The Crazy Cow 10k starting on Avenham Park attracted nearly 600 runners on bright sunny morning. The atmosphere was one of great fun as well as keen competition with strong turn outs from the two Blackburn clubs and of course 40 Red Rose Road Runners.
Simon Croft finally got a ‘top three spot’ with a great time of 36.16. Alex Venables had an excellent run improving on last week’s time finishing in 38.24. Joe Swarbrick and Ken Addison had an almighty battle for 6 miles. On this occasion Joe came out on top with a time of 39.07, 15th overall with Ken 16th in 39.16. Stuart Cann was 17th and took 2nd V50 position in a time of 39.33. Liam Hooton completed his 4th 10k in four weeks with yet another PB. He finished in 42.16 nearly 3 minutes faster than a month ago. Kristian Lowe continued his steady improvement with a time of 42.31.Andy Birkbeck put in a solid performance of 43.22. Janine Needham finished as 5th lady in a time of 43.19 and deservedly took the F40 prize. Also, Alison Parkinson picked up the F50 prize in 18th position in 48.23. Carol Douglass was pushed harder than in most races for the F70 prize. Her excellent time of 52.31 was only 19 seconds faster than her nearest competitor. Evelyn and Bernard Elkington were both in a class of their own in the 75 age group. Evelyn got round in 68.24 with Bernard encouraging slower runners bringing them home in 109.33. Many runners were celebrating good times and PB’s today. Gareth Fairey was over 3 minutes faster than his Boxing Day time and Anees Shaikh knocked 30 seconds off his previous best. Full results on ukresults.net.
In the Fun Run, Cameron Needham was 12th in 5.56, Finley Needham was 17th in 7.13. Katie Wilkinson had an excellent run in 7.39, with Xan and Alex Venables running well together in 9.36 and 9.40.Madison Needham was great, finishing in 10.04.
The Manchester 10k is a massive event with 30,000 entries. In 205th place was Mark Willett in a great time of 38.40. Dave Brunton performed well with a time of 41.52. Gary Corcoran finished in 43.16 and looks likely to edge nearer 40 minutes in the near future. With so many Red Rose runners competing each week it is clear that so many of us are being inspired by others and willing to put the effort in to improve their own performance. Results: Chris Brown 46.05, Michael Copeland 50.17, Austin Trelfa 51.15,Matt Ashton 51.17, Kerry Livingstone 51.35, Nicole Sharples 52.29,Lisa Semley 54.07, Sarah Runcie 56.05, David Anson 59.00, Alice Hartley 60.07, Carole Williams 60.20, Louise Davitt 60.43, Nikki Bentley 67.26, Ramona Mulligan 75.44.
Gina Biggs was our only runner at the Lancaster 5k finishing in 30.58. The Preston parkrun, also run over 5k , saw PB’s from Davina Bowling 26.48, Gina Chelton 28.58,and Paul McMonagle 37.38.At Cuerden Valley Duncan Anderson came in first in 19.21, and PB’s were achieved by Liam Hooton 21.43 and Claire Shaw 25.58.