Despite avoiding the teeth of Storm Dennis at the weekend there was an active week for athletics in the North west. There were two Wesham runners in the Valentine’s Day 10k (two days late!) on Sunday in Lancaster. Garry Barnett finished 13^th in 38:44 placing 2^nd M50. Run from the Quayside up the Morecambe railway line to the Rugby Club and back, Neil Gregson was 17^th in 39:37, 2^nd M35.

Steve Littler finished a strong 3^rd place and 1^st M45 in the stormy Great North West Half Marathon along the unforgiving storm ravaged Blackpool Promenade on Sunday, clocking 1:15:52 in a close finish with the top 3 within 41 seconds of each other and 3 minutes clear of 4^th place. This time last year Littler ran the far superior Village Bakery Half Marathon in Wrexham where he finished 13^th in a much higher quality field in 1:12:50, 2^nd M45. This year’s race had to be cancelled in the face of yellow and amber weather warnings. In Blackpool again Simon Denye placed 13^th in 1:23:50, 2^nd M45, and Neil Harrison was 17^th with a good 1:26:03. Chris Hastwell finished 26^th and 9^th M35 in 1:27:15 giving the Wesham men leading club. Mark Holton was 40^th in 1:29:21; Lee Nixon 112^th with 1:38:26; Paul Lancashire 145^th with 1:41:06; Rob Wallace 267^th in 1:50:01; and Antionette Holton 448^th in 1:58:37.

It was the start of a wild week and Sunday saw the cancellation of many events across the country, with the Mad Dog 10k in Southport and the British Masters 10-Mile Championships at Lytchett Manor near Poole in Dorset two of the casualties. The Tatton Park 10k in Cheshire managed to go ahead on a revised course but the Muddy Boots near Ripon in Yorkshire was canned. The Windy Hill Fell Race in Littleborough attracted 322 runners over 9 miles with 1281ft ascent.

Unpredictable winter added an extra element to running last week but this did not deter Wesham members who managed to anticipate the coming spring on what is perhaps the traditional start of the athletics year for sure. The traditional “twin peaks” of later winter athletics in the Alsager 6 mile in Cheshire and the Dewsbury 10k in Yorkshire attracted the usual high quality and in-depth competitors although few from the Preston and Fylde region, but nearer to home there was plenty of action for our local teams.

The Blackburn Winter Warmer 10k from Witton Park sems to have adopted a multiple lap course in the park itself rather than its historic loop up and around Billinge Hill and through Pleasington but there was still a challenge to be had looking at the finishing times. First home for Wesham was Steve Littler in 6^th place overall a good time of 34:51 placing him 1^st M45. Garry Barnett finished 40^th and 4^th M50 in 40:21 with Ian Garrod 7^th M55 and 88^th overall with 43:16. Helen Lawrenson was 14^th woman and 2^nd W50 with 46:05 in 142^nd place overall and Mick Edge finished 183^rd in 47:59.  Alan Hudson placed 2^nd M70 and finished 210^th overall in 49:09; Kath Hoyer was 3^rd W60 and 43^rd woman with 50:50 for 250^th overall; and Lucy Neighbour was 73^rd woman and 7^th W40 in 54:47 in 352^nd place.  Finlay McCalman was 407^th in 57:07, 31^st M55, and Elizabeth Johnson finished 117^th woman and 442^nd overall in 58:32. This was the latest round of the Wesham road running club championship for 2020.

Last week was a busy one for athletes in the Fylde area after a quiet week a fortnight ago with the Northern cross country championships in Yorkshire and the popular St Anne’s 10 on home ground.

The Northern Athletics Cross Country Championships were staged for the first time at a new venue at Camp Hill in Kirklington Bedale just north of Ripon in Yorkshire, which was a very spacious estate with a largely flat course through varied parkland with woodland and field which was very muddy in parts and made for a very challenging run for the hundreds of runners assembled. Wesham had just two ladies running un the Senior Women’s race over 2 laps giving a distance of 9km. Helen Lawrenson finished 190^th in 39:49, with Anne Mayers-Smith 252^nd with 44:00. The Senior Men ran 3 laps of 12.5km, a more sapping prospect, where David Taylor put in a fine performance to finish 198^th in 52:12. Andrew Harling ran well for 255^th place in 54:36. John Collier was next in for the team with 1:06:10 for 504^th place and Martin Bates was 535^th in 1:09:29. Ben Wrigley finished 578^th in 1:20:36 having started strongly. Peter Bartlett bravely set off with bold intentions but unfortunately the tough conditions and twice the distance of a Mid Lancs League course he had to withdraw after two laps.

The main event of the week was the Inskip Half Marathon from Redwood Park home of the Blackpool Dog Show and taking in a mostly flat single loop through Elswick and Wharles along largely country lanes. Despite a chilly start weather conditions were good, changing into a seasonal foggy day.