Ribble Valley 10K, Clitheroe, Sun 30 Dec 2018 Thirty Harriers lined up at the big Ribble Valley 10k on Sunday December 30th, a race that not only doubles as the North of England championship race but is also known for attracting a stellar line up and this year was no different with international and Olympic athletics in attendance. Preston were led home by Patrick Dever who followed up his fantastic performance at the European Cross Country Championships to not only place third in the race, but also set a new Preston Harriers road 10k record by finishing in a time of 29:24. Patrick will once again compete for team GB at the Stirling Cross Country on January 12th, an event which will be shown live on the BBC.
Preston’s next five runners all ran superbly to finish in under 35 minutes, with Nathan Dunn breaking the 30-minute barrier to finish in 29:50 and take eighth place in the race. U17 runner Ben Preddy was next in, in a time of 31:44 which moved him to the top of the UK rankings for his age category. Then came junior athletes Jack Dee-Ingham (32:54), and Byron Sowerby (33:15) followed in by fell runner Oliver Heaton in 34:13. Not to be outdone by the club’s talented youngsters, Colin Shuttleworth won the men’s vet 60 category in a time of 39:55 and Alan Appleby won the vet 70 category in a time of 45:21.
Other Harriers who competed were as follows; Simon Collins (36:28), Andy Whaley (36:34), Alex Venables (36:53), Stephen Young (37:55), Chris Wales (38:04), Dave Watson (38:32), Marc Teasey (38:47), Steve Hallas (39:06), Dougie Potter (39:13), Alan Metcalf (40:27), Kevin Hesketh (41:20), Richard Smith (41:07), Steve Townhill (42:06), Ashraf Kazee (43:26), Vicki Sherrington (50:02), Kenneth Gawne (50:55), Jade Beddington (51:02), Julie Tyrer (54:15), Niall Malone (55:17), Sue Wickham (58:37), Alex Proffitt (01:06:31) and Helen Boyer (01:07:02).