Gosport Half Marathon – 17th November 2013

1500 runners lined up for the Gosport Half-Marathon on Sunday and Rachel Wood from the Harriers was amongst them. Three weeks after running a half-marathon PB at Luton, she ran another PB at Gosport, knocking three minutes off her best so far and finished in 126th place (84.33). Rachel’s dad Tony told us that “A really touching insight to this race for her is the fact that the airfield mentioned and the Gosport barracks where the race was run was the training area for the Fleet Air Arm during the Second World War and Rachel’s granddad Albert Wood was there as part of his pilot training in 1943”.

Full Results HERE

Rachel was delighted with her run and after the race she commented “Having won the Luton Half three weeks ago, I thought it would be good training for the London Marathon to race what is known to be one of the fastest half marathons in the country, Gosport Half Marathon. 
 
After a 5am start and numerous road diversions taking us the opposite direction, we arrived in Gosport with enough time to collect our chips, quick toilet break and a short warm up.
The event had 2,000 runners signed up and it was Gosport Road Runner’s 28th anniversary of the event. The weather conditions were perfect- sunny but cool with a light south west breeze. The course consisted of a mixture of cycle paths, pavements and roads. We ran around Daedalus’s airfield which was flat albeit “twisty and turny”.  The atmosphere was brilliant- the entertainment of drums and dancing was motivating and running below gliders and planes was pretty cool!
 
The last three miles of the course was along the promenade at Lee on Solent. This was my favourite section of the race- plenty of support, fresh sea breeze air and the finish was insight! I crossed the line in 84.30, a time that I am happy with but I know with more mileage ‘under my belt’  I can run faster!”

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Leeds Abbey Dash 10K – 17th November 2013

Another Race with 1500 runners and a reputation for fast times saw the first 14 athletes dipping under the 30 minute barrier. For the Harriers Stephen Chew, Matt Lalor, Andy Buttery, Becky Shorrock, Shelley Tattersall and Gary Priestley who runs for Blackburn on the Track all competed.

Full Results HERE

Showing that the athletes are in ‘pretty good nick’, the first Harrier in was Stephen in 96th place (32.27) and a new PB by 30 seconds. Matt in 102nd also ran a PB by 37 seconds. Andy took (183rd) ran 33.57. Becky (846th) recorded the third PB of the day for the Harriers with her 40.28 which was a whopping 2 minutes faster than she had ever run before and she told us “sub 40min though in 6 weeks at RV10k”. Shelley had a bit of an off day, which happens to everyone, finishing with 44.01 and 2 minutes from her best time for 10k and we know she will be bouncing back. Gary just missed out by an agonising 4 seconds in an attempt to set a new PB when finishing 55th in 31.20 and commented afterwards “31:20 yesterday at Leeds Abbey Dash, ok result given I had no idea where I was at nor managed to get the volume I wanted lately. Onwards and upwards”

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Preston 10 Mile Road Race – 17th November 2013

This is a very popular local and flat 10 mile Race which has been going now for quite a long time. Four Blackburn athletes competed here. Shaun Livesey, Tom Blaney, Laura Hesketh and Kaylie Panaro, producing another two PB’s and a really good opening time.

Full Results HERE

Shaun was first home in a cracking time of 56.01, knocking well over two minutes off his previous best time set earlier in the year. Tom, who hasn’t raced the distance before, had a great debut with an 8th placed 58.45. Laura came in 8th (67.47), about three quarters of a minute outside her PB. Kaylie, who one of the Coaches at the Club predicted would knock 4 minutes off her best time to date – 84.04 – did exactly that with a new PB of 80.35.

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Open Adventure Haglof KMF 10K Trail Race on 16th November 2013

And, after all the other Results come in, there is one for the Harriers Helen Leigh, affectionately dubbed as the ‘beast’ for her sheer refusal to give in and taking on the most difficult of Races.

Women’s Full Results HERE

There were 110 Women and 144 Men finishing the Race, with Helen(46.39) in 2nd place in the Women’s race, just 20 seconds behind the winner Annie Conway (46.19). Speaking to the Club after the Race, Helen told us that “Still not quite 100% after my cold but legs felt strong even with the climb leading straight out of Kendal up on to the hill. Was really pleased to finish second lady in 46.39 which for the gradient and the terrain was pretty speedy”.

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Florian Luquet, a French athlete who does some of his training with the Club, finished in a very good 13th position in 42.30 – the winner, Martin Cox from Ambleside taking the honours in 39.37.

Men’s Full Results HERE

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Midland Women’s Cross Country League – Leamington Nov. 9th 2013

Becky Shorrock who is training really well as can be seen by her two minute 10k PB at the Leeds Abbey Dash, warmed up for that race with a run for Loughborough University in the Midland Women’s XC League the week before. The race had 290 finishers and Becky took a very good 47th place (31.30) and just 6 places away from counting for Loughborough overall (three to count 20th – 21st and 40th) and 5th of the 37 teams competing.

Full Results HERE

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