This week Red Rose Road Runners covered 2 continents, 5 countries, 4 marathons, temperatures varying from -1c up to 33c-37c, 15 different parkruns in 2 countries and triathlon.
The week started with Kris ‘Good For Age’ Lowe tackling the 122nd Boston Marathon. The world’s oldest annual marathon and one of the six World Marathon Major series. In 25mph wind, heavy rain and freezing conditions, for one of the coldest in 30 years, no-one was going to run a PB. When the professionals are competing in running jackets, you know it will be a very tough race. Kris got round in 4:38:27.
Fast forward to Saturday and Red Rose Road Runners attended 15 parkruns. The most popular by numbers was Cuerden Valley parkrun, with 43 members enjoying the sunshine. Well done to Sarah Haslam who got a PB and beat 30 minutes on a warm day. Results are as follows (position, gender position, name, time):
5 5 John NAYLOR 21:21
6 6 Mark WILLETT 21:35
9 9 Chris CHARNLEY 21:43
18 17 Scott JACKSON 23:42
24 23 Rob MATHER 24:32
33 32 Jon ROYLE 25:36
35 2 Ann CLEAVE 26:08
36 34 John WISEMAN 26:14
52 44 Austin TRELFA 27:32
53 45 Robert TAYLOR 27:36
55 9 Yvonne JOHNSON 27:46
59 49 Barry WHEELER 28:36
61 11 Margaret LUPTON 28:39
63 52 Daniel SMITH 28:49
65 54 Bernie MITCHELL 28:54
68 57 Anees SHAIKH 29:01
69 12 Anneke CROSBY 29:02
71 59 Andy SPEER 29:15
72 13 Claire SHAW 29:24
75 62 Matt COWAN 29:47
76 14 Sarah HASLAM 29:51
84 19 Alison MERCER 30:33
94 74 Joydip MAJUMDER 31:42
96 21 Jo ROBERTS 32:02
100 23 Carol HEATON 32:52
102 24 Karen SMITH 32:56
103 79 Roger JOHNSON 33:13
109 28 Catherine KARN 33:37
111 30 Sharon BIRKBECK 33:50
118 35 Helen ORSON 35:05
119 36 Carol RHODES 35:18
120 84 Gareth FAIREY 35:32
126 41 Karen CLARK 36:24
132 44 Tracey ALAMI 37:45
134 46 Anne Denise SMITH 38:01
140 51 Louise WALSH 38:51
143 54 Catherine NEWTON 39:16
144 55 Sarah MALTBY 39:17
150 92 David WATSON 40:52
159 65 Wendy WARD 45:37
160 95 Eric WARD 46:11
168 69 Ramona MULLIGAN 47:16
173 103 Mac MCCORMACK 50:02
Also popular was Preston parkrun, with 14 members running on the day:
8 8 Richard MAUGHAN 19:23
20 19 Andrew Graeme CHRISTIE 20:47
21 20 Frank NIGHTINGALE 21:02
22 21 Ian CROFT 21:06
78 70 John Benedict ALLEN 24:17
112 14 Joan GOULDTHORPE 26:11
129 17 Joanne MALCOLMSON 26:53
131 113 Shane COLLINS 26:56
133 115 Steve MURPHY 27:02
144 20 Kelly WHITE 27:31
157 25 Jo WORSWICK 28:04
261 81 Sarah Louise RUNCIE 33:29
323 124 Tina Jane CARR 49:28
324 125 Susan Jane HEATLEY 49:29
Further afield, members visited various London parkruns due to the marathon, other runs across the north and Nina attended one in Germany:
Heaton parkrun 482 147 Carole WILLIAMS 31:58
Sunderland parkrun 40 39 David EAVES 23:13
Warrington parkrun 41 39 David HOOTON 22:07
Southport parkrun 125 97 David WILKINSON 27:12
Bolton parkrun
135 25 Sue AUSTIN 29:28
176 41 Jenny FAIRCLOUGH 31:32
Southwark parkrun
175 32 Paula PLOWMAN 24:27
233 181 John PLOWMAN 26:08
424 156 Andrea DAVISON 30:44
425 269 Gareth BELL 30:44
Peckham Rye parkrun
89 9 Natalie MOORE 24:12
203 148 Paul GARDNER 28:45
226 66 Lucie CLIPSTON 29:40
284 99 Kate CLIPSTON 34:44
285 100 Mary CONWAY 34:44
286 186 Steve TAYLOR 34:45
296 191 Damian CLAPHAM 35:43
Botanical Garden parkrun
17 17 Jonathan FINCH 22:46
Witton parkrun
6 6 Michael HALL 22:13
54 38 Jon CARBERRY 32:13
53 16 Sarah WATKINS 32:13
Haigh Woodland parkrun
9 9 Stuart CANN 20:31
103 18 Davina BOWLING 27:49
130 99 John MINTON 29:47
134 34 Amanda BERRY 30:36
178 62 Denise FAIRHURST 36:20
Lancaster parkrun
55 53 Ian WHARTON 24:28
142 28 Debbie PORTER 28:26
203 150 Ted DEMPSEY 32:35
Blackpool parkrun
73 8 Samantha EDWARDS 25:30
237 95 Gina BIGGS 39:49
Hasenheide parkrun
98 37 Nina COLQUHOUN 34:12
Later that Day, Samantha and Gina travelled from the parkrun to complete in the 2k, 5k and 10k. 6 other Red Rose members joined them on the 10K. Times were as follows:
Blackpool 10K JOEL STANIER 49:57.52, SAMANTHA EDWARDS 51:00.74, KATRIN ELBAG 58:23.58, JOANNA DOBSON 01:00:45.80, JAYNE RENNIE 01:01:45.05, NATALIE BARBER 01:03:31.03, SUE RENNIE 01:12:56.73, GINA BIGGS 01:34:46.97
Blackpool 5K SAMANTHA EDWARDS 25:36.82; GINA BIGGS 44:50.58
Blackpool 2K SAMANTHA EDWARDS 10:11.39; GINA BIGGS 20:36.43
On Sunday, the 38th London Marathon was the hottest ever with a peak temperature of 24.1c and the second World Marathon Series race of the week. For most runners, this would not be a pb day. The 17 Red Rose finishers were no doubt in part spurred on by the many club members who travelled down to support, in conditions that could be described as great for spectators, but not so much for the runners.
Simon Croft was the first member back with an fantastic 02:52:38. Dan Hughes was next with 02:59:30, doing very well to beat 3 hours. First Red Rose lady was Fay Morne with an impressive 03:31:57, followed by Sarah Sutcliffe with 03:43:22. Other finishers were: Lee Lawrenson 04:01:58, Mary Conway – following up her Manchester marathon success with a time of 04:28:27, Lorna Taylor 04:43:54, Paul Gardner 05:20:13, Steve Taylor 05:20:38; Gary Turner, 05:21:41; Lucy Turner, 06:06:27; Ian Bruce 06:32:46; Ann Donoghue, 06:35:35; Martin Foley, 06:35:35; Colin Manning, 06:37:08; Ruth Watkinson, 06:49:32 and Jake Oates, completing his first marathon in 06:57:37.
In Blackpool, the Blackpool Marathon managed to avoid being the most miserable marathon of the week, with warm weather, but at times strong head winds. Eight members endured the ‘up and down the seafront repetition’. Gary did well to get a PB despite the conditions. Full times were as follows: GARY CORCORAN 03:27:07.03; MANOLO MENDOZA 03:57:19.76; SHANE CLIFFE 04:05:10.18; LEANNE FINCH 04:37:18.53; HELEN GREENHALGH – building on her success at Manchester Marathon earlier in the month with 05:00:15.13; KRZYSZTOF KANASIUK 05:14:04.34 and GINA BIGGS, completing her fifth run of the weekend with 06:38:03.80.
At the same time, the Blackpool Half Marathon was also run. Results as follows: SIMON GARDNER 01:38:30.46; SUE BROOKES 01:45:51.77; STEVE MURPHY 01:46:48.56; MICHAEL COUPLAND 01:47:05.85; EMILY INGHAM 01:49:30.39; SAMANTHA EDWARDS – completing her fifth weekend run with 01:51:18.18; JUDI INGHAM 01:55:29.84; CAROL HEATON 02:20:05.13; HANNAH CLAYTON 02:20:06.14; SUSAN HEATLEY 02:32:52.18
The Bolton 10K is a challenging 10K involving the roads around and paths within Leverhulme Park. Four members competed, achieving the following times: STUART SMITH 43:10; MICHAEL ODDIE 44:31; AUSTIN TRELFA 57:33; DAVID WATSON 1:09:41.
Kathryn Abbott was the sole member at the Vienna Half Marathon. She completed this in 02:14:26.
The Ron Hill Accrington 10K is a fairly flat and fast road race, but still with some ups and downs. 12 members compete. Time were: Chris Bibby 0:42:21; Andrew Stell 0:45:50; Lewis Withnell 0:46:26; John Wiseman 0:49:52; Keith Burrows 0:56:27; Emily Atkinson 0:56:33; Paula Stell 0:58:25; Zoe Cain 0:59:21; Gareth Fairey 1:00:52; Lesley Renshaw 1:01:07; Claire Brown 1:02:45; Lisa Baron 1:02:47.
Mixing it up, two members competed in the Kendal Triathlon, which incorporated a 400M Swim, 18KM Ride and 5KM run. They were Andy Hale with 1:14:15 and Ry Beardsworth, finishing in 1:21:00.
In Madrid, four Red Rose members completed the Madrid Marathon in blistering heat of 33c, rising to 37c in places. Ben Smithers did exceptionally well to keep it under 4 hours with 3:52, followed by Richard Hally with 4:00:06, Baz Bayliss in 4:38 and Faisal doing well with 5:18.
Steve Bullows, a new member compeleted 2 half marathons over the weekend. Saturday the Caucus Challenge and Sunday the Reject Challenge. Both with Saxons Vikings and Normans at Samphire Hoe near Dover.