Race the previous weekend and came in 84th and 26th woman in a time of 1:00:06. Jayne Hurst was 10th and 34th woman with 1:05:06. Anne Flanagan was 113th and 38th woman in 1:12:22 with George Flanagan 2nd M65 and 139th in 1:30:32. Angela Kirkham was 11th in the 5km race, 5th woman in 33:55, and Natasha Wilkinson 9th woman and 16th with 34:34. William Cardwell was 20th in the Fun Run with a time of 13:15.
David Taylor ran a new personal best at the Preston parkrun, clocking 19:37 for 65.76% age graded performance. Phil Leaver ran 24:39 for M60 65.65% and Martin Bates 25:51 for M55 60.48%.