The cross country season got underway on Saturday at the Mid Lancs League fixture in Kendal, returning to the Westmoreland Show ground at Crooklands on a blustery and showery afternoon. Luckily it rained before the ladies’ race, and it was sunny thereafter. On a 3-lap course over a 6.2km distance sue Coulthurst was the leader for the Wesham women and she finished 46^th and 3^rd W55 in 31:25. Kay Twist was next in 60^th place, 7^th W50 in 32:26, with Lisa Minns strong in 98^th place, 12^th W55 in 35:42. Sharlan Butcher was 120^th in 38:22, and Clare Belfield 129^th with a time of 40:37. This gave the ladies 20^th team position overall, 15^th W35 and 7^th W45 team. Dave Young ran the Over-70s race over the 6.2km and he came in 4^th in and 3^rd M75 in 38:42. The men’s race was held over 4 laps at 9.9km and Adam Wilding was the first across the finish line for Wesham in 44^th place in a time of 41:33. Alek Walker finished 74^th and 14^th M40 in 43:27 with Tom Crabtree 88^th in 44:45. Carl Groome was 111^th and 11^th M50 in 45:56; and Chris Haines 120^th with 46:12. Damian Ings placed 152^nd in 48:30 with Phil Quibell 2^nd M65 in 48:41 and 157^th overall. Will Parkinson came 183^rd in 49:59; Men’s captain John Collier was 239^th and 6^th M65 in 57:24 with James Danson 247^th in 59:32. The Senior Men’s team placed 14^th with the Over-40s team in 8^th place and the Over-50s were 11^th. This gave the Men’s team 5^th place in Division 2 with the M40s 2^nd in Division 2. The Wesham Senior Women placed 10^th in Division 3.

Agness Woods ran the Autumn Breaker 10k in Blackpool’s Stanley Park on Sunday and she finished 61^st in 54:00 (53:46 chip timed). She Was 18^th woman and 2^nd W55.

The weekend saw the final of the Lakeland Trails for 2023, with the double events of Helvellyn and Ullswater over the weekend. Andrew Wilkinson ran the Helvellyn 15km Trail Race on Saturday finishing 114^th in 1:29:25. Martin Bates ran the 10k Trail Run and finished 117^th in 1:05:48. Karen Wilkinson placed 233^rd in 1;28:30. On the Sunday Martin ran the Ullswater 10k Trail Run on the early sailing across the lake on Sunday and he finished 123^rd in 1:39:57 placing 9^th Over-60. There were two Wesham ladies in the 14k Trail Race on the 13:30 sailing, with Sharon Cooper and Jen Salt running together in 1:57:59 and 1:58:00 for 52^nd and 53^rd places, 6^th W50 and 9^th W40 respectively.

Five Wesham members ran the Manchester Half Marathon on Sunday. First to the finish line was Mark Belfield in a time of 1:21:06 (1:20:46 chip time) for 247^th place, 52^nd M40. Mark Holton finished 434^th in 1:26:35 (1:26:15) with Dan Bolton 449^th in 1:26:56 (1:26:24) with. Liam Thompson placed 696^th in 1:34:17 (1:33:35) and Antionette Holton came in 4633^rd in 2:20:03, with her chip time at 2:01:21, 1862^nd woman. There were nearly 13,000 runners in this prestige race.

The Wesham team were out in Palma for their annual trip for the Marathon, Half Marathon and 9km races. The 9k race is a temporary cut-down distance from 10km due to enduring building work. Daniel Hounslea finished 37^th in the 9km race in 37:13 while Nigel Shepherd was 78^th in 39:58 also placing 3^rd M65. Tracey Fryman finished 333^rd in 48:29, 4^th W60 and 77^th woman. Andy Moore was 511^th with 52:22 (51:52 chip time). Julie Rooney placed 1517^th in this popular event in 1:10:22, 97^th W45. There were five Wesham members in the Half Marathon, with Steve Myerscough the fastest in 164^th place in 1:34:59, coming in 19^th M45. Peter Rooney ran 2:14:17 for 2032^nd place, 2:12:03 chip time for 24^th M65. Sally Deacon finished 2523^rd in 2:25:18, 884^th woman and 72^nd W55. Her chip time was 2:21:09. Anne Mayers Smith clocked 2:31:56 (2:27:48 chip time) for 1012^th woman and 2750^th overall. Kirsty Holland was 3179^th in 3:05:52 (3:01:43 chip time) for 1273^rd female.

There were fewer Wesham members running a parkrun today due to the first cross country of the season at the Mid Lancs League. In Lytham Hall this week there were just three Wesham members, with Jonathan Lawson running 23:27 for an M55 age graded performance of 66.10%. Finlay McCalman clocked 26:52 for M55 59.18% and Agness Woods recorded 26:52 for a W55 graded 67.37%. In Blackpool’s Stanley Park Michelle Tickle was the fastest woman of the day with 23:57 for a W45 graded of 69.17%. Ryan Azzopardi ran 25:28 for M40 54.84% and Rob Wallace was on 26:25 for an age grade of 48.96%. Jo McCaffery returned 27:55 for a W45 57.43%, with Colin Gibson running 37:47 for M65 44.82%, and Martin Allison completing the 5km in 49:09 for an M40 graded 27.77%. In the Delamere parkrun in the heart of West Cheshire between Northwich and Chester Emma Wright recorded 29:10 for a W45 grade of 54.46% and in Fitz Park in Keswick Alona Versinina was a First Timer and the seventh fastest woman of the day in 24:35 for W35 61.02%. The Wesham parkrun tourists were in Silloth in the north of the Lake District for the Promenade run where Carl Groome was 5^th fastest of the week in 20:52 for M50 73.00%. Vicky and Steven Gore ran 26:16 and 26:17 for W45 61.68% and M40 52.69% respectively, and Sue Rigby clocked 34:30 for W50 48.60%.