Alex Rowe Ran the Preston Parkrun in Wet and Windy Conditions but It Was No As Bad As It

It is no news that the last week saw extreme weather conditions and this played havoc with athletics fixtures in the North West cancelled amid fears of falling debris from trees and structures. This saw the closure of many country parks and the cancellation of several parkruns including just the second running of the new Lytham Hall run and Fell Foot near NewbyBridge at the southern end of Windermere. Most impact to Wesham members was the cancellation of the popular Guys 10 race organised by Garstang Runners from Bilsborrow; this was due to the car park at Guys Court being flooded.

The Northern Masters were able to stage their annual Christmas Predictor Race at LeighSportsVillage in what turned out to be fairly acceptable conditions, although the course around Pennington Flash was very wet. The race was conceived by Dave Waywell several years ago to replace an earlier Handicap race and involves runners estimating and declaring their time for the distance and then running without a watch to that time. The results are then ranked by the variance between predicted and actual time, so runners do not necessarily have to race to their ultimate performance. Kath Hoyer set off with intent in the 10k race taking up second place and after the two laps on the Flash came in second in the ranking with just a 10 second difference running 46:45 for the 10k. Overall fastest for the 10k distance, Rob Jackson of Horwich Harriers had intended to blast round the course faster than last year but ended up two minutes slower and consequently 1:35 outside his prediction in 38:05. Dave Waywell had predicted 27:00 for the 5k run and he came in ranked 8th with 28:47. Highest placed for the 5k run was the appropriately named Marjorie Leigh of Leigh Harriers with just 2 seconds difference in 25:32. The Northern Masters are an Area Club of the British Masters and provide regional competitions for Over-35s in the North West counties and Yorkshire and Lincolnshire. The British Masters stage national competitions in all disciplines events on road, track, field, cross country and trails and team management for British teams in European and World Masters championships.

Wesham members therefore had to opt for a training week and the monthly club handicap on Monday evening. The winter handicap takes in a double 2-mile loop around Kirkham on an undulating course but all illuminated by street lights. Originally the brainchild of Gary Pendlebury the handicap is run by founder members and unsung heroes of Wesham Marian and Keith Rhead two key officials at the club. The third run of the 2015/16 season saw 22 runners with David Taylor the fastest starting with a 14 minute handicap and running 23:40. Steve Myerscough was 2nd fastest in 24:55 and Paul Hetherington third in 25:22 for the 4 miles. Carmel Sullivan was the fastest woman in 27:37, with Tracey Hulme second in 30:10 and Michaela Dempsey third in 32:31. The club runs a summer handicap from April to September over a 5 mile country loop, no less undulating though that the winter equivalent, a good challenge. There are six runs in each handicap.

Alex Rowe ran the Preston parkrun in wet and windy conditions but it was no as bad as it was later on after he got home. He ran 19:41 for an M55 80.10% age graded performance. David Taylor had an excellent run at the HeatonPark parkrun in Manchester running the fastest time on this there day with 18:31 for 69.76% graded performance. Steven Gore ran 20:28 for 64.09% in the same race.