Dave Neilands reports . . . .

Plenty of variety in the distance sense for Garstang Running Club members recently. At the shorter end Chris Hopkins finished 27th out of 73 finishers at the Catforth Canter 5k in 21.46 minutes. Doubling that distance the Stanley Park 10k at Blackpool saw Greg Hunter finish 52nd in 42.17 with Malcolm Vinnicombe chasing son in law hard in 93rd place in 45.57. The last of the 302 finishers completed the flat course in 1.18.12. At the Rushcliffe 10k in Nottinghamshire there were 597 finishers with “distant” member Alex Brown finishing 170th in 48.14.
It was flat again for the St Annes 10 miler with Gary Heyworth finishing 128th of the 346 finishers in 1.12.52
The Dentdale 14.3 miles is always a slog but wind, rain and flooded roads added to this years enjoyment with Richard Jones finishing 69th in 1.42.11, Martyn Knowles 100th in 1.46.09 and Julie Graham 301 st in 2.09.36. But for something completely different family Roberts – Phil and Betty packed their passports and ventured over to Halifax to run the infernally long Walk to ‘Ell and Back a 30 mile monster over the Pennine Moors with 5,000 feet of ascent which Phil completed in 5 hours 20 minutes. Betty however, being no mug, sensibly decided against going all the way with her husband and ran the 15 mile Halfway to ‘Ell and Back in a time of 3 hours 40 minutes. As if once was not enough the following week Phil took his “dark and brooding presence” (I really had no idea Heathcliff was bald) to the 33 mile Wuthering Hike Fell race from Haworth the home of the Bronte brothers. Phil completed this very popular (?) Moorland ultra marathon with 400 fellow “enthusiasts” in a leisurely time (?) of 5 hours 42 minutes whilst Betty, showing yet again she is no mug, and judging the severity of the terrain better, decided not to play Kathy to Phil’s Heathcliff  - wise girl.

16/03/08

 

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