Bowling along the lanes of the Turkey Trot in Hurst Green
The Hurst Green Turkey Trot attracted a good field of 265 runners most of them decked out in festive garb as santas, elves and jesters. On a multi-terrain course of 6 miles conditions were much better than last year when the area was awash with flood water. The weather was favourable this year as the early mists cleared There as a quartet of Wesham runners lead buy Steven Gore and David Taylor running together in woodentops costumes finished 50th and 51st in 39:24 and 39:25. Vicky Gore finished 26th woman and 6th W40 as an alpine maiden in 50:48 in 121st place overall. Kath Hoyer was very fetchingly attired in seasonal frock and running with super heroes of Red Rose Runners came in 103rd woman in 1:11:14, 245th overall.
The Helvellyn 10k around Thirlmere in the Lake District was a small but tasty event with just 62 runners but a winning time of 31:13 for Salford harrier Marc Brown. Steven Hebblethwaite and Carl bell of Keswick AC were 2nd and 3rd in 31:35 and 32:21. The women’s race was not as hot with Sharon Taylor of Helm Hill clocking 37:28, nearly two minutes ahead of 2nd place.
Chris Moss took to the Lancaster Christmas Cracker 10k finishing 11th and 1st M50 in 46:53. Alan Taylor ran a season’s best of 47:42 to finish 12th. Carmel Sullivan ran the course twice to come in 34th with 72:04. The race winner was Catherine Howard (no relation to Henry the 8th) in 37:06 with Richard Jones of Garstang first male in 2nd place (37:15).
As 2016 draws to a close Wesham members reflect on a good year for the club culminating in a hugely successful Wesham 10 in Lea Town, selling out at 500 entrants for the first time in several year as new Race Director Steven Gore reset the standard using all the technology of social media to set the event afire. The club again successfully co-hosted the three Badger Run summer evening 10k races in Cuerden Valley. Rob Danson was the star of the club setting new personal best times of 15:07 for 5km, 25:49 for 5 miles; 31:12 for 10k and 52:34 for 10 miles as he concentrated on performing well over the shorter endurance distances and stepped back from the marathon. David Taylor made big strides also in 2016 as he went to 17:15 for 5km and 36:10 for 10km, also setting 60:19 for 10 miles. The club had various outings including another team weekend in Ambleside with the Grasmere Gallop and the 24-hour challenge of the Cotswolds Relay at Cirencester with an 8-member mixed team al completing 4 circuits of 9km in the mid-day to mid-day event. Many new members joined during the year and the Wednesday evening training sessions introduced in 2015 flourished with beginners groups and sessions for the more experienced as more members are taking up officials training.
In the Lytham Hall parkrun Simon Denye ran 19:53 pacing his son George recording an M40 age graded performance of 70.24%. Ryan Azzopardi ran 21:32 for M35 61.61%, with Troy Watson returning to action with 21:33 for M45 67.90%. Martin Bates ran 22:31 for M60 71.21% and Phil Leaver 25:02 for M60 65.78%. Carl Groome clocked 25:28 for M45 56.00%; George Helme 25:29 with JM10 61.94%; Dave Young M65 66.29% with a time of 26:18; Finlay McCalman 27:09 for M50 55.19%; Anne Berry 29:43 for W55 60.12%; Katie Helme 29:58 with W45 53.06%; Kerry Eccles 29:57 for W50 58.88%; Debbie Bell 30:10 with W40 51.77%. In the Preston parkrun James Mulvaney returned to home climes to run the third fastest time of the morning with 17:32 for M35 76.71%. Regular Steve Myercough had 19:45 for M40 70.72%, while Catherine Carrdus ran the fastest women’s time of the day with 20:10 for W45 78.76%. Nigel Shepherd scored his elusive personal best with 20:28 for M55 77.04%. John Bertenshaw ran well for 20:58 and an M60 76.47%. Robert Brown scored 25:26 with M55 62.52%; Jon McLeod 25:54 with M45 55.60%; George Flanagan 35:01 and M65 48.79%. Graham Cunliffe ran the Burnley parkrun in 27:13 for M60 58:91 another big improvement on the previous week. The Wesham parkrun tourists went to the Haigh Woodland run to warm up for the Turkey Trot where David Taylor ran the fastest time of the morning with 18:47 for 68.86%. Steven Gore clocked 19:32 for M35 67.49%. Megan Gore ran a JW10 47.24% with a time of 37:09 accompanied by Vicky Gore also with 37:09.