Dentdale 14.2 – March 12th
Race Start Video HERE
Three hundred and eight runners finished this race described as A beautifully scenic road race in the heart of the Dales – The Dentdale Run is a 14 mile, 332 yard road race staged on the roads and lanes around Dentdale, the Yorkshire Dales’s beautiful “secret” dale. Following a figure-of-eight course, it winds up hill and down dale, starting and finishing at Dent Primary School, where finishers are treated to a hot drink, sandwich and cake! The race is one of the most scenic road races you are ever likely to do! All proceeds go directly to Dent C of E Primary School.
Full Results HERE
It was Blackburn Harrier’s Shaun Livesey who came out on top with a great win in a time of 83.24 and some two minutes clear of the second placed runner. Shaun was more than pleased with his run commenting “I was amazed when I came to my attention that I hadn’t done a road race since September ( Langdale Marathon ) which I was fortunate enough to win. Although I had done cross country and fell races I needed a road race to give me a marker to see if my training was going in the right direction with regards to the Manchester marathon in April. So it was up to Dent for this well established 14.2 mile undulating road race. The weather was perfect, I had set myself a target of running under 6min/mile pace. As soon as the gun went myself and Breton Holdsworth ( Clayton ) took up the running. Although I was conscious I wanted to run a time I didn’t want to set the pace early on. The first few miles past and I just positioned myself just behind Breton, the pace was comfortable and I thought to myself we will be on for a good time if we both keep this up. As we hit the 5 mile point I could sense Breton dropping of the pace so I decided to take it on. At 6 mile I was running solo, I reached 10km in around 35mins and then 10 mile at around 58:30. The course then ran parallel for a while and I had a chance to see where the closest runner was, when I saw him I reckoned I had about 2 mins on him. There was still around 3 mile to push so I kept focused and pushed on to the finish. 1st place in a time of 1:23:25 at an average pace of 5:52min/mile. Not only a great race for me but my older brother finished in 3rd only 2 mins back and his wife was 3rd lady, not bad for triathletes. The organisation was great but the support around the course was fantastic. I feel privileged to be on the honours board of such an long and established race”.
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Knighton 20 Mile Road Race – Sunday March 13th
This new race, described by the Race website as “A brand new 20 Mile race replacing the long established Stafford 20, it’s a 3 lap course with slight undulations, the race provides great facilities at the Race HQ. A great race to use as part of your London Marathon training….” took place in great conditions for endurance running attracting 410 runners. Rachel Wood ran the Stafford 20 miler the year before (2015) as part of her preparation for the London Marathon where she set a new PB. This year she entered the new race and won it (32nd overall) with a new PB for 20 miles of 2.13.56 and in doing so went in at number 10 in the National Rankings.
Full Results HERE
Rachel was really pleased with her run and told the Club ”I raced Stafford 20 last year and I thought it was a great way of finding out what shape I was in and it also gave me confidence going into running my first marathon, after all it’s only 6 miles and a bit more! As I am racing London again this year, I thought I would give Stafford another go. This year it was a different course in Knighton. The course consisted of 3 laps and was undulating. I really enjoyed the weather on the day, gentle breeze and it was nice and warm. I finished First Lady and got a pb of 2.13.16. Last year I ran 2.15.02 so I’m happy with the improvement in my time”.
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Trafford 10k
Dave Norman put together a top quality field for the popular Trafford 10k and the weather and performances didn’t disappoint with the Race being won in sub 29 minutes by Tom Lancashire and 28 athletes all running under 30 minutes and 92 athletes all under 32 minutes. Tremendous racing and undoubtedly one of the top 10k Races in the country.
Full Results HERE
Video of first 550 finishers HERE
Rob Warner had a really good run on the day taking 86th spot in 31.46, just 6 seconds away from his PB. He told the Club he was “Quite happy with the run today, a few seconds off my pb from last year in a really fast race! Last 2 or 3k was really tough and that was where sub 31:30 got away from me I think! Happy overall though and it’s always great doing Trafford, it’s such a great event! Happy to have the winter season done and now on to the track season!”
Another Blackburn Harrier having a good run was V45 Andy Buttery who ran a seasons best of 33.32 (141st) and commented “I was really pleased with my race as I’ve been battling a calf niggle for 4weeks since Wrexham Half and have been unable to train properly. It mean’t I changed my plans a little going into it and didn’t really ease off this week after getting a better week’s training in. I could see conditions were going to be perfect for fast times though and knowing it would be a strong field didn’t want to miss out. I managed to keep a good strong even pace throughout and think I actually ran the 2nd half faster than the first 5k so feel like there are faster times to come with some good sessions and more races this spring.”
V65 Evan Cook is going really well at the moment and his race at Trafford where he finished in 335th place with a time of 40.47 which has moved him up to 5th in the National Rankings. Evan also lies 2nd in the 5k National Ranking with a time of 20.56.
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Bath Half- Marathon
Eleven thousand, three hundred and eighteen runners finished this Race in glorious weather down in Somerset on Sunday – March 13th. Ben Fish and David Almond made the long trip down for Blackburn Harriers.
Full Results HERE
Ben finished 10th overall in a time of 68.25 whilst David placed 332nd in 85.59. Ben was looking for a faster time and told the Club “position wasn’t too bad, but I was well behind 6th place, almost caught one of the Kenyans at the end, he had a bit of a shocker as he was after a sub 63. I was a good two minutes down on where I wanted to be, so it’s a performance that’s well below the standard I’m after”.
Dave commented afterwards that he was “Pleased with my performance in Bath. Was hoping for a PB but didn’t have the legs in the last few miles. Enjoyed the experience though and I’ll hopefully have the opportunity to do it again in future”.
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Roddlesworth Roller
The Roddlesworth Roller and the accompanying Daffodil Doddle stays as popular as ever in local running circles. The sun shone for a change around these parts as 236 runners entered the main race and a massive 183 in the youngsters 2k Race.
Full Results HERE
Chris Davies was first home for the Harriers, leading the Club to the first Team prize as well, when he finished 2nd overall in a time of 34.05. Second home for the Harriers was V40 John Sutton in 8th spot (36.34) and after the Race he spoke to the Club Secretary commenting “Solid but not spectacular. Time-wise down two minutes on 2014 but I put a shift in, no excuses. I haven’t run hard like that on a hilly course for a long time so didn’t quite feel the power like I have been doing in training. Felt I should of been challenging one or two ahead of me but maybe need a few more races or risk a few training runs at race tempo. Chris D ran a stormer. Speed and strength, very impressive.”
Allan Hartley 26th in 39.01 and John Cookson 48th in 41.12 were the next Harriers home with Chris, John and Allan being the counters for the 1st Men’s Prize.
Michael Sharp came in 111th (46.45) whilst Lorna Sharp, recovering from the ‘lurgy’, ran 56.20 for 176th spot with David Morris placing 202nd (60.47).
In the Daffodil Doddle there were seven young Harriers lining up in the sun with Amy Davies being first Harrier in – 7th overall – 2nd F12 in a time of 8.07. Then came Ethan Barbarewicz, fresh from a football match in 9th place and 1st in the M12 category. Saul Sharp took 47th positon in 9.35 and was 6th M10, whilst Kate Cookson came 58th and 6th F10 in a time of 10.01. She had been in a Race with Hannah Davies who finished one second behind her in 10.02 and 2nd F7. Isabelle Hartley ran a time of 10.14 for 68th place and 4th F9 and last but by no means least, Lulu Sharp ran 12.02, was 1st F6 and 112th.
Full Results HERE
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Bispham 10
Another sunny day and another race, this time at Blackpool with the Bispham 10 mile – won by James Kevan in 53.04 – with 237 finishers on the day. Kaylie Panaro in her first Race of 2016 came home in 116th place with a time of 77.32.
Full Results HERE
