Race report by Gareth:
Last night another great turnout of 23 Lostockers, out of a stacked/fast field of 294, crossed the border into the Peoples Republic of Wigan to take part in the fourth chapter of this year’s midweek champs…the Haigh Hall 4.
After retina & fingerprint scans (a recent introduction following Brexit) we were allowed down to the start in front of the historic Haigh Hall, currently being restored to its former glory. This is a great race & is breathless from the get-go, a rapid half mile or so down the main drive in front of the hall into the woodlands of Haigh Country Park before taking a sharp left onto the trail section which was a little slippy in places after recent rain but still suitable for road shoes. You then begin the grind up a steady but very runnable uphill section before popping out onto the tarmac of New Road for more ever so slight uphill to the corner of Copperas Lane taking a left (yep, uphill) back towards the courtyard & coming out behind the hall & back down to the start & repeat for a second lap which means you get a mega fast downhill finish, into the finisher funnel with knee high grass for some strange reason this year lol.
As ever there were some outstanding results for those in green with 2nd place age cat finishes for: Jo in F40 (later awarded first prize as the winner came 2nd overall), Janet F50, Brian M65 & Nikki F65. Heather was a great 3rd place F55 with Bev 5th & Hazel & Sally were 4th F45 & F60 respectively. I can’t stress enough how impressive this is in such a competitive, high quality race made up mostly of club runners.
For me, it’s always the friendly rivalries with your club mates which make these events so much fun & last night was no exception. Super speedy Wiganer John H was first back for Lostock, New Springs finest storming round on home turf 50 seconds clear of the nearest Lostocker which, on this occasion, was Andy K who pipped Janet by 1 second, would love to have seen that sprint finish unfold! Greg continues to go from strength to strength & powered round in under 29 mins & Tony Marlow continued his impressive form on his least favourite course with a great sub 30. Hazel was just over 30 mins & ran a great race & finished 30 seconds ahead of Jo, who looked very strong when she passed me at mile 2 to prevail in the battle of the captains. Nikki continues to impress & was on my tail all the way to the end, Chris B & Brian had their own battle, Chris will be having nightmares of the sound of Brian’s footfall behind him on the way to the finish but he held on by the tightest of margins. Matt backed up Tuesday nights super tough Coppice Fell Race with another sterling effort & looked strong at the finish before the newest rivalry on the block panned out with Heather hunting down Andy L over the last couple of miles before coming out on top with Sally just ahead of them &Mike sprinting down the finishing straight not far behind.
The happiest of rivals Terri, Bev , Rach S & George always seem to finish in a variation of the above order with Terri coming out on top by a smidge last night in a tight finish. Douggie was his usual strong self on his first attempt at this race & massive shout outs to Markus who didn’t know he was even taking part until 15 mins before I picked him up last night 😊(he took Phil’s place who was stuck on a train) & to Gill B who didn’t think she would make it either after being stuck on a different train for ages. Both comfortably under the 40 minute mark.
Big thanks to Paul & David for the support and photography 💚🖤.
Massive well done to everyone, Lostock results below.
