Red Rose competed in some exciting events this week. The Bolton Hill Marathon was held on Saturday with some of the club’s keenest long distance runners taking part. It is one of the toughest in the UK. The route follows some of the most beautiful trails and country roads on the West Pennine Moors taking runners up and over Winter Hill, past White Coppice
and along the famous Anglezarke Reservoir, past Rivington Pike and Barn and through Barrow Bridge village. David Brunton performed well to be 18th in a time of 4.06.38 followed by Gary Corcoran in 19th place in a time of 4.12.10. In 35th place Shane Cliffe finished in 4.33.57 and Gina Biggs finished in 72nd in a time of 7.31.20. On Sunday the half marathon race took place with more Red Rose presence. The route includes Winter Hill, Rivington Pike and Barrow Bridge Village to finish in Moss Bank Park. Iain Mitchell lead the club’s contingent home in a time of 2.16.14 followed closely by Steve Murphy 2.18.11. Lorna Taylor had a great run with a time of 2.24.53. The next three runners stayed in close proximity with Gareth Fairey finishing in 2.48.00 with Katie Johnson and Andrea Davison immediately behind in 2.48.07. Katy Cleece and Hannah Clayton finished together in 3.18.13 with Gina Biggs following her marathon with a time of 4.22.27. In the Burnley and Pendle series, Phil Davidson and Samantha Edwards took part in the Kelbrook Fell Race. This is a mixture of road, trail and fell. It is 5.5km / 3.4 miles long, with 213m / 699 ft of ascent. Philip finished in 28.39 with Samantha well placed in 33.05.
In the local Parkruns there were some encouraging new PB’s were achieved. At Cuerden Valley Neil Healy ran 28.44 with Tom Healy right behind in 28.50. Katy Cleece started her weekend well with 31.33. At Preston, the 300th event saw PB’s from David Park 21.53, Philip Butler 22.54, Aimee Grime 24.48, Esther Stanier 26.23, Alison Wood 33.39, Caroline Houston 36.11. John Naylor will be pleased to hear from anyone who did the Coniston event so that he can add to this report.