Red Rose League – Saturday 18th November
A very good weekend for the Harriers all round starting off with cross country at Bolton where there was a very good chance that the Club’s Senior Men’s Team could secure titles for both Senior and Veteran Men in this years Red Rose League if they added a win at Leverhulme Park to their wins at Leigh and Chorley in the first and second fixtures.
A happy Senior Men’s Team Manager – Paul Guinan – was delighted to see that confirmed with victories in both again commenting at the end of the day that it was “Another great result today, 3 team wins out of 3 races both in the Seniors and Vets is great news. Ben Fish returning to the Red Rose after a 13 year break and taking a victory on his return, well done Ben. Every athlete today ran that bit harder with some very good performances. Ben C. taking 3rd in particular was an outstanding run, but from my point of view it’s about the team and the team did fantastic”.
(L-R) Paolo Sousa, Ben Costello, Allan Hartley, Mark Almond, Matt Nuttall, Ben Fish, Craig Greenough, Paul Brindle, Tom Anderson, Karl Billington, Chris Davies)
The Race turned out to be a real battle between Ben Fish and Jonathon Kay with Ben edging it by a second in the end in a time of 34.41 for the 10.2k Course. On the first lap it was neck and neck between the two before Ben took a twenty to thirty metre lead on Lap two, holding that until the final run in where Jonathon Kay made a real determined attempt to catch him. Great race between the two of them. After his first cross country league race Ben said he “was really happy with that. Wasn’t sure what to expect as I’ve done very little cross country in recent years. Great battle with Jonny Kay, got a small gap on a steep climb halfway and was able to fend him off at the end! Great result for the club with another win!”
Ben Costello who has been knocking chunks off his personal bests recently also had a his best run to-date on cross country coming home in third spot in a time of 36.59. To win these events you have to have good packing. Matt Nuttall in 10th place and 1st V45 (38.08) and Chris Davies 11th (38.12) and 2nd V40 did just that to make it four out of the first eleven home for the Club. Paul Brindle was next in (26th) and 3rd V45 clocking 41.04 with Paolo Sousa in 29th (41.24) completing the six counters needed for the victory.
Next home came Karl Billington in 37th in time of 42.25 with Tom Anderson in 43rd (43.04), Mark Almond (80th) in 45.00 minutes, Joseph Brady in 82nd spot (45.30), Craig Greenough (95th) in 46.50 and Allan Hartley with a time of 52.01 in 148th place.
The Harriers U13 Boys continued with their great run of form as they added another team win – with their first three home in the first five places – to their win at Chorley the week before. The lads were led home again by Dexta Thompson who placed 2nd in 11.59 who was in turn backed up with very good runs from Isaac Butler in 4th spot (12.17) and Kyle Taylor-Pomfret in 5th clocking 12.22. Rory Teare had a good run too placing 10th on the day in a time of 12.34. Saul Sharp had another very solid run in 24th with a time of 13.21 as did Codie Dewhurst just behind in 27th place posting a time of 13.41.
Nearly 100 youngsters contested the U11 Boys Race which saw very good runs from all the lads with Daniel Smith leading them home into second team on the day. Daniel placed 7th overall in 7.08 with Harry Sambrook just one place behind in 8th (7.11), followed in by Oliver Gill in 13th spot (7.20) and Felix Thompson (44th) in a time of 8.00 minutes.
Again in the U11 Girls the Race there were just short of a hundred entries and it is great to see so many youngsters out running cross country. The Harriers finished 6th team out of twelve on the day with Hannah Davies the first home in 16th place (8.04) and supported by Kady Thompson in 26th position (8.15) and Isabelle Hartley (36th) clocking a time of 8.29.
Sixty seven runners in the Girls U13 Race with just two from the Harriers – Caroline Woodworth having another good run in 26th spot in 14.08 and Keira Haxton not far behind in 32nd with a time of 14.23.
The U15 Boys were prioritising the Mid Lancs at Liverpool next week which meant just one runner in this race which saw Jamie Teare have a pretty good run taking 8th place out of the forty strong field in a time of 15.24. Eleesha Charnley – 2nd in the Red Rose the week before at Chorley – was the sole runner in the U15 Girls Race coming home in 4th place out of the thirty three runners competing in a time of 17.32.
The Harriers Senior Women’s Team took 5th place in the Team Race out of fourteen and were led home by Joanne Nelson in 3rd place out of one hundred and thirty in a time of 22.03 and also took the 1st V45 spot. Victoria Mousley was just two places further back in 5th in a time of 22.51 with Lindsay Davies in 53rd (27.57) and V55 Alison Armour in 100th place (34.14).
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Brampton 10m – Sunday November 19th
Three hundred and seventy runners contesting this renowned ten mile road race which also doubled as the Northern 10m Championships. The Harriers had two athletes racing – Chris Arthur and Joe Monk.
In his third ever race on the roads over this distance, Chris came in 8th overall and 5th in the Northern Championships with a new PB of 51.00, nearly two minutes faster than his previous best and afterwards told the Club “I’ve been looking forward to this for a while, after a long Fell season the thought of getting a good schooling on the roads seems to appeal to me. The weather was perfect, the course is fast and there was a strong field so knew it was a good opportunity. I’m really happy with how I ran, especially as I went through 10k 40s under my PB. Hopefully that’ll translate into a good time over that distance before I can put my feet up for a few weeks over Christmas”.
Joe came home in 14th place and 9th in the Northern Championships also with a new PB of 53.28 which was a forty nine second improvement on his previous best time and only the third time he has raced the distance. Pleased with the day Joe spoke to the Club saying he was “pleased with today, felt awful after 4 miles so to run a PB by nearly a minute is a good sign. Having an easier week now. Well done to Chris on a brilliant run”.
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Podium 5k – Saturday November 18th
Some pretty good racing at the Podium 5k last night with the first fifteen athletes all running under 15 minutes – the ‘A’ Race being won by John Ashcroft in 14.27. The Harriers had four runners out on the night with two of them – Tim Raynes and Ben Costello in the ‘A’ Race and two – Carly Edwards and Mark Lord in the ‘B’ Race. All of them set new PB’s which was a pretty good performance.
(Thanks to David Belshaw for the photos)
Tim Raynes went into the race with a personal best of 15.04 and had been wanting to break the 15 minutes, knowing that he was in the kind of form to do it; And he did. Emphatically. Tim cut thirteen seconds off his previous best to set a new PB of 14.51 (13th) and afterwards told the Club “Have been struggling to break 15 minutes for about 18 months now, and have been frustratingly close on a number of occasions. Coming into the race, I knew I was in good shape and if I could run a good race then it could finally be on. Conditions tonight were close to perfect, and having such a quality field meant that I was able to settle into a good group early on. The pace was quick, but I felt good for most of the race. Started to drop off a bit in the last lap, but managed to hold it together to run 14:51. Really pleased to finally do it! Well done to everyone running the xc at Bolton, disappointed to miss it but great to see the team wrap up the series again! Well done particularly to Ben Costello, who came 3rd there and then knocked over a minute of his PB at Podium. Sure that if he stays fit, there’s much more to come from him!”
Next in with a new PB – and what a big new PB – was Ben Costello who posted a time of 16.06 (47th), a huge 68 seconds faster than his previous best time recorded in June this year. Ben had also raced that same afternoon in the Red Rose Cross Country League at Bolton finishing 3rd overall in the Men’s Senior Race, so Saturday was a very good day all round for him as he told the Club after the new 5k PB “Couldn’t of asked for a better day of running I know I have been in some good form recently but absolutely over the moon to come 3rd at Bolton in the cross country but then to go to a 5k race and smash my PB to bits the feeling I have now is on another level looking forward to what next year brings.Thanks for everyone support today and well done to all the harriers that ran today especially Tim hitting sub 15 fantastic run”.
To the next new personal best and this time it was Carly Edwards in the ‘B’ Race featuring 40 athletes who smashed her previous best time by 37 seconds to set a new PB of 20.02 (20th). Every reason to be happy with her run, Carly spoke to the Club saying “I’m very happy with my run. It shows the hard work in my training is paying off. A 37 second pb over 5k is huge and I’m confident that i will continue to get faster”.
Again in the ‘B’ Race there was a new PB for Mark Lord (31st) in a time of 22.29 which was also a big new personal best time and a happy Mark commented to the Club after the Race that it “Was amazing to watch the elite athletes in a race and fantastic running by Tim, Ben and Carly. I had great race ‘B’ race I was stunned on my time 22.26 – really improved since joining Harriers – something about club vest makes me go quicker with my previous best 25.03 at Podium so knocking 2min 35 off i am delighted. Thanks to John Chaplin senior team coaches & managers. Hope to keep up good work”.
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Preston 10 – Sunday 19th November
Four hundred and thirty nine finishers in the Preston 10 today won by Karl Darcy in 51.24 and which saw Blackburn Harrier Shaun Livesey finish in the top ten with a 7th placed run of 56.43 to take the V40 1st Prize.
After picking up his well deserved Medals, Shaun told the Club about how his Race Went saying “Entered the race a few weeks back with the hope of landing the vet 40 10 mile Lancashire Championship Gold Medal. Conditions on the morning were fantastic, I lined up with some familiar faces and tried to identify anyone who was going to be a challenge for the Vet 40 title. Once again it turned out to be a lonely race. After a fast first mile 5:19, I settled into a comfortable pace. However after a few miles I started to have a few stomach cramps which eased off for a while. Unfortunately at the start of mile 9 I had to take a trip into a farmers field and take a toilet stop, however this didn’t cost me any places. I got back into my running a crossed the line in a respectable 56:43. 1st vet 40 and with it a gold medal in the Lancashire champs. job done”.
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Tour of Pendle – Saturday November 18th
No Results at the moment.
Martin Howarth had been looking forward to the Tour of Pendle Race and finished up just outside of his pre-race target of 3 hrs commenting to the Club “I enjoyed the race in decent conditions and only fell once! I was after a sub 3hrs however I unusually struggled with cramp. I completed it in 3hrs 11 and came 125th. Disappointed with time but I’m determined to bounce back next year and smash the sub 3 hr mark at least”.
Danny Teare was running this for the Harriers and told us that there were “Great conditions for the 34th Tour of Pendle on Saturday. This was my second time out in this event, but my first tackling the full 17 mile course. (14 mile bad weather route was in effect in 2015). I had had the luxury of plenty of recces in advance, being up there most weekends for the past 2 months. No matter how much training you do though, nothing really prepares you for just how you will feel facing the last 700 ft climb to the trig, having run 14 miles and already climbed 3700 ft! What else can you do but get your head down and plug away to the top. I was targeting sub 4 hours, secretly hoping for 3.45, ended up on 3.51. A shout out to the supporters. Richard Taylor was out on the hill, supporting and taking plenty of pics – thanks for the boost. Shaun Livesey also out, cheering on the field.”
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And in other parts of the country – day and night – Sam Hodkinson entered the Run In The Dark 10k along with five hundred and thirty nine runners finishing 10th in 37.20 and 1st Junior. Sam’s dad Andrew also ran placing 155th in 48.36. Tom Betty and mum Anne ran together in a time of 62.43…………
………..followed by Ian Barnett who lives in Chichester but still flies the flag for the Harriers on the South Coast. The organisers had requested red poppy coloured tops as it was Armistice Day so no Club vests in the Run in which Ian placed 7th overall. As Ian told the Club “Lots of rain here this past week so the course was muddy and slippy. Fortunately, I managed to stay upright – unlike several other runners – but times were well down on usual due to the underfoot conditions. I managed a respectable 21:26 for 7th place overall”.
