It was the final fixture in the Mid Lancs Cross Country League on Saturday in Towneley Park in Burnley and there was a smaller turnout perhaps due to the Inter Counties in Loughborough but there were still some fine performances to round off the season, reduced to 5 fixtures for the League. In the Senior Women’s 6km with a small, medium and large lap round the playing fields in front of the hall Carmel Sullivan had a great run to finish 14^th overall in 24:35, placing 2^nd W55. Kay Twist rounded off her season to win the Wesham club championship to come in 38^th and 12^th W50 in 26:19. Alona Versinina was 5^th W35 and 61^st in 29:45 and Julie Paton finished 74^th and 9^th W45 in 31:19. The Wesham ladies had just enough to finish teams in all their age categories, with the Senior team 11^th, and W35s and W45s both 8^th. Wesham have no M70s running this year having won medals in previous years, but the Senior Men did well in their 9.8km 3-lap course. Adam Wilding finished an excellent 12^th in 34:56 having held his ground well over the three laps, with firm ground despite the snow of the previous three days. David Taylor finished 28^th in 36:54, with next placed Carl Groome 78^th in 41:47, 5^th M50. Steve Myerscough placed 83^rd in 42:14 for 11^th M45 and Will Parkinson 87^th with 42:43. Mick Edge ran well for 101^st place in 44:23 and 9^th M60; Lee Barlow battled on having a troublesome Achilles to finish 108^th and 8^th M50 in 45:11 having been well up on the first lap. Tony Leach placed 113^th and 10^th M60 in 46:05 with Nigel Shepherd 123^rd with 48:10, 13^th M60; Stephen Twist 125^th in 48:23; and James Danson 128^th in 42:49, 16^th and 17^th M55s. the Men’s team were 8^th overall; 8^th M40s; 5^th M50s and 2^nd M60 team. Overall for the season, the Wesham women have placed 3^rd in Division 4, an excellent result for them this year, with a “B” team qualified as well. The W35s are 12^th team and W45s 9^th. The Senior Men finished 6^th in Division 1 so will be relegated next season; the “B” team place 3^rd in Division 3. The M40 team are 6th in Division 1 so also relegated, the M50 team are also 6^th, and the M60 team come in second in silver medal position, so a good result.

There were a number of races last week as there were signs of spring in the air. The club fell and trail running championship continued with the Trotters Trail Five Mile race through the Smithills Country Park on the northern outskirts of Bolton.

The focus of the week for the Wesham team was the English National Cross Country Championship, at a new venue at Bolesworth Castle just south east of Chester. On a wide expanse of parkland under a ridge the ground was gently inclined giving a fast run down the course and long gruelling steady climbs in the opposite direction. Compensating for this the ground was soft and firm with no mud so it was fast running all round. In the Senior Women’s 8km over two laps Kay Twist was on good form and she finished 437th in 42:30. She was followed in 635th place by Alona Versinina clocking 47:49. Clare Belfield was 723rd in 54:24 with Sue Rigby 755th in 63:35. The Wesham Ladies team finished 88th out of 773 runners. The Senior Men’s was two longer laps with a different course to the women and taking 12km in distance. Adam Wilding fared well and held his ground for 331st place in a top quality and very fast race clocking 42:59, around 6 minutes behind the leaders. David Taylor was second in for Wesham in 616th place in a time of 46:52 with Tom Crabtree 720th in 48:14. Mark Belfield finished 773rd in 49:02 with a gutsy run and Lee Barlow striding out for 975th place to clock 52:04. Will Parkinson completed

the Wesham Men’s team in 64th place with his run in 1120th position with his time 54:28. Carl Groome came in 1175th in 55:34 with Mick Edge 1244th in 57:33. Nigel Shepherd was 1305th in exactly 1:00:00; Wesham Men’s Captain John Collier was 1353rd in 61:27 suffering a painful ankle over the final mile, and Andrew Wilkinson was 1367th in 61:56. There were 1473 runners and 99 teams; and Wesham were second of only two Lancashire clubs in both the Men’s and Women’s events fielding full teams

Perhaps the big event in the North West last weekend was the Manchester Marathon, where John MacDougall finished 312^th and 27^th M45 in 2:44:07 having run steadily at 6:15 pace to pass halfway in 1:22:23, an excellent performance. Chris Hastwell ran 3:05:50 to place 1603^rd and 320^th M35, slowing over the closing 12km having reached the half in 1:29:37. Stuart Mulrooney came in 4616^th in 3:40:42. He completed his first half in 1:41:56 and slowed steadily in the second. Tanya Shaw finished 1560^th woman in 4:10:25 and 8037^th overall, reaching the 13.1 miles in 2:00:01 and placing 241^st W45. Emma Wright ran 4:57:41 3058^th woman and 540^th W40. Her halfway time was 2:21:51.

In the Curley’s 5k Trail Series on Wednesday evening Tom Crabtree finished 4^th in 20:04, with Paul Lancashire 14^th in 22:10. Steve Myerscough was 20^th in 23:31, 4^th M45, with Ian Nichols Hogg 49^th in 30:51. Jo McCaffery finished 52^nd in 31:42; Kirsty Holland 63^rd in 34:17; Sally Denton 65^th in 35:08; and Debbie Myerscough 67^th in 41:22. Martin Bates (pictured) does not feature in the results.

David Taylor ran the Fleetwood Spring 10k on Sunday and finished 3^rd in 35:53 behind Jamie Shingler of Ludlow, 30 seconds ahead, and Lytham’s Mike Toft (34:08) on a good morning for running along the Promenade and through the town. David was first M35. Finlay McCalman was 83^rd in 55:24 placing 5^th M55.

John MacDougall ran the Liverpool Half Marathon on Sunday and he finished 1^st M45 and 12^th overall in 1:16:43. Having gone through 5 miles in 29:55 he reached the 10-mile mark in 59:27, a good pace. Chris Haines placed 219^th in 1:35:49, M35 position not given. He had passed 5 miles in 36:03 and 10 miles in 1:11:59. There were 1974 runners in total in this popular event.

Stephen Dagger Swift ran the Coniston 14 on Saturday, and finished 391^st in 2:11:02, having gone though halfway in 54:02, showing perhaps how more challenging the second half of the course is. Andrew Wilkinson was 75^th M50 in 2:54:04 to place 716^th overall. There was a reduced finisher total this year of 809 although the event continues to be very popular.

The spring really kicked off with some gorgeous sunny weather and Wesham members took good advantage of the conditions. In the Pilling 10k on Saturday afternoon eight members contested the rural two-lapper in the sunshine. First Wesham finisher in 3^rd place was Alek Walker in 37:54. Lee Barlow finished 6^th and first M50 in 39:41 with Steve Myerscough placing 8^th and 1^st M45 with 41:01. Kay Twist had a great run to finish 4^th woman and 2^nd W50 in 48:18. Peter Rooney ran 48:48 for 18^th place and coming in first M60. Jonny Allsop was 19^th with 49:17; James Danson 23^rd and 3^rd M55 in 52:14, with Andrew Wilkinson coming in 28^th in 52:45, second M50 behind Lee Barlow. All in all, a good day at the races.

The Pilling 10k was closely followed by the Mad March Hare 10k and 5k on Sunday morning in Moor Park in Preston. Ryan Azzopardi finished 6^th in 23:58, encouraging Michelle Pitt on the second lap who was 33^rd in 40:51.

Chris Hastwell ran the Longton 10k last week, finishing 8^th and 2^nd M45 in 37:43 sporting the running number 1.  There were 163 runners in this popular race with the men and women’s winning times 35:00 and 41:36.