43^rd Freckleton Half Marathon Sunday, 17^th June 2007

Temperatures sizzled at the 43^rd Freckleton Half Marathon as Ben Fish of Blackburn scorched to an emphatic win and there was the closest race between Preston’s Anne Sweeney and Freckleton resident, Joanna Goorney to celebrate the 31^st women’s race. The race limit of 650 entrants had been reached well before race day, a testament to Race Director Brian Porter who has built the UK’s oldest half marathon race up to the 9^th most popular running event in the country. 497 runners completed the race, the most finishers for many years.

Ben Fish was away from the line with an impressive display of front running as Carl Ryde of Doncaster AC fought to keep pace. Behind a chasing group of Colin Rigby, Simon Bruton, Mat Nuttall and Blackpool local Paul Muller made their own race. Fish increased his lead despite finding the course challenging and suffering some stiffness in his hamstrings in the second half, increasing his lead to three minutes as he crossed the line victorious in 1:09:44. Behind him Ryde was in splendid isolation and finished second in 1:12:45.

In the chasing pack Colin Rigby followed his pre-race plan and opened up in the second half and closed the gap on Ryde with a superb display to finish 3^rd with 1:13:19. Bruton and Nuttall stuck together and were locked into a sprint finish separated by just two seconds in 1:14:22 and 1:14:24. Muller (M50) came in as leading veteran having dropped off the pace at 5 miles climbing up the challenging ascent into Wrea Green, recording 1:15:17. Lytham’s Nigel Thompson ran his fastest time for the course in 1:17:35 to claim 1^st M40 in 8^th place overall, and 6-times previous winner, Ken Moss gradually picked his way through the field to cross the line 9^th and 1^st M55 in 1:18:07. The Blackburn trio Fish, Nuttall and Gary Pearse (32^nd in 1:26:56) won the men’s team after Horwich relinquished when their third runner dropped out at 10 miles, and local tribe Wesham Road Runners (Les Cornwall 10^th, 1:19:36, Karl Lee 23^rd, 1:24:07 and Richard Davies 24^th, 1:24:41) placed second team.

The women’s race was a nail-biting contest between W45 Anne Sweeney of Preston Harriers and Freckleton resident W35 Joanna Goorney of local club Wesham Road Runners. Goorney has a known fast start and the two were close together at 3 miles but Goorney had the edge. She was still ahead coming out of Wrea Green at 6 miles and every time Sweeney tried to come past Goorney would put on some extra pace. However, at Saltcoates at the 9-mile mark Sweeney had edged ahead by a few metres and the gap grew to 26 seconds as the Preston woman reached the finish line first in 1:28:00, 44^th overall. Goorney finished 47^th overall and 1^st W35, and Tracey Dutton of Wigan Phoenix was 3^rd in 1:29:18, 2^nd W35. Lytham’s Emily Dennis was 4^th with 1:30:19, and Jacqueline France of Horseforth was 5^th and 2^nd W45 behind Sweeney in 1:31:54. First Over-40 woman was Carmel Sullivan of Wesham Road Runners in 7^th place with 1:31:54, and 1^st W50 was the evergreen Mary Doyle of Liverpool RC in 10^th place with a fine 1:35:43. With Michaela Dempsey 20^th in 1:42:25 the Wesham ladies won the women’s team.

The race incorporated the Lancashire AA Half Marathon Championships, and Ben Fish, Mat Nuttall and Paul Muller were the first three men, with Anne Sweeney, Joanna Goorney and Tracey Nuttall the lady champions. Blackburn Harriers, (Fish, Nuttall and Gary Pearse), were the men’s Lancashire team champions, and Wesham Road Runners,(Goorney, Sullivan and Dempsey), were the women’s team.

In the veteran categories, the leading M45 was David Barker of Preston Harriers in 1:20:34, ahead of 2^nd M40 Eddie Lee who was 17^th in 1:22:31. 2^nd M50, however, was Radcliffe’s Adrian Harris who ran 1:21:37 but was eclipsed by the 2^nd M55 Alan Pover who clocked 1:20:59 for 12^th position. Alan Appleby of Preston Harriers was the leading M60 in 1:27:49, 3 minutes clear of Derek Walton who was 61^st with 1:30:14. Roger Smith was the leading M65 in 178^th place, who ran 1:44:29 to beat course record holder Ron Hill who was 2^nd M65 in 1:53:10. Hill ran the record time in 1969 when he was 28 and the race was run in the evening. Bill Atkinson won the Over-70 category in a sprightly 1:39:45 while John Winters won the M75 from London Marathon champion Mike Walsh, the pair running 1:45:46 and 1:46:14. Susan Smith was 1^st placed W55 was in 71^st with 1:59:06, and the leading W60 was Hilary Goorney of Blackpool, Wyre & Fylde in 2:13:15.

Les Cornwall was the first Wesham man and the Freckleton local resident champion for the third year, having run and won the 1500 metre dash the previous evening. Les suffered though Wrea Green and Saltcoates but recovered and held on for an excellent 10^th place clocking 1:19:36 having succumbed to the warm and humid conditions. Joanna Goorney was the leading Freckleton lady local resident. John Burns was the 2^nd Freckleton resident, and he and Peter Bartlett were the first two Freckleton Over-40 residents. Paul Muller won the Dick Rhodes Trophy for the Fylde Borough Veteran category

Karl Lee was second in for Wesham and adrift of Les but was Wesham’s leading athlete in the accompanying Lancashire AA Championships, finishing 6^th and 23^rd overall in 1:24:07. Close behind Richard Davies put his fitness gained on the fells to good use and was delighted with a new personal best of 1:24:41 closing the Wesham men 2^nd team behind Blackburn in both the open category and the county championship. Peter Cruse was next in with 1:25:31 for 28^th and a good solid run, with John Bertenshaw picking up a Lancashire silver M50 medal with 1:26:53 for 31^st place overall. Simon Eaton was right behind with 1:27:15 for 33^rd, and Gary de Banke made a welcome return with 1:27:26 for 36^th. Peter Waywell is back on track with 1:27:31 for 37^th, finishing together with Steve Myerscough who was easing off having finished 2^nd in the Rail Sport 10km race in Stanley Park in the morning.

The women’s race was very exciting with Joanna Goorney taking the lead early on ahead of Anne Sweeney and protecting her lead every time Anne tried to get past. However, Joanna eventually paid for her fast start and had dropped back by Saltcoates giving Anne the edge and she went on to win by 26 seconds. Joanna crossed the line 47^th overall in 1:28:26, a fine run for a new personal best, 1^st W35 and the leading Freckleton woman resident. Carmel Sullivan had a great run to finish 6^th in 1:32:49 and 1^st W40. Michaela Dempsey was 20^th with 1:42:25, 4^th W40 and 1^st Lancashire W40. Like the men, the Wesham ladies were 2^nd team in both the open category and the Lancashire championship. Julie Cruse was 32^nd in 1:48:25, running in tandem with Sarah Sherratt who ran a new personal best of 1:48:25 in 33^rd.

Wesham positions

10	295	010		Leslie Cornwall	M	(007/142)	03.47/06.05	01:19:36	R
23	36	023		Karl Lee	M	(011/142)	03.59/06.25	01:24:07	LY
24	370	024		Richard Davies	M45	(002/043)	04.01/06.28	01:24:41	LY
28	526	028		Peter Cruse	M40	(007/067)	04.03/06.32	01:25:31	LY
31	390	031		John Bertenshaw	M50	(006/045)	04.07/06.38	01:26:53	LY
33	451	033		Simon Eaton	M	(013/142)	04.08/06.40	01:27:15
36	380	036		Gary De Banke	M45	(006/043)	04.09/06.40	01:27:26	LY
37	621	037		Peter Waywell	M40	(009/067)	04.09/06.41	01:27:31	LY
38	582	038		Steve Myerscough	M	(015/142)	04.09/06.41	01:27:31	L
39	312	039		John Burns	M50	(007/045)	04.09/06.41	01:27:31	RY
47	290		002	Joanna M Goorney	F35	(001/028)	04.12/06.45	01:28:26	LRY
48	510	046		Martin Bates	M50	(009/045)	04.12/06.46	01:28:33	LY
63	581	059		Lee Barlow	M	(023/142)	04.17/06.54	01:30:19	L
72	224	067		Peter Gleaves	M40	(016/067)	04.22/07.02	01:32:02	LY
73	543	068		Russell Mabbett	M40	(017/067)	04.23/07.03	01:32:20	LY
76	225		006	Carmel Sullivan	F40	(001/026)	04.24/07.05	01:32:49
110	649	098		Tony Kemp	M	(032/142)	04.36/07.24	01:37:02
138	587	122		Graham Vickers	M45	(018/043)	04.46/07.41	01:40:39	L
159	565		020	Michaela Dempsey	F40	(004/026)	04.51/07.49	01:42:25	LY
168	338	145		Nigel Shepherd	M45	(023/043)	04.55/07.55	01:43:36
184	340	158		Stephen Wilkinson	M50	(025/045)	04.59/08.01	01:45:01
185	375	159		Reg Chapman	M55	(007/024)	04.59/08.01	01:45:06	Y
220	527		032	Julie Cruse	F45	(007/024)	05.09/08.17	01:48:25	LY
221	344		033	Sarah Sherratt	F35	(008/028)	05.09/08.17	01:48:25
261	497	219		John Sharples	M50	(031/045)	05.17/08.31	01:51:31
264	531	222		Peter Bartlett	M50	(032/045)	05.20/08.35	01:52:33	RY
274	359	231		Christopher Moss	M40	(053/067)	05.23/08.39	01:53:23	Y
296	343		053	Fiona Bledge	F35	(011/028)	05.27/08.46	01:54:46
301	92		054	Jenny Salt	F	(018/045)	05.27/08.47	01:55:00	R
320	1	261		Brian Porter	M40	(056/067)	05.32/08.54	01:56:40	LRY
323	631		060	Julie Murphy	F40	(012/026)	05.33/08.55	01:56:52	LY
347	24		070	Tracey A Hulme	F40	(017/026)	05.38/09.05	01:58:55	Y
480	372		131	Berni Ashworth	F35	(024/028)	06.57/11.11	02:26:27	Y

Top 30 men

1	Ben Fish	M	Blackburn Harriers	01:09:44
2	Carl Ryde	M	Doncaster AC	01:12:45
3	Colin Rigby	M	Horwich RMI Harriers	01:13:19
4	Simon Bruton	M	Radcliffe AC	01:14:22
5	Mat Nuttall	M	Blackburn Harriers	01:14:24
6	Paul Muller	M50	Horwich RMI Harriers	01:15:17
7	David Turnbull	M	Holmfirth Harriers	01:15:28
8	Nigel Thompson	M40	Lytham St Annes RR	01:17:35
9	Ken Moss	M55	Northern Vets AC	01:18:07
10	Leslie Cornwall	M	Wesham Road Runners	01:19:36
11	David Barker	M45	Preston Harriers	01:20:34
12	Alan Pover	M55	Stockport Harriers	01:20:59
13	Damien Cole	M	Stainland Lions	01:21:25
14	Adrian Harris	M50	Radcliffe AC	01:21:37
15	Stephen Morran	M50	Northern Vets AC	01:21:54
16	Lee Woods	M	Sale Harriers Manchester	01:21:57
17	Eddie Lee	M40	Chesterfield AC	01:22:31
18	Mark Hutcheson	M40	Keighley & Craven AC