Action returned to its best in two years as Wesham saw 32 members, 9 women and 23 men run in the Green Drive 5, back after its pandemic sojourn. Not only quantity but also quality. Rob danson was back on form, not his fastest performance, but he was in an interesting competition with Preston’s Daniel Bebbington and Blackpool’s Luke Minns, that saw him spit the pair by 19 and 11 seconds to come in 2^nd in 25 minutes exactly. He was ably backed up by David Taylor who finished 10^th in 28:21 and rising star Adam Wilding following in his father’s footsteps with 28:25 for 11^th place. This secured Wesham both the open team win in the main race and the Lancashire gold team medals in the associated County Championships. Rob Danson took the Lancashire individual silver medal. There were some age category awards with John Collier 3^rd M65 in 36:22 (80^th overall) in a close race with former member John Bertenshaw over the closing stages. Alan Hudson was 1^st M70 and 99^th overall in 37:51. Dave Young was 3^rd M70 in 42:45, 151^st overall, and Peter Bartlett was 5^th M70 in 50:24, 226^th overall. Chris Hastwell 26^th in 30:27 (4^th M35); and Alekzander Walker 28^th with 30:47 (5^th M35) closed in the men’s masters’ team as the Lancashire victors taking the gold medals.

For the women, Kirsty Holland was the first club member to finish, in 29^th women’s place and 141^st overall in 42:07. Lisa Minns was 31^st woman and 145^th in 42:25, and Louise Lord completed the ladies’ team in 33^rd place (149^th overall) in 42:35 to place the team 3^rd in both the open race and the Lancashire Championships. Sharlan Butcher was 36^th and 158^th in 43:30 and she sealed the women’s masters’ team in third place also. Antionette Holton finished 37^th and 160^th in 43:41; Dawn Biggs was 50^th and 178^th in 45:22; Wendy Hebblethwaite 73^rd and 208^th in 47:45; Julie Rooney 73^rd and 208^th with 50:15; and Sally Deacon 84^th and 227^th in 50:28, all representing a great performance from the Wesham squad. In the men’s race, Tom Crabtree finished 12^th in 28:27 to complete the Wesham “B” team in 5^th place; Lee Barlow ran 31:18 for 32^nd place and 8^th M45; Steve Abbott was 39^th in 32:11 (5^th M40); Steve Myerscough 40^th in 32:22; Nigel Shepherd 47^th and 2^nd M60 with 33:15; Martin Bates 74^th in 35:51 (5^th M60); and Damian Ings was 81^st in 36:26. Ian Garrod placed 91^st with 37:01; Jonathan Lawson 93^rd in 37:13; Peter Rooney finished 101^st in 37:52; Stephen Twist was 125^th with 40:39; Ian Nichols Hogg 126^th in 40:53; Finlay McCalman 148^th in 42:34; and Andrew Moore 152^nd with 42:46.

New member John Macdougall had a very good run in the tough Langdale Half Marathon around a mountainous single circuit to finish 3^rd and first masters’ athlete (M45) in 1:23:46.

Paul Carter ran the Liverpool Rock’n’Roll Marathon on Sunday, finishing 1748^th overall and 139^th M50 in a time of 5:06:13. Lee Nixon ran the Saturday evening race of the Pilling 10k series, finishing 12^th in 42:39, as 4^th M40. Keeping the name, Lee Barlow ran the Thursday race, finishing 2^nd in 38:55, second masters’ athlete and first M45.

The big culmination of a turbulent year will be the return of the Wesham 10k on Saturday 27^th November at 10am. Entries are going well and the event is slowly filling up, also incorporating the Northern Masters 10k Championships. If members can survive the Mid Lancs Cross Country in Liverpool’s Sefton Park in the afternoon, then the evening presentation dinner will be a welcome opportunity to let their hair down!

Wesham had a big turnout in last Saturday’s parkrun with a bit of a take-over, and David Taylor set off steady to come through and take third fastest time of the day in 20:01, for an M35 age graded performance of 65.86%. Steve Myerscough ran 20:51 for M45 69.06% and Jonathan Lawson M50 68.31% for a time of 22:18. Kay Twist was first Wesham woman in 24:40 with W50 69.66%. Ryan Azzopardi clocked 24:55 for M40 55.18%; Ian Nichols Hogg 26:21 with 49.08%; James Danson 26:55 and M55 57.59%; Elliot Costello 27:00 with 47.78%; Sharon Cooper ran 27:01 and W45 60.58%; a group with Vicky Gore 27:07 (W45 58.57%), Stephen Twist 27:08 and M55 56.63%, and Steven Gore 27:09 (M40 50.28%). Andrew Moore ran 27:11 for M55 48.49%; James Birchall 28:06 with 46.26%; Colin Smy 28:13 and M40 49.08%; Michael Barnes 29:07 for M40 47.22%; Sue Rigby 33:16 and W45 49.20% with Carl Groome 33:18 (M50 44.99%); and Graham Cunliffe easing into 43:30 (M65 38.54%). Dave Williams ran the Heaton parkrun in Manchester with a time of 24:23 for an M55 64.66%; Tracey Hulme was out at the South Manchester run clocking 26:47 for W55 69.45%; at Riverside in Chester-le-Street Emma Brook had 28:28 for W35 53.16%; Martin Bates ran the Stretford parkrun as a First Timer in 21:59 for M60 75.59%. Back nearer to home Rob Wallace ran 23:35 in the Blackpool run for an age graded 54.70%; Kath Hoyer a new personal best of 24:20 for W60 79.73%; Finlay McCalman 28:01 and M55 55.80%; and George Flanagan 43.52% with M70 41.22%. On Fleetwood Promenade Steve Swarbrick clocked the fastest time of the day with 17:43 as a First Timer for an M45 grade of 82.60%. John Burns recorded 23:03 for M65 73.46; Dave Young 26:06 for M70 71.39%; and Jo McCaffery 28:15 with W40 55.69%.

In 2018 The big race of the week was the Lytham Green Drive Five, which was a Wesham club championship event and also hosted the Lancashire AA County Championships. With a big entry for this very popular race it was a conservative start as Wesham’s Rob Danson and his running mate Dave Norman from Altrincham quickly took the lead and pushed on. Rob, with a recurrent problem with is knee, was on the comeback and he and Norman ran together for 4 miles until Danson pushed on for the finish and came in clear by 19 seconds to win in 25:41. The ladies’ winner was Blackpool’s Emily Japp who broke her own course record by 22 seconds to 27:47, the pair taking the Lancashire Men’s and Women’s 5-Mile crowns for 2018. For Wesham Simon Denye had an excellent run to finish 7th in 28:40; he has come on leaps and bounds from injury and is nearly back to the top. Andrew Harling was 20th in 30:08 and David Taylor conserving energy in 23rd place with 30:21. The Wesham men’s team 2nd behind Red Rose overall by only 4 seconds but 8 points in a very close match, but Wesham have been given the Lancashire Team Gold ahead of their rivals, due to a shortage of Lancashire qualification in the Red Rose team.  The Wesham women were not at full strength, but there were personal best performances galore, and Kay Twist was first in 31st woman’s position with 39:18 and 140th overall, 5th W45. Louisa Denye had a fantastic run to clock 41:28 and place 46th woman and 188th overall. Elizabeth Johnson was 53rd and 199th overall in 42:16 and Maureen Danson 59th and 206th with 42:41. The Wesham women’s team were 10th overall and 7th in Lancashire. The Wesham Men’s Masters team (Denye 2nd; Phil Quibell (9th in 31:34); and Matty Chamberlain (15th in 32:29) were second behind Red Rose again (18 seconds; 2 points) and the Wesham women 5th (K.Twist 18th; L.Denye 29th; and E.Johnson 34th). Phil Quibell was the first M60 and 35th overall in 31:34; Thomas Crabtree 38th in 31:59; Matty Chamberlain 6th M45 and 43rd overall; Neil Gregson 45th in 32:35; Nigel Shepherd 3rd M60 just pipped for 2nd and 50th overall with 32:46; Stuart Clayton 81st in 35:21; George Kennedy 7th M60 and 98th with 36:14; Rob Wallace 100th (36:20); Martin Allison 102nd (36:24); Stuart Topping 139th (39:17); Ben Wrigley 150th (39:39); Robert Brown 157th (39:48); James Danson 160th (39:53); Stephen Twist 186th (41:17); Finlay McCalman 202nd (42:26); Peter Rooney 216th (43:27); and Peter Cooke 255th (45:25). For the women Kerry Eccles was 62nd and 7th W55 in 43:32; Jo McCaffery 79th and 245th overall in 44:53 and Pauline Eccleston 82nd and 249th with 45:01.  Antionette Holton was 96th and 268th in 46:11; Diane Blagden 100th and 274th with 46:26; Sally Deacon 106th and 286th (47:06); Clare Belfield 116th and 298th (47:52); Julie Rooney 123rd and 305th (48;15); Emma Davies 137th and 322nd (49:20); Emma Wright 142nd and 328th (49:36); Sharlan Butcher 149th and 33th (50:12); Sue Rigby 152nd and 340th (50:27); and Nicola Carter 157th and 345th with 50:56. In the Standish Hall Trail Race autumn edition in appalling underfoot conditions Dave Waywell finished 6th M70 in a very high quality and competitive competition in a time of 1:06:56 for the hilly 2-lap figure-of-8 6 miles and came in 134th overall. The leading M75 was just in front in 1:03:38 (126th). Chas and Angela Colby ran the Langdale Half Marathon in Cumbria on Saturday, now run under the auspices of Brathay Manor, who run the Windermere Marathon. Run over one of the toughest and most scenic courses in the country the route starts in the Great Langdale valley and traverses the ridge into Little Langdale and loops round Ellterwater. For those who like it that much a second lap completes the marathon!  Chas finished an excellent 68th in 1:52:45 for 15th M45, and Angela was 28th woman, 5th W45 and 141st overall in 2:04:19. The conditions were overcast and damp but there was little wind. Thomas Crabtree ran the 7th fastest time of the day at Saturday’s Lytham Hall parkrun, completing the two-lap 5km in 18:56 for an age graded performance percentage of 68.13%. Jonathan Lawson ran 21:49 for an M50 grade of 68.14%, coincidentally. Anne Mayers-Smith recorded 22:56 for W40 67.08%. Troy Watson returned to action and threw down 24:25 for an M50 grade 60.89%. Ben Wrigley ran 25:47 for an M35 52.17%. Steve Myerscough, on the steady road to recovery ran 23:00 for an M40 61:16 age graded percentage at the Preston parkrun, and Robert Brown clocked 26:13 for M60 61.73%. Chris Pike was out for his 120th run at St Helens Victoria Park and ran 27:10 for M40 51.41%. The Wesham parkrun tourists headed to Dewsbury where David Taylor ran the fastest time of the morning with 18:56 for a senior age grade of 68.66%. Stephen Gore had the 7th fastest time of the morning with a good 20:34 for an M35 grade of 64.91%. Megan Gore ran a JW11 46.14% with her time of 36:03 with Vicky in company for 36:04. Anne Berry was on her travels and ended up at Tambourine Mountain parkrun near the Gold Coast in Brisbane Australia. She ran 33:49 in very warm conditions for a W55 age grade of 54.26%. James Mulvany was running with his son Evan in the Fell Foot parkrun at the southern end of Windermere where they clocked 24:37 (JM10 69.13%). Emma Lund was out again in the Lancster parkrun on the hilly 2-lap Williamson Park course with a time of 23:24 for W35 63.89%. Dave Marsland was the leading Wesham runner in the Blackpool Stanley Park run where he recorded 24:01 for M60 67.94%. George Kennedy ran 24:05 for M60 67.20% a close run between the two. Suzanne Leonard also clocked 24:05 for W45 67.96%. Andrew Moore ran 27:09 for M55 57.095 and Graham Cunliffe 28:10 for a cautious M60 57.93% with a sore calf. Finlay McCalman ran 28:52 for M50 52.77%. Peter Cruse had the 8th fastest time at Fleetwood Promenade with a swift 20:38 for M55 75.12%. Brian Jones ran 31;36 for M55 49.47%.

This week in 2005 St Annes played host to the Northern Veterans 10-Mile road race championships on Sunday thanks to the hard efforts of Wesham’s Dave Waywell who put on the course and arranged the excellent facilities at the Fire Station. Sandwiched in between gale-force storms the day turned out perfect for running; sunny with only a slight air flow against the runners on the outward stage of the course, with clear views across the estuary to delight those runners who travelled from Manchester, Yorkshire and Cumbria. The race produced the UK’s 2nd fastest all-time M75 10-mile run from Leigh Harriers’ Derek Howarth, who clocked 1:16:08. On their home patch, Wesham turned out two full teams, an M45 and an M50 team, who were both victorious in their respective age categories with individuals winning six age group awards. As the race progressed Salford’s M40 Glenn Whellams had the initial lead but was overhauled by Barnsley M45 Mark Hall who won in 54:31. Wesham’s Alex Rowe (M45) had a race-long battle with resurgent Gregory Seddon (M40) of Blackpool & Fylde but Alex pushed on over the last couple of miles to finish 3rd (2nd M45) in 55:13. The Wesham M45 team was completed by John Bertenshaw in 17th (4th M45) with 1:03:43; Martin Bates in 21st (5th M45; 1:05:03); and Derek Goodenough in 55th (6th M60; 1:24:47). Although the quality of the race was excellent leading M50 John Collier found himself running alone by halfway and won his age category in 1:00:35 (11th position overall) with some ground to spare from runner-up Gerry Bell of Bingley who was 18th in 1:04:17. Alan Hudson was adrift of the two leading M55s Stephen Moore and Alan Pover, both top of their age group, who had a fine battle together, but Alan struggled to get his pace going, and was disappointed to finish 3rd in 1:01:59, 12th place overall. Dave Waywell was tired from his duties as race organiser but nevertheless managed a clean win in the M60 category with 1:03:16, 14th overall, and Phil Leaver completed the M50 team with 1:07:35 to finish 28th overall and 4th in the M50 age group. Kath Hoyer ran 1:14:33 to finish 2nd W45 and 6th woman overall. Dave Preston ran in the Gin Pit 5 over a 5-mile double off-road circuit over the old mining district of Tyldesley. Dave finished 59th, 6th Over-50 in 34:57. Lee Barlow was the first Wesham finisher in the new 10km road race from Waddington Village Hall near Clitheroe. Lee finished in 13th place in 36:56, followed by Steve Myerscough who ran 38:12 for 20th place. Jennie Thompson was the first Over-55 woman, 16th overall, in 53:09, with Pauline Mills 2nd (24th lady) in 60:49. Nigel Shepherd ran 45:46 for 63rd place; Stephen Wilkinson (M50) 47:50 (72nd); Keith Gresty 52:54 (99th), and John Whiteman (M60) 114th in 56:23. Graham Vickers took in the sea air in Southport in the Seaside 10k, finishing 97th in 45:09. Bernie Krawczyk was 179th in 49:10, and John Howorth ran 49:26 for 187th place.