Thanks for the memories and here’s to many more!
1981. Coincidentally when George Harrison released All Those Years Ago and the year the London Marathon started.
More locally, Preston Harriers took the decision to organise a 10 Mile race to raise funds so they could continue to train world class athletes. The course has changed (an open road race across Blackpool Road outside Deepdale Stadium anyone? What do you mean, no?), some of the volunteers have changed (some actually haven’t and are still organising the race!), the runners have definitely changed but each year with the exception of Covid, hundreds of runners take to the streets to compete in what is now the Porsche Centre Preston 10 Mile Road Race.
This year, as befits their 40th race, the sun beamed down as Preston Harriers once more hosted a real celebration of everything that is great about the sport of running, not only hosting 3 championships once more (the Northern Athletics Championships, the Lancashire County Championships and the National Fire Service Championships) but hosting a wide variety of runners of all abilities. One runner made the journey from Ireland having previously last raced the Preston 10 back in 1986, another came from Greece to race the event for the first time and a host of Scots made their way down.
Overall, the race winners were Adam Craig all the way from Inverclyde AC with a time of 50:08 on his first ever 10 Mile race with John Lenehan (Edinburgh AC) and Ben McIntosh (Vale Royal AC) taking 2nd and 3rd respectively, and for the Ladies, Vicky Wright of the Northern Masters with a personal best time of 60:11 was followed by Jamie Robinson (Preston Harriers) and Fay Hughes (UTS). The first team home for the Men was Rossendale Harriers with a team comprising Jonathan Cleaver, Chris Clare and Andrew Grenfell and for the Ladies the team prize went to Blackburn Road Runners, with a team comprising Shirin Ibrahim, Trudi Jenkinson and Jane Matthewman. Northern Athletics champions were Ben McIntosh of Vale Royal AC and Jamie Robinson of Preston Harriers, who also took the Lancashire Ladies championship, and Lancashire Men’s champion was Marco Parolin of Blackpool, Wyre and Fylde. The Fire service champion was Ewan Calder of Scottish Fire and Rescue.
The Preston 10 is widely recognised as one of the friendliest events on the race calendar, with a great welcome given to all and was again widely praised this year by the competitors, with winner Adam Craig saying he would be doing the race again and it will be on the calendar for next year, winner Vicky Wright saying she would definitely do the race again and First Fireman Ewan Calder saying “I’ll definitely come back and would recommend it to anyone doing..[a 10 mile race]…, the organisation for the event was really good.” Competitor Mick Hughes commented “Brilliant organisation. Great job, thanks for a great race!” and John Lenehan saying “Great event, thanks Preston Harriers. Really well organised and marshalled. We even got pretty good weather.” Of course Preston Harriers had good weather, it was booked 12 months before! With a response like this, it is not surprising that many have already marked their diaries for the 19th November 2023 for the next race.
On behalf of the organising team, Race Director Alex Proffitt would like to thank the runners, sponsors and volunteers that made this all possible and contributed to the amazing atmosphere with particular thanks to Philippa Walsh, Ian Dandy, Maureen Kirkby, Julie Tyrer, Steve Hallas, Jonny Slater and the indomitable Joe Howard, without whom none of this would be possible.