Sun 20 Oct 2019, Lytham Despite a busy race calendar last weekend, Preston Harriers sent a large contingent to the Green Drive 5 which included the Lancashire 5 Mile Championships and ran away with first place! A cool, clear, bright day gave perfect racing conditions and an excellent turnout gave a fantastic atmosphere in this popular, well supported race hosted by the efficient and popular Lytham Road Runners. A plethora of excellent runners lined up to contest the Lancashire title but at the end of a hard fought contest, Preston’s Andy Benson romped away as men’s champion in a massive personal best time of 24:36.
In an age where the temptation is to move from 5k to 10k races, there are few top class 5 mile races around which is a shame as this makes an excellent staging post for moving between the distances and Lytham’s Green Drive 5 is one of the best, incorporating not just a course which is mainly flat but taking in stunning rural views along the way. For our Preston team, the short drive to Lytham was well worth the effort and we were rewarded by a fabulous race with the top 3 finishing in under 25 minutes.
Niall Malone (27:27) finished second for Preston and Alex Venables completed the team with a personal best of 29:20. Other Harriers to run were Steve Hallas (31:01) and Steve Boardman (39:18) who made his return to running. For the women, first Harrier home was Olga Wiggins (44:08), followed by Lancashire V65 champion Maureen Kirkby (45:28) and Alex Proffitt (53:15). Other Harriers to run were Helen Boyer (59:59) and Adela Nuttall, also making a return from a long injury with 1:00:08