Here is the latest report to feature in the Lancashire Evening Post. Thanks to Phil Lakeland and Marian Hesketh for putting it together.
Harrock Hill race and 20 Barriers Race
Phil Lakeland resumed his scenic travels with two races inside a week. Firstly, on 28th June at Parbold he teamed up with Peter McDermott for their regular battle over the fields and tracks of the Harrock Hill Race. McDermott just edged it in 215th position with a
time of 72.20, with Lakeland one place and 54 seconds behind.
On 4th July the focus switched to Carnforth for the annual 20 Barrier Race over 5 miles with 500 feet of climb. He was joined by Ben Higginson and Olga Wiggins. Ben completed in 78th position with a time of 55.56, with Olga in 91st , 60.31 and Phil 96th and 65.54
Wilmslow 10km road race, Sunday 9 th July 2023
Running conditions were ideal for this popular and well-organised race, which had 2,520 finishers.
An early start and plenty of cloud cover kept the temperature down and there was virtually no wind to bother the runners on the single lap, closed road route around scenic Cheshire lanes.
The overall winners of the race were in a class apart. Olympian Jonny Mellor took the overall victory in 28 minutes 49 seconds, nearly 2 minutes ahead of the second placed runner, and the women’s race was won by Gemma Steel, whose time of 33:11 was good enough for 27th overall in the race and was more than 2 minutes faster than the next woman.
This race was nominated for Preston Harriers’ road race championships and several Harriers made the trip to Cheshire. First to finish was Sam Evans, who was 22nd in a time of 32:53, just outside his previous best. Wes Wilkinson was hot on his heels in 24th and his time of 32:58 was a new PB, 26 seconds faster than the 33:24 which he ran at Salford in April. Luke Suffolk was another to record a PB; he finished 42nd overall and first U20 in 34:03, removing 20 seconds from the time which he also set at Wilmslow in March.
Other Harriers' men to complete the race and vie for points in the club championship were Steve Hallas (38:13), Dougie Potter (40:38), Kevin Hesketh (43:46) and Alan Metcalf (45:04). In her first 10km race, Charlotte Gregory finished in 40:30 and Marian Hesketh was 3rd FV65 in 52:23.
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