Last week was the traditional January date for a half marathon race in many athletes’ preparation for a spring marathon, or just for a good long workout. Locally the Inskip Half Marathon was a sold-out affair on a long loop around the Fylde’s villages with a good Wesham contingent taking place, with many other members helping with the marshalling. Dan Bolton took over six minutes off his personal best time with 1:19:56 for 12th place, and excellent result. Daniel Shaw finished 17th in 1:22:38 with another good run. Bradley Flatt was in 43rd place with a time of 1:34:22. Helen Greenhalgh came 13th woman and 2nd W45 in 1:47:52 for 72nd place overall. Andrew Wilkinson finished 82nd in 1:52:13 for 4th M55; and John Naylor placed 87th with a time of 1:56:19 for 20th M40. Catherine Nicholls was 19th woman and 5th W50 in 1:59:58 for 93rd overall.
The popular Four Villages Half Marathon took place in Helsby in Chesire and Finlay McCalman finished 853rd in 2:00:57 with his chip time 1:59:39, placing 53rd M55 in this quality event.
Steve Abbott ran the Morecambe Festival of Running 10k to come in 4th place in 38:40 with a good run to secure 1st M45.
There were 28 Wesham members out running a parkrun on Saturday morning in inclement and wet conditions at 9am. The largest team were at the Lytham Hall event where the snowdrops are now showing though. Will Parkinson was the fastest with the 6th swiftest time of the morning with 20:41 for an M35 age graded percentage of 63.74%. Mark Holton ran 21:59 for an M45 graded 64.52% and Ian Nichols Hogg scored 22:50 for a grade of 56.93%. Bev Wilding had a W60 grade of 78.11% with her time of 25:12 accompanied by son Adam Wilding with the same time and an age graded 51.59%. Colin Smy returned 26:21 for M40 53.38% and Jo McCaffery ran 30:57 for W45 51.80%. Liz Sharrocks came in with 31:40 for W60 63.05%; Julie Rooney was on 38:40 for W45 42.84%; and Tony Sharrocks ran 44:36 and M60 36.29%. In the Blackpool run in Stanley Park Jamie Houghton showed his good promise with the second fastest time of 19:21 for 66.67%. Lee Barlow ran 21:39 for M50 69.21% and Rob Wallace clocked 23:02 for 56.15%. Across the Ribble in Hesketh Park in Southport Carl Groome clocked a good 19:46 for an M55 graded 77.74% with Vicky and Steven Gore running 24:32 and 24:33 for W45 66.71% and M40 56.42%. Elliot Costello returned 25:36 for 50.65%; Andy Moore ran 27:21 for M60 59.66%; Michelle Pitt clocked 40:22 for W40 38.69%; and Sue Rigby returned 40:25 for W50 41.48%. In Avenham and Miller Parks in Preston Steve Myerscough clocked 21:03 for M50 70.07% and Paul Carter ran 30:50 to M50 49.41%. Further afield Martin Bates was in Heaton Park in Manchester, and he scored a time of 25:45 for M65 66.34% for his fourth run here. Sharon Cooper was in the Delamere parkrun in Cheshire for 30:28 and a W50 grade of 55.03%. Andy Neville ran in Witton Park in Blackburn for 23:23 and M40 60.16% for the 8th fastest run here today. Further afield in Eastville Park in Bristol Chris Haines posted 20:04 for M35 67.52% and in Scotland at the Livingston parkrun Alona Versinina ran 26:18 for W35 57.03%. In Chester-Le-Street in the Riverside run Emma Brook recorded 28:37 for a W40 grade of 53.76%.