Race report by Gareth:
The midweek champs kicked off in style last night with the first race in the ever popular Astley Park Series.
Another great turnout of 17 Lostockers out of a field of 124 toed the line (16 finished but that’s a different story lol) at 7:30 on a perfect evening for racing. This is a lovely route in Astley Park with constant nicely runnable undulations, about 3.6 miles and 250ft of elevation mostly on trail, nice woods & with a little bit of tarmac & gravel thrown in.
Star billing without a doubt goes to Janet for an incredible 3rd place & V50 win in a race series which attracts a high calibre of club runner, well done Janet 👊👊👊.
Dave was first Lostocker home on the night with a course PB and there were also very quick runs from Philip & Johanna. Brian wasn’t there to push Andy so Tony took on the role of Steve Cram to mix up the Coe & Ovett rivalry (don’t ask me which one is which 😜) and they ran each other hard to the line with Chris Baker creeping ever closer on his comeback from injury.
Heather, Rachel, and Terri all ran strongly to finish close together with Katie not far behind and there were super strong uphill finishes from Lynda, Sheila & Karen, well done guys.
Hazel had had enough after a mile & wasn’t feeling great so took the sensible option & dropped out. She made us chuckle when she asked the time keeper to put her down as CBA rather than DNF 🤣.
It was great to briefly meet new member George Iveson at registration, welcome to Lostock George, I’m sure you’ll all make him feel right at home.
The junior race also saw Lostock representation with Luke Baker & Abigail Taylor (honorary Lostocker despite the Horwich vest 😜) doing themselves and their parents proud in the incredibly fast mile race prior to the main event. Both smashed it and came home to loud cheers from Team Green.
Great support on course from Greg & David, thanks guys 💚🖤.
Here are the full results:
https://ukresults.net/2025/astley1.html?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR67rqbc4Yw_RQc6rKSxeGmCfvEwqsPjQavHJxt33M_ybI7tzSPYUmJZ2RT5DQ_aem_al2fIBMzmqASLT8uwTCK8g
