The main event this week was the third round of the Mid Lancs Cross Country League in Townley Park in Burnley and Wesham had a good team with some good results. In the Ladies 5.8km race of one small, one medium and one large lap Sue Coulthurst lead the way with a strong run to come in 2nd W55 and 34th overall in 23:32. Underfoot it was firm with no rain for several weeks and although it was overcast and cold, conditions were good for running. Carmel Sullivan had a good run to finish 3rd W55 and 53rd with 24:52. Lisa Minns picked up ground all the way and she came in 6th W60 and 84th in 27:47. Alona Versinina was 12th W35 with 29:10 for 96th place with Clare Belfield right behind in 97th for 14th W40 and a time of 29:16. The team were 14th overall, 7th W35, 4th W45 and 1st W55 with a great team performance. Adam Wilding headed the Wesham men in the Senior Men’s 9.8km 3-lap course after an early battle with Tom Bamber, with the pair finishing 11th and 12th in 31:56 and 32:02, Tom coming in 3rd M40. Tom Crabtree ran well for 26th place with a time of 33:35 with Mark Belfield 64th with 36:24 for 9th M40. Chris Hastwell finished 75th in 37:46, 10th M40 with Will Parkinson 80th in 38:25. Carl Groome was 7th M55 with a good run for 39:58 and 98th overall, followed in by Nigel Shepherd delighted with 2nd M65 in 136th position with his time of 43:06, two minutes faster for the same course than last year. Mick Edge battled his way to 22nd M60 and 148th overall with a solid 45:20 and James Danson 168th in 53:46 for 20th M55. The Men’s team placed an excellent 4th overall with the M40s 4th and the M50s 13th. Overall the Wesham Ladies are 4th qualified for the season, the W35 team are 10th, but the W45s and W55s have not yet qualified teams for the season. The Senior Men are 2nd in Division 2, so with a good result at the season closer in Skelmersdale on 1st March they could be promoted to Division 1. The “B” team need to turn out at Skelmersdale to qualify. The M40 team are 3rd in Division 1, the M50s are 6th, and the M60s will not qualify.
Natalie Mulrooney had a fantastic run at the Aintree 5km on Sunday coming in first woman in 21:57, a great result over a single lap two loop circuit of the racecourse grounds. She has 21:51 for her chip time coming in 22nd out of the 266 runners. Stuart Mulrooney ran the half marathon, finishing 74th and 14th M40 in 1:34:32 over 4 laps of the circuit.
There was a good contingent at this month’s Power of 5km at Salt Ayre in Morecambe with two heats totalling 105 runners with
Anne Berry ran the Silverdale Circuit over its 19-mile undulating route from Milnthorpe Cricket Ground through Dalham Deer Park and Leighton Hall, across the Moss and up and over Arnside Knott and the Fairy Steps at Beetham to finish 13th woman in 4:02:10 and 75th overall. Andrew Wilkinson ran 4:19:18 for 87th place. Jo McCaffery was 36th female and 114th overall in 5:02:10. Jen Salt ran the Muddy Shoes 11-mile cross country run from Calder Vale Village Hall which she completed in 2:27:28 across largely sodden fields to finish 2nd woman and 1st W50.
There were 1015 runners in the popular Southport Mad Dog 10k won in 31:52 but there were only teams from Blackpool and Thornton competing in this popular race.
There were 30 Wesham members at 12 parkrun venues on Saturday morning at 9am for their weekly 5km timed runs. The largest contingent was in Blackpool’s Stanley Park as a memorial for 93-year old Mike Walsh whose funeral was the day before, and this was the start of a heartfelt ambition to take him to 200 runs, having passed away with 197 on his record. Carl Groome placed 9th with a time of 20:14 with Tom Nicholson at 26:47. Andy Moore clocked 27:45, Alona Versinina 29:28, Peter Cooke 31:00, Dave Young 31:08, Martin Allison 31:27, Michelle Pitt 39:44, Sue Rigby 39:45 and Alex Rowe 51:09. There are two other planned runs for Mike, at his two other favoured venues, Fleetwood Promenade and Lytham Hall. Tracey Hulme ran her local parkrun in Manchester’s Platt Fields in 24:53 while Martin Bates was in Worsley Woods again to run 33:01. In Chester-Le-Street Emma Brook was at home on the Riverside run for 28:01 while in Surrey at the Cranleigh parkrun Brian and Janine Weatherington ran 29:40 and 40:16 respectively. David Taylor ran the 2nd fastest time at Wilmslow parkrun in 18:19 and Vicky Gore was 10th female in 25:26. Mike and Helen Eyre ran the Leicester Victoria run this week in 22:55 and 30:15. Despite the good turnout in Blackpool there was still six members at the Lytham Hall run where Ian Nichols Hogg ran 21:29 (12th), Andrew Taylor clocked 22:48, Jonathan Lawson 22:57, Mark Holton ran 25:26, Carly Edgar 28:40 and Alan Edgar 28:45. On Fleetwood Promenade Des Cleary returned 24:15 and Alan Hudson 26:37. John Naylor ran the Cliffe Castle parkrun in Keightley in 26:01 and Ryan Azzopardi was in the Kew Woods in Southport to record parkrun 25:31. Dan Bolton was in Dusseldorf in Germany for the Volksgarten parkrun where he finished with the fastest time of 17:19.