There were several races on last week as September is a busy month for athletics and road running in particular. The cross country season beckons with the first Mid Lancs fixture in Witton Park in Blackburn on 12th October. There was a good 10k to be had on Sunday in Sutton Guilden just east of Chester where John Bertenshaw clocked 48:22 in his bid for a good-for-age place in next year’s London Marathon, and Catherine Carduus former Wesham member ran 45:07 for 1st W50 and 8th female. There were no Wesham members in the local Fairhaven Flyer 10k although there were 243 runners. There were 860 runners in the popular and spectacular Lake Vyrnwy Half Marathon but not the number of Fylde and West Lancashire runners that used to frequent this excellent race.
Dan Shaw finished 32nd overall in 1:25:40 the Dumfries Half Marathon, a testing out-and-back course with a hilly 5-mile turnaround loop with stunning views over the Firth and the incoming River Nith. The field of runners was swelled with the British Masters Championships, with the top M35, M40, M45, M50 and M60 all coming in the Top 10 within 1:17:30. It started out damp but turned into a glorious sunny day by midday.
Stuart Mulrooney ran the 3-1-5 National Fitness 5k on Saturday in Lancaster clocking 20:15 to finish 5th overall and 2nd M40. The winning time was 17:01.
There were 14 runners in the annual Wesham Handicap Trophy Race, where the entry criteria is to have run two of the Winter course and two of the Summer events. Bev Wilding was the overall winner with a time of 40:40 with Ian Nichols Hogg just six seconds behind with 40:46 for second place. Jonathan Tan placed third in 41:28 with Adam Wilding left with too much to do in fourth place in 42:03. Steve Myerscough was 5th in 42:56 with Brad Flatt 5th with 43:10. Elliott Costello came in 7th in 43:19, Dan Eyre 8th with 43:26, Lee Barlow 9th in 43:42, and Nigel Shepherd 10th with 44:04. Roy Glendinning placed 11th 44:34; Mick Edge 12th with 44:45; David Taylor 13th in 44:52; and Andy Moore 14th for 46:00.
There were 25 Wesham members out running a 5km parkrun on Saturday morning at 9am, with Tracey Hulme at the South Manchester run in Platt Fields to record a time of 24:52 for a W60 age graded performance of 78.02%. In the Preston parkrun in Avenham Park Nigel Shepherd clocked 21:12 for an M65 graded 79.87% and Vicky Gore came in with 25:03 for W45 65.34%. Lee Barlow was in Chances Park at Behing Morton Manor in Carlisle to run 21:24 for the 8th fastest time of the day and an M50 grade of 70.02%. At home in Chester-Le-Street Emma Brook ran her local parkrun at Riverside and returned 27:24 for W40 56.14%. Mike and Helen Eyre ran the Stretford parkrun in Longford Park and clocked 23:49 and 30:43 for M60 68.51% and W60 62.29%. There were 8 Wesham members at the Blackpool parkrun in Stanley Park where David Taylor ran the 5th fastest time of the day with 18:23 for M35 72.62%. Dan Eyre recorded 24:55 for M45 57.32%; Andy Moore came in with 28:30 for M60 57.25; Peter Rooney ran 29:10 for M65 57.49; Jo McCaffery clocked 29:24 for W45 54.54% with Peter Cooke on 31:51 for an M65 graded 52.64%. Julie Rooney ran 35:44 for W50 46.92%; and Alona Versinina returned 56:41 with a W35 26.55%. Emma Wright was in Dublin for the Fairview parkrun in Clontarf and ran 30:59 for W45 51.75%. On Fleetwood Promenade James Danson ran 25:47 for M55 61.67%; David Young timed in at 30:51 for an M75 graded 62.51%, and Alex Rowe walked 39:14 for M65 43.54%. Suzanne Leonard, former Wesham member and now with Blackpool, and George Kennedy were in Northwest Italy in Lucca for the Mura di Lucca parkrun to run 22:44 for 8th place and first female for a W50 graded 77.57% with George clocking 24:43 for M65 69.12%. Steve Myerscough ran the Kew Woods parkrun in Southport to come in 6th fastest with 21:47 for an M50 graded 67.71%. Ian Nichols Hogg ran 24:21 for SM30 53.59% and Mary Lois Cortes clocked 43:12 W35 for 35.03%. John Naylor ran the Jubilee parkrun in Spennymoor for 10th fastest in 23:32 and an M40 59.77%.