Race report by Gareth:
Yesterday saw another fantastic turnout of 14 Lostockers out of a super strong & competitive field of 238 take on the next race in the road/trail champs.. the Pennington Flash 5 mile trail race.
A very civilised start time of 10:00 on the ridiculously high quality track at Leigh Sorts Village – it was so springy & well maintained! – gave us all plenty time for registration and toilets etc, after weβd taken our life into our hands trying to dodge the many battalions of majoretteβs practising for competition π€£. We had so much time I said βcome on 5 lap warm upβ I surprisingly had a lot of takers but had to duck out to use the loo on the first lap, when I came back out everyone was sat on the grass in the sun π€¦ββοΈπ€£π€£π€£.οΏΌ
This is fast and flat for a trail race and is very scenic on the trails of Pennington Flash county park. We got under way with a lap of the track before heading out towards the trails on some springy tarmacy style surface then across the road and into the park. You do a nice loop in the woods which was very welcome as the sun was out and it was getting hot before heading out alongside the Flash which was pretty stunning. Then carry on & do a loop of the parkrun course where the only short hills on the course are before heading back to the finish on a very flat 1.5 miles section with the sun getting hotter and hotter before a quick 50 metre sprint on the track and youβre done!
Janet, led home the Lostock contingent with another storming performance & 2nd place in her age cat ππ, I was really chuffed to be within 90 seconds of her then came Gaz who definitely gets the biggest kudos of the day, despite suffering really badly from gout to put in a great performance. He was very closely followed by Johanna & Paul who were both super strong and steady. Next back was Greg who continues his injury comeback in impressive fashion very closely followed by Sally who really seems to have taken to racing and came 3rd in her age category ππ. Heather flew up the finish with Beverley not far behind but with definitely the biggest smile of the day! Terri was another to put in a super strong finish and George both hated it & loved it to finish well & show the track sessions are paying off! Lynda ran with her usual determination and Sheila & Gillian both looked great in also coming in 2nd in their age category, well done ladies πππ.
Huge congratulations to Lostock Ladies who came in 3rd place team in a race full of the best club runners in the area ππππππ€.
Any mistakes in the age cats in the report are entirely my own as Iβm writing this in my phone in bed with a brew.
Big thanks to Emma for the on course photography.
For the record:
Janet Rhodes: 37.24. 44/244
Gareth Pratt: 38:53. 60/244
Gareth Foulkes: 40:41. 79/244
Jo McManus: 41:10. 81/244
Paul Lacey: 41:31. 86/244
Greg Kilshaw. 42:51. 94/244
Sally McCoy. 43:37. 102/238
Heather Soden. 44:40. 112/238
Bev Atherton-McKenna. 45:50. 122/238
Terri Aldred: 46:40. 128/238
George Iveson. 48:38. 151/238
Lynda Hardman. 49:25. 158/238
Sheila Garewal. 50:35. 167/238
Gill Caldwell. 52:59. 192/238
Well done everyone.
