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Andy's Page |
April 2005 |
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Andy's Page |
April 2005 |
| Blackburn Harriers' Michael Green was the first East Lancashire finisher in this year's London Marathon. The 28 year-old now lives in Atlanta, Georgia and flew in to try for the English Commonwealth Games qualifying time of 2:17. Unfortunately he fell just short with 2:18:31 and also missed his Harriers' record of 2:18:11 which he set last year. He may try for the time again in the autumn. Michael is from Great Harwood near Blackburn and co-incidentally his namesake, Mick Green who represents Clayton-le-Moors Harriers, is from the same town. Mick (52), was competing in his 20th consecutive London Marathon and he is no slouch despite suffering from asthma all of his life. His personal best is 2:36:03 although he was exactly half an hour slower to the second this time. Paul Thompson is better known as a fell runner and made the top ten of the English Championship last year. Every Easter he runs the Manx Mountain Marathon, a brute of a race which climbs 8,000 feet over its 31.5 miles, and yet Paul has won it for the last two years, this year by more than a quarter of an hour. With Easter being early, the Clayton Harrier had a chance to run his first road marathon in London after just three weeks recovery. He clocked 2:30:45 to be our second local finisher. The next pair home, Simon Smith and Brian Cole, were class mates at Sudell Primary School in Darwen. Simon came to running relatively late and is still improving rapidly in his thirties, knocking nearly four minutes off his own Darwen Dashers club record with 2:34:11. Brian has recently been named Royal Marine Sports Personality of the Year after winning two national titles in little more than a fortnight last summer. First he took the UK Trail Racing Championship over the Marathon distance then the AAA's of England 50 kilometre Championship. Last year he broke 2:30 for the first time in London, but he was a little slower with 2:36:53 after suffering cramp in his warm up race, the 39 miles Connemara International Ultra. The first East Lancashire veteran was Peter Banks from Blackburn Harriers with 2:41:42. Peter was a serial winner on the local road racing circuit a few years ago, and his re-emergence from relative obscurity was flagged when he was second in the 14.3 mile Dentdale Run through the Yorkshire Dales in March. There was a magnificent run from Mick Nester who was headed by only one over 50 veteran in the entire race. He has just been crowned Blackburn Road Runners' Club Champion for 2004 and his time of 2:43:09 broke the Club Record. Fellow over 50 Peter Butterworth from Clayton cracked the 2:50 barrier for the second consecutive year to finish 14th in class. Blackburn Harriers fielded the first local in both the men's and the women's races as England cross-country international Pauline Powell finished 24th woman. Pauline is in the form of her life having set three club records in the space of six golden weeks. In March she won the St Annes 10 Miles in 57:30 and has followed with a winning 33:51in the Lincoln 10K and 2:43:26 in London. Her ambition is to break the Commonwealth Games standard of 2:37. Louise Cooper was our second sub-3 hour woman with 2:56:30. The police officer with the Thames Valley force nowadays represents elite club Belgrave Harriers, but she is from Haslingden and was a long time member of Rossendale Harriers even after her move south. Lancashire vest Linda Clarkson has been knocking on the door of three hours for a couple of years now and her time of 3:04:12 was within four minutes of her own Darwen Dasher's club record. These are the 50 best performances that I can find for East Lancashire athletes at London after trying to take into account age and gender. The results split the age groups into ten year bands instead of the five year groupings seen at most road races, so veterans at the upper end of their ages - such as Norma Smith (58) and Kitty Garnett (67) - have performed much better than their positions in class would imply. Men 19 Michael Green (Blackburn Harriers) 2:18:31, 67 Paul Thompson (Clayton-le-Moors Harriers) 2:30:45, 95 Simon Smith (Darwen Dashers) 2:34:11, 123 Brian Cole (Royal Navy) 2:36:53, 215 (38th M40) Peter Banks (Blackburn Harriers) 2:41:42, 250 (2nd M50) Mick Nester (Blackburn Road Runners) 2:43:09, 459 (14th M50) Peter Butterworth (Clayton-le-Moors Harriers) 2:49:42, 493 Jason Harbour (Clayton-le-Moors Harriers) 2:50:41, 728 Brent Hoggan (Accrington Road Runners) 2:55:32, 757 Martin Wilcock (Blackburn Road Runners) 2:55:58, 785 (M40) Graham Cunliffe (Clayton-le-Moors Harriers) 2:56:25, 796 Adrian Shorrock (Blackburn Harriers) 2:56:35, 1131 (M40) Mark Ellithorn (Chorley Harriers) 3:01:28, 1164 (M40) Neil Holding (West Pennine Runners) 3:01:53, 1237 (78th M50) Stephen White (Clayton-le-Moors Harriers) 3:03:05, 1270 Mark Chippendale (Bowland Fell Runners) 3:03:34, 1272 (M40) Martin Terry (Clayton-le-Moors Harriers) 3:03:36, 1317 Michael Hunt (Pendle AC) 3:04:24, 1437 (105th M50) Mick Green (Clayton-le-Moors Harriers) 3:06:03, 1517 Andy Farnworth (Blackburn Harriers) 3:07:05, 1616 Gareth Williams (Pendle AC) 3:08:27, 1719 (M40) Russ Corsini (Darwen Dashers) 3:09:34, 1991(M40) Alan Clarkson (Clayton-le-Moors Harriers) 3:12:14, 2216 (M40) Geoff Biscomb (Accrington Road Runners) 3:14:31, 2327 Kieron Mitchell (Clayton-le-Moors Harriers) 3:15:48, 2450 Alexander Cran (Clayton-le-Moors Harriers) 3:17:03, 2458 (M50) Tony Hurn (Darwen Dashers) 3:17:09 Good for Age: 3077 (M50) Andrew Carter (Clayton-le-Moors Harriers) 3:23:55, 3259 (M50) Graham Schofield (Chorley Harriers) 3:25:26, 3720 (M50) Jeffrey Pickup (Clayton-le-Moors Harriers) 3:28:31,3850 (M50) Peter Stansfield (Rossendale Harriers) 3:29:27, 4095 (51st M60) Malcolm Bradley (Accrington Road Runners) 3:31:20, 15538 (30th M70) John Payn (Chorley AC) 4:34:54, 21837 Jim Munn (76th M70) (Chorley AC) 5:25:04 Women 24 Pauline Powell (Blackburn Harriers) 2:43:26, 53 Louise Cooper (Belgrave Harriers) 2:56:30, 105 Linda Clarkson (Darwen Dashers) 3:04:12, 256 Donna Beardmore (Accrington Road Runners) 3:18:10, 398 Tracy Mitchell (Clayton-le-Moors Harriers) 3:25:17, 448 Sue Corsini (Darwen Dashers) 3:27:20, 468 Dany Robson (Clayton-le-Moors Harriers) 3:27:58, 686 Julia Parker (Accrington Road Runners) 3:36:03, 726 Sarah Ridehalgh (Accrington Road Runners) 3:37:28, 978 Davina Raidy (Rossendale Harriers) 3:45:03, 1033 (F40) Glenda Dobie (Red Rose Road Runners) 3:46:35, 1274 (65th F50) Maureen Hartley (Accrington Road Runners) 3:52:09, 1625 (99th F50) Norma Smith (Blackburn Road Runners) 3:57:55, 1820 (F40) Anne Croft (Red Rose Road Runners) 4:01:08, 1867 Christine Hamilton (Blackburn Road Runners) 4:02:20 Good for Age: 4610 (41st F60) Kitty Garnett (Clayton-le-Moors Harriers) 4:38:47 |
| Andy McAllister |