Macclesfield Half Marathon, Great Langdale races

[STEVE LOMAS]

Dear All,

This year, the Macclesfield Half Marathon took a record number of entries and so a huge amount of money has been raised today for charity.
Proceeds are to be split 50:50 between the East Cheshire Hospice and the Macclesfield Harriers’ track appeal.

The race now seems to be more widely known amongst the north-west’s running community and is becoming a favourite event to enter with its challenging and scenic route. The junior fun run is also becoming very popular.

A large amount of Club members were out in force to help ensure the smooth running of the whole event. The Macclesfield Half Committee wishes to thank all the Club volunteers who undertook various tasks on the day.

There were odd spells of fairly light rain but weather conditions were mainly dry for the duration of the event. It was, however, quite windy, which made for a good running temperature but the wind’s strength may have slightly slowed the runners’ finishing times.

The full results are here;
http://www.ukresults.net/2011/macchalf.html

There were one or two casualties amongst the entry field. Harriers’ own James Noakes was in third position at stages of the race but he became unwell at the 11th mile stage. He was taken to hospital but it is a big relief that he has now been passed off and is now well and at home.

Fellow Club member Colin Ardron was also in a good position but unfortunately had to pull out during the race due to a foot tendon problem. He expects to be back racing very soon.

There were some very fine performances throughout the field as follows;

Overall first 3 places;
1st Tom Charles of Trafford AC , 1:10:33
2nd Tarus Elly of Salford Harriers, 1:11:01
3rd Matthew Shaw of Salford Harriers, 1:13:46

Overall first 3 ladies’;
1st Jessica Oliver-Bell of Trafford AC , 1:28:48
2nd (and overall first lady vet) Alison Drasdo of Trafford AC, 1:29:29
3rd Diane McVey of Wilmslow RC, 1:29:48

Overall first vet;
Rob Downs of Wilmslow RC, 1:14:52

Overall first F60;
Harriers’ Cynthia Chapman, 1:59:36

Harriers’ results;
Timothy Pattison, 1:19:21 (11th place)
Stephen Ingram, 1:26:42 (35th place)
Richard Gay, 1:37:54
Rachael Lawrance, 1:39:05 (10th lady)
Marc Bradford, 1:40:45
Tessa Montague, 1:41:21 (11th lady)
Geoff Pettengell, 1:41:37
Andy Ardron, 1:42:31
Brian West, 1:45:38
Andrew McEvoy, 1:45:53
Sally Ann Hales, 1:46:07
Zoe Carter, 1:47:35
Kevin McQue, 1:48:16
Sarah Woolley, 1:51:11
Doug Hughes, 1:55:18
Tracey Wardle, 1:58:12
Andrew Wardle, 1:59:17
Cynthia Chapman, 1:59:36
Susannah Middleton, 2:01:21

Helen Evans and Julian Brown ran in Saturday’s Great Langdale Marathon. This is a measured road marathon and as one might expect, very hilly in places.

The full results aren’t published yet but it is believed that Julian finished in 5th place in around 3 hours 20 minutes and Helen was 5th lady and about 20th overall in about 3 hours 40 minutes.

Jo Miles took part in the associated Great Langdale Half Marathon and she completed the very tough route in 1 hour 49 minutes (good chance that she was first F45 in the race).

A Harriers’ men’s team took part in Saturday’s Northern 6 stage Road Relays, staged at Birchwood Park, Warrington. The team comprised of Phil Shering, Tim Stock, Craig Harwood, Phil Barnes, Martin Platt and Steve Lomas.

The team finished 86th behind some very fast teams from Clubs' across the north of England.
Leeds City won the overall event, followed by Morpeth Harriers and then Derby AC.

The full results are here;
http://www.noeaa-athletics.org.uk/FileU ... esults.PDF

One will see that the Harriers’ individual names are not listed. When entering on-line, an e-mail link did not work and so the running order had to be submitted by e-mail and it looks like the names weren’t, therefore, automatically collated (the event is chip timed).

The team enjoyed the brilliant atmosphere that prevailed during the event and were able to watch some of the north’s quickest runners in action. The event was very well organised.

Tim (22:28) and Martin ran the two quickest individual times for Macclesfield.

Johnny Mellor of Liverpool Harriers ran the overall quickest time of the day in 17:18.

Many thanks to all the Harriers’ team that took part in the event.

A lot of Club members will have in mind to run the Club’s own Langley 7 Road Race, which takes place on Saturday, 5th November at 2.00pm. Please note that, on occasions, the race can become full before the day of the event. So it may be best for anyone interested in running that they pre-enter.

On-line entries can be made here;
http://www.ukresults.net/11nov.html#langley

Finally, please note that at the recent Gawsworth 10K, I missed reporting Cynthia Chapman’s result from the race. As in today's half marathon, Cynthia ran extremely well and was first F60 in the race in 56:44.

Best regards,
Steve