James Mulvaney gets under way in the Red Rose Inter Club
Wednesday evening saw the conclusion of the 2016 Inter Club Grand Prix in Leyland’s WordenPark with Red Rose hosting the new 3-lap 4-mile course around the park. With Rob Danson taking a well-earned break the field was wide open, and a furious start saw guest runner Joe Monk leap into the lead chased by Preston’s Gary Pennington, who with better pacing got the better of the tiring younger man on the final lap to win by 23 seconds. Wesham’s fleet were lead by on-form James Mulvaney out o his own in 4th place with a time of 24:43. David Taylor, one of Wesham’s success stories of 2016 finished 10th with 25:41. Lee Barlow was third for the blues in 22nd place with 26:37, followed by Steve Myerscough in 31st place with 27:12. New member Andy Carey was a useful addition to the side coming in 36th in 27:36, and Wesham’s leading lady Catherine Carrdus was 3rd woman and 42nd in 27:48. John Collier as 3rd M60 and 56th in 28:49. The Wesham open team was completed by Carmel Sullivan, 5th woman and 70th in 29:42; John Bertenshaw, 6th M60 and 76th in 30:07, and Sarah Sherratt, 7th woman and 77th with 30:13. The sparse Top 30 positions saw the team finish 4th behind the improved Chorley with Red Rose revitalised in first place. The Wesham women however gloried, with Nicola Unsworth 13th and 96th overall in 31:20 and Helen Lawrenson 14th and 98th in 31:44 to take their fourth win of the season and clinch the overall win by 4 points from Blackpool. Similarly Carrdus, Sullivan, Sherratt, Unsworth and Lawrenson took the W40 team win, again four wins taking the overall title for 2016. The Men Veterans Barlow, Myercough, Carrdus, Collier, Sullivan and Bertenshaw were 4th on the night and 3rd for the series, with the M50s sharing the same fate with Collier, Sullivan, Bertenshaw and Alan Hudson 8th M60 and 87th in 30:43 4th team but 2nd overall for the season. The M60s of Collier, Bertenshaw and Hudson were 2nd in WordenPark and 2nd overall. The club had 41 runners out of the 557 runners.
The North West Men’s 4-Stage and Women’s 3-Stage Road Relays were hosted by Cheshire this year in the DelamereForest, and Wesham fielded four teams. The course was 6.4km around the Blakemere Moss; the Wesham women finished 10thLancashire team out of 14 teams (8 clubs) in 1:42:04 with Helen Lawrenson 8th in 31:23; Tanya Barlow 12th in 37:33; and Gemma Owen 11th in 33:08. The team were 54th in the combined race with the other three Counties. Salford harriers were the winning Lancashire team. In the Men’s 4 x 6.4km the Wesham ‘A’ team were 9th
Lancashire finishers in 1:47:29 with Simon Denye 11th in 25:37; Lee Barlow holding position in 26:48; Ugis Datvas also 11th in 26:23 and Troy Watson moving up to 9th with 28:41, the team 37th overall. The ‘B’ team were 12th in 2:03:31 with Steven Gore 14th in 28:05; Steve Myerscough 12th with 27:34; Paul Carter 14th in 38:50 and John Collier up to 12th in 29:02. The ‘C team comprised Ben Wrigley 17th in 33:20; Dave Young holding place with 34:48; Alan Taylor 16th in 34:56 and Garry Barnett 14th with 28:07, finishing 14th (73rd overall) in 2:11:11. The winning men’s team was Preston Harriers.
David Taylor ran the great North Run on Sunday, famously won for the third time by Mo Farrer, a new event record. David finished 248th in 1:22:31. Ben Wrigley was 7119th in 1:59:57.
Simon Eaton ran the tough Great Langdale Half Marathon on finishing 16thin 1:37:42, 7th M40 in a race dominated by masters.
Elizabeth Jones ran 23:42 for an age graded performance of 62.45%. Sharon Cooper clocked 25:52 for W40 60.37%; Kim McGuire 28:14 for W55 65.88%; Debbie Bell 31:01 for W40 50.35%; Caz Wadsworth 31:53 with W50 53.21%, and Clive Berry 31:56 for M50 46.19%. Steve Myerscough ran his 109th parkrun in 19:37, M40 70.60%, while Robert Brown ran M55 64.46% with 24:40. Paul Carter recorded 28:34 for M45 50.00%; and George Flanagan 34.24 for M65 49.66%. David Taylor had a warm up for the Great North Run at the WhitleyBay parkrun with 22:42 for 56.90%, Steven and Megan Gore ran Ellesmere Port on the way to the North West Road Relays in 32:27.