Photographs from last week-end’s Lancashire Track and Field championships posted on the Lancs AA web-site

At the Brathay Windermere Marathon on Sunday 17th May, Tunde Buraimo finished in 3.54.30, Helen Boyer clocked 4.52.18 and Sue Wickham was not far behind her with a time of 5.05.22. William Johnstone took part in another tough event, the Snowdonia Slateman Triathlon and finished in 3.05.06.

88 teams took part last Sunday in the 31st running of the Calderdale Way Relay organised by Halifax Harriers. The event is run in pairs, over six legs, and covers a shade over 50 miles through some lovely scenery. The event starts and finishes at West Vale and is eagerly anticipated each year. Despite there being so many teams competing, it is vital that runners know their routes and individuals will usually reconnoitre the route in advance.
Preston Harriers entered two teams and Cat Slater and John Bradley led off for the A team covering their ten miles uphill and down in 1:33.04. David Rigby and Jon Green had a fantastic run on leg 2 to Todmorden which resulted in the 2nd fastest leg time of the day of 61.34 for their 8 ½ miles. They gained 22 places. Nichola Jackson and Neil McDonald were also speedy on the short leg 3 of 4.8 miles to a windy Blackshaw Head, posting the ninth fastest time. Tony Livesey and Andrew Newton on leg 4 maintained the team position to Wainstalls and Kevin Hesketh & Chris Tully ran a confident leg 5 to hand over to John Rainford and Sam Swindells for the last leg from Shelf. The team finished in a very good 14th place.

Six Preston Harriers travelled to Birmingham to compete against the best in the country at the British National Masters Championships, run over the tough three mile Sutton Park course, including the renowned 'cardiac hill'. Gary Pennington started proceedings, running 15:41 for the first leg to leave the team handily placed in the top ten. Consistent performances from Jason Parker (16:21), Jon Green (16:20) and Andrew Newton (16:13) left the team in 5th place with two legs to go. At this stage the medal positions were comfortably occupied by Thames Hare & Hounds, Salford Harriers and Ron Hill Cambuslang. However the twin pronged attack of Gethin Butler (15:32) and Rob Affleck (15:23) had other ideas with the Harriers team taking third place and bronze in a thrilling finish, just pipped by the best that London and Scotland have to offer, a Proud Preston performance!

Thank you to everyone who ran and huge thanks to John Griffiths for organising the teams.
Results

The Blacksticks Blue 10K starts and ends in the Bowland village of Whitechapel and proved to be a real ripper of a race around the hard ascents of Beacon Fell. Preston Harrier Robert Affleck took the battle to the lead protagonists over the first mile and utilised his marathon strength as the race route climbed through the tree covered hillside to attain an unassailable lead resulting in a fine victory with 34.24. Neil Mc Donald made a tentative start but relished the tough undulations and was able to work himself into a creditable 6th overall, 1stMV45 with 38.33. Preston Harriers continued to stream through the line to collect their prized cheese whilst being cheered by a healthy crowd with Jake Meap in 12th place (40.08), Peter Cowling (42.16), Phil Lakeland (52.55), Kate Lakeland (56.32) and stalwart David Roberts who stormed through in 56.54 to complete the proud Harrier Team.

The second of the six English Championship fell races took place on the Shropshire Hills on the 9th May. The small town of Church Stretton was the venue and the race was hosted by Mercia Fell Runners. The race covering 6.3 miles and 3,250 feet of ascent was a very hard one, as it was run across the grain of the land between deep and steep sided valleys. The ascents were steep, almost brutal in their severity and the descents will have seen many tired legs a few days after!
Conditions and visibility were good, although with a fresh to strong wind across the tops. Nichola Jackson was the only Preston Harrier running but had an excellent race to finish 10th lady and first under 23 in 75.42. Five runners came home in under the hour, which was a magnificent effort considering the course was so tough and the expected best time was 63.00. The winner was Tom Addison of Helm Hill Runners and the first lady was Annie Conway of Ambleside AC in 66.55.

There are loads of photographs from the Lancashire Combined Events meeting that feature quite a few Preston athletes on the Lancs AA website

With a limited number of athletes available, Harriers travelled to Hull on Sunday to take part in the first match of the Senior League season.
Thomas Crowe got the competition underway with the men's hammer, quickly followed by the Lupton sisters Hannah and Amy in the women's long jump. Great performances were abandoned before the competition got underway due to the cold, windy and very wet conditions, leading to a track which would give nothing back to the athletes in performance. Hannah and Amy battled the elements and Amy was awarded the win as the B string athlete with a jump of 5m13, but Hannah had to settle for second on count back with 5m38 as the A string.