Muddy hell on a wet and wild weekend

Hats off to anyone who ran this weekend. Whether that was doing the front crawl at Ormskirk Park run swim event, Skelm’s attempt to recreate American Werewolf in London at the L&D cross country at the Beacon or those making in up the mid lancs team at Lancaster. Literally hats off to those there because the wind was so bad that we were unable to put the LPS gazebo up.  A huge thanks to our neighbours, Kirkby Milers, who were able to pitch theirs and allowed us to use it.

On to the races themselves, we had a clutch of hardy runners at Lancaster Mid Lancs. Four of our younger athletes ensured that they maintained their “Ever Present” status, impressively navigating the mud bath. Matthew Bennett continues his progress with a 13^th place finish in U13 boys whilst Dan Procter completed his 4k event in 14:27 to finish 11^th in U15 boys. Sarah Yates had a very impressive run in the U17 ladies event with a 4^th place finish.

In the senior ladies event, co captain Rachel Yates led the way with a 19^th place finish (2^nd V45) with Lisa Procter and Sharon Roberts following to place the team just ahead of half way in 15^th position overall but 6^th in V35 category.

In the senior men event there was a hefty 218 entries with our team finishing 10^th in V40 and 8^th in V50 categories. Well done to Phil MacDonald, Mike Procter, Mark Hudson and Neil Roberts all of whom deserve huge credit in completing the gruelling 9.8k course of mud. Full results are here ml23 (race-results.co.uk)

Over at Beacon Park Skelmersdale, in what were probably the worst conditions I have seen, Thomas Harkin and Andrew Conway battled their way through gale force wind, rain, mud, hills and brambles in the Liverpool & District league event. A special mention to Chris Pedder, who whilst injured, was still there to support Tom and Andrew despite the conditions. Apologies for the lack of photographs but my hands were stuck very firmly in my pocket!

Our ladies team joint cross country captain Debbie Crook represented the club at the Northern Masters 5k Road Race Championships at the Brownlee Centre, Leeds.

Deb performed brilliantly and finished 1^st lady, she has provided her summary of the event:

“The facilities at the centre were first class. The 1.6km Bodington cycle circuit is one of the longest in the country, and has the added ‘bonus’ of a 12m rise each lap .. which is quite rare on these bike circuits. It even boasts that it has its own ‘track cat’ too.

 Thankfully the rain held off until after the race had finished, unlike the poor souls at the Telford 10k, I hear. That being said, Noah was mentioned today at the presentation as the first 6 runners were all two-by-two, with myself finishing in 6^th place overall and 1^st Lady in a time of 19.00 mins.

 For anyone who is interested in doing some Masters racing in the future NMAC are hoping to put a full calendar of events on next year from Track & Field & Road Racing to Cross Country. I can recommend these events to all Masters as there are great competitors as well as great organisation and camaraderie too.   https://northernmasters.co.uk/”

Thanks Debbie and well done on a super performance.

On Sunday we had 3 athletes competing the in Telford 10k, which combined with the English championships. In conditions that resembled more cross country than a road race Se Loughlin, Chris Melling and Kirsty Longley all turned out to run in an exceptionally strong field.  The senior mens’ race included names such as Marc Scott, Charles & George Wheeler, Dewi Griffiths, Alexander LePetre and Jack Gray all of whom finished in the top ten.  The quality of competition certainly increased the tension in the Loughlin household pre-race!

On the day all 3 athletes had strong performances, Kirsty (representing the North of England) fought her way through after being pushed into a bush at the start to finish 1^st V45 in 37:14. Chris Melling consolidating recent performances with a time of 35:36 and Se Loughlin breaking his own U20 club 10k record to set a PB of 30:59 and finishing 5^th U20 on the day.  There’s a short video of the midway point on our you tube channel https://youtu.be/O0eB8j9-tFg .

Overall it was a good weekend for LP&S, the dedication of the athletes to compete in those conditions is a credit to all.

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