It was the inaugral Race for the Blackburn 10k, organised by RunThrough which started and finished at Ewood Park, home of Blackburn Rovers football club. Nearly two thousand people entered the race and it clearly has grabbed the imgaination of local people. Rachael Gavin, running for Blackburn Harriers summed up what most people thought about the race as she said afterwards “Absolutely loved today’s race. Great route, brilliant atmosphere and amazing support all the way round. Will definitely be doing it again!!“.
RESULTS
The Harriers had a pretty good day with 12 out of the top 30 places in a race won by Mo Abu Rezeq in a time of 31.08. and four out of the top five. First Blackburn Harrier home was Tim Raynes in 2nd place clocking 32.13 who told the Harriers after the race “Great to have another race in Blackburn, hopefully it will happen again. Brilliant to see such dominance from the Harriers, especially seeing some of the youngsters step up to 10k. Well done particularly to Matt, great run for 4th (especially given his fall). Found it a bit of a slog personally, hopefully can get a solid block of training in now before Ribble Valley”.
Next Harrier home was Karl Billington in a time of 32.42 (3rd) and speaking to the Club post Race “A great race and hopefully one that will grow. Really enjoyed it and a good run from myself. Was great to see so many good results from both men and women today, especially the youngsters stepping up”. One of those youngsters was U17 Matt Ramsden making his debut over the distance and who was just behind in 4th place running 33.05, commenting after his race that it was “A good experience for my first 10k and was happy with the outcome despite falling, well done to everyone”. Next across the finish line came Josh Holgate in 5th in a time of 33.21 telling us after he finished that it was a “Great, well organised event and I hope it continues next year. It’s not as quick as I first thought but overall happy with my time given a shocking race prep and rubbish week of running. Well done all the lads and ladies from Blackburn some top running, and special mention to Matt R he took a big knock when he slipped in the town centre, but pulled himself up and pushed on well”. Chris Davies was the next Harrier home in 7th (34.08) and 1st V40 on the day, commenting after the race that “On a personal level I was happy with my time. The course was challenging to say the least. Tough to run from the 2K marker, the course became very twisty for 3K from their but I was able to get some better running going after that. I think this race sets me up well now for the Ribble Valley 10K which is the race I am aiming for. Training has been really good and I think I have enough time now to get some more good weeks of training in to get what I want from that race. Overall a good day”.
Karl Billington
Matt Ramsden
Josh Holgate
Chris Davies
Calum Holmes was next in 9th with a time of 34.47 and when asked about his race said “It was a last decision choice to run in today’s race at Ewood Park and I’m glad I decided to go ahead and do it, I set off quite steadily and picked it up working hard in the last 5k and it was a great result as I’ve struggled all year but finally feel like I’m almost back just in time for the Telford 10k in three weeks from today and feel really confident about getting my pb it was great to be among the 6 of the Harriers finishing in the top ten which we dominated the race well”. He was followed by a new member for the Harriers – Callum Townsend – who had a fine debut, running 35.24 in 11th place. Yet another U17 – Sam Hodkinson – who said that it was “A great atmosphere at the Blackburn 10k and looking forward to the next one”, came through the finish line in 12th spot running 35.53 in his first time racing the distance, and just three places further back was Nick Smith (15th) in a time of 36.18 and a new PB by 37 seconds. Paul Bradshaw came home with a solid time of 36.30 to place 16th and told the Club “Happy enough, legs felt like my own again for the first time since Amsterdam Marathon. Now to try and get fit for Ribble Valley!“.
Calum Holmes
Callum Townsend
Sam Hodkinson
Nick Smith
Paul Bradshaw
The Harriers third U17 athlete – Jamie Teare – crossed the line next in 17th position after clocking 36.33 which was a massive new PB by nearly six minutes. U17 Ethan Barbarewicz was also making his debut over the distance with a pretty strong performance as he he placed 26th overall in a time of 38.05, followed home by Jonny Murphy (28th) in a time of 38.11. Matthew Poole finished in 43rd (38.43) and told us afterwards “A PB for me so I’m happy with that. A time to beat for Ribble Valley. Excellent running from the Harriers once again.”
Jamie Teare
Ethan Barbarewicz (1684)
Jonny Murphy (1091)
Matthew Poole (1886)
The fifth U17 Blackburn Harrier on the day – Harry Wilkin – posted a time of 40.11 in 54th place. Rachael Gavin was the first woman home for the Harriers in 87th position and 3rd woman overall, clocking 41.42 and she was followed home by V60 Mike Blacklidge (157th) in a time of 44.28 and 1st V60, Charlotte Atkinson (166th) clocking 44.49 and Lindsay Davies (179th) in a time of 45.27 and 2nd V45 commenting that it was a “great route, more inclines than downhill, and was just under a minute outside my PB, happy to be 2nd in my age category. Well done to all the Harriers who ran fantastic today”. V55 Martin Kerry ran a time of 48.52 to take 329th place, followed by V45 Michelle Teare (50.06) in 389th spot, V55 Jan Buckingham with a time of 53.29 in 551st place, Paul Wilkinson (V45) running 51.58 in 579th and commenting that he “Enjoyed race today It was well organised and a decent route. Had a poor run today but still enjoyed it and hope it’s a yearly race“. V65 Peter Lynch was next home for the Harriers in 674th (52.00) followerd by Victoria McKinlay who came home in 788th spot with a time of 56.02 and Rebecca Woodworth finishing in 831st position with a time of 56.33 and just outside her personal best. Victoria spoke to the Club when she had finished and told us “I thought the actual race was well organised and the marshals did a great job. The course wasn’t a pb course; too many inclines. The start was a bit disorganised though; I couldn’t hear the guy with the mic and there were no pacers. That caused issues with positioning and trying to get past people. I really hope it continues though. Well done everyone”.
Harry Wilkin
Rachael Gavin
Mike Blacklidge
Charlotte Atkinson (1679)
Lindsay Davies (391)
Michelle Teare
Jan Buckingham (551)
Paul Wilkinson (1613)
Peter Lynch (942)
Victoria McKinlay with Jenna 13th in the Kids Race and Alex who was 7th
Rebecca Woodworth (1644 with Christine O’Gorman (1363)
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Preston Ten – Sunday November 17th
This very populare local 10 mile race attracted just short of four hundred runners this morning – won by Stockport’s Andrew Davies in a fast time of 49.10 from Matt Crehan in 2nd (49.32), Michael Cayton in 3rd (49.35) and Jonathan Kay in 4th clocking 49.46.
Two Blackburn Harriers ran in this one – Ben Costello came home in 15th place running a time of 54.34 in his debut over this distance.Ben assessed his race afterwards telling the Harriers that he was “Going into the race with no pressure on myself to run a certain time made me feel at ease.The race got underway I went through the first couple of miles quicker than the pace I had in mind but I knew I had to go with it or I would of been isolated from the 2nd mile I manage to stick with a couple of lads but after 4 mile they pulled away and I didn’t have the speed to go with them unfortunately so after that it got tough and ran the rest on my own.U certainly can’t grumble at the time with it being my debut over the distance but there is a lot of time to be knocked off there.looking forward to the rest of the year and hoping everything I’m doing in trsubibg clicks in place come one of the race days in December.Well done to the rest of the harriers who ran this weekend some cracking times”.
Tom Blaney (24th) clocked a new PB of 56.40 which was over three quarters of a minute better than his previous best. Tom commented on his race too telling us “Having not run a competitive 10 mile for a few years my aim today was to get a PB which I knew was well within reach. I didnt look at my watch as running it off feel has worked well for me in the recent Xc races and manchester half. I did however run a little bit too fast in the first half 27.50 and knew I would have to work hard to hold it together, inevitably I lost a little bit of time but well within my current PB and plenty more to come for the next time I run the distance. Overall a good day of running, well do to ben for his first attempt at the distance and a cracking effort for all the harriers running the blackburn 10k today”.
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Tour of Pendle – Saturday November 16th
This years race over 27km and 1473m of climbing took place on Saturday with Danny Teare, Craig Greenough and Tom Cubbon all running for the Harriers.
Results not yet out
Tom Cubbon
Craig Greenough
Danny Teare
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Run Bolton Abbey – Sunday November 10th
Bottom of age U13 – Oliver Gill – took on the 4k in this series of races which covered four distances from Half-Marathon, 10 mile, 10k and 4k and was a really good event with nearly 1,000 runners competing across all the disttances. All were off road in the grounds of Bolton Abbey and chip timed.
Oliver really enjoyed the 4k fun run having a cracking run to come home in 2nd place out of 150 in a time of 16.27 – Jack Sanderson from Settle Harriers taking the win (15.41).
Oliver Gill (152)
