Lostock AC collaborated with Cutacre Running club to support their Santa Dash. Cutacre Running Club founder Melonie Goodall arranged the race to raise money for local charities and the community.
The dash took place In Cutacre Park, the day following storm Darragh. It was a cold and windy day, but this did not damper the festive spirits of the 59 participants. Everyone had made as fantastic effort to dress in their best Christmas attire, hoping to win one of the prizes for best dressed runner.
The event was open to everyone and many people brought their families and dogs to take part. Cutacre Running Club member also used the race to graduate from their recent Couch to 5K course.
The 5k race started at 10am and runners ran into the wind through the centre of the park. The first mile was downhill resulting in a fast start to the race. The front runners taking an early lead disappearing out of sight.
The second mile was more challenging, parts of course were muddy under foot due to the storm the previous day. Runners turned left looping around the park at the bottom then heading back towards to entrance to the park. The initial fast and welcoming downhill made the last mile a tough and a slow gradual climb to the finish, the total race covering an elevation gain of 220ft.
The first to cross the finish line was Richard Pollitt, finishing in an awesome 20:19. Pollitt was followed by Lostock’s very own Andy Laycock who had an impressive run, finishing in second position. Peter Edern finished strong to secure third place.
Lostock AC members then start to finish in quick succession with Chris Baker finishing 4th, Greg Kilshaw finishing 5th, Tony Maxwell finishing 7th and Luke Baker in 8th place.
Lostock ladies had a fantastic race, Janet Rhodes had an epic run finishing 9th position and 1st lady to finish. She was quickly followed by a sequence of Lostockers. Sally McCoy was 2nd lady, Raced Stevens was 3rd, Beverly Atherton-McKenna was 4th and Heather Soden 5th. Soden’s dog Buddy was the first dog to finish.
Other results include: 14th Jon Tuson (with Hope and Huxley), 15th Shelia Garewal, 16th Lynda Hardman, 17th Ian Burns, 31st Chris Taylor, 44th Christine Smith, 45th Gill Caldwell, 49th Karen Taylor and 51st Kate Edern.
The race was a fantastic success raising £90 for local charities, including Urban Outreach Bolton. Urban Outreach is a charity providing food for households in crisis and person-centred support for the most disadvantaged and vulnerable adults and young people in Bolton. Melonie also arranged for a collection of food for the Charity.
The most important prizes of the day, for the best dressed runners went to Greg Kilshaw, Lynda Hardman, Abigail Taylor and Chloe Edern. Huxley and Hope were crowned best dressed dogs. There were also lots of runner up prizes for all the fantastic costumes.
Cutacre Running Club and Lostock AC would like to thank Amazon for providing volunteers to marshal. It was a fantastic event and we would like to thank everyone who joined us to raise money and awareness of local charities.
