Race Review

I put together the below report as a result of some top performances from the Club's runners last weekend.  I haven't been able to get full results from Middle Fell as yet so apologies if I've missed you out.

It was to prove a successful weekend for Keswick AC with some impressive results at the Lorton 10k, the Middle Fell fell race and the Wilmslow Half Marathon.

This year was the fourth running of the Lorton 10k and the weather was near perfect for racing with sunshine, cool temperatures, little wind and no rain.  The race starts in the idyllic village of Lorton, situated just outside Cockermouth and the vale is surrounded by the picturesque Buttermere, Whinlatter and Loweswater fells.  The race route is a testing one with some stiff climbs as the course loops from Lorton down to Loweswater with a return on the east side of the River Cocker.  

The race was the first fixture in the 2015 Keswick AC Road Championship and there was close competition and excellent performances as 16 Club members looked to set down an early-season marker in the Club Championship.

There were victories in the men’s and ladies races for Keswick AC as Sam Stead took the win in 33:42, some 10 seconds ahead of Tom Durcan of Derwent AC (33:53).  Sam has made tremendous strides over the last 12 months and this was emphasised by the fact that he ran 36:31 over the same course in 2014.

In the female face, Hannah Horsburgh and Catherine Spurden scored a one-two for Keswick and there was little separating the two runners.  Hannah finished in 39:07 and Catherine, running her first race over the 10km distance, put in an impressive debut performance of 39:33.

There were a number of other category victories for Keswick AC as Rob Wynne finished first MV50 (40:20), Annabel Holmes was first FV45 (43:10), Steve Harwood was first MV65 (51:19) and Pat Richards was first FV60 (53:37).

Keswick runners were in abundance and a number were to go onto record personal best times which is some feat on the undulating Lorton route.  Club runners included Peter George (36:58), Jonny Hume (37:38), Richard Clarke (42:49), Ross Butler (43:02), Peter Richards (48:48), Emma McKinney (50:34), Kim Clark (50:56), Patric Gilchrist (52:34) and Juliet Grieves (53:30).      

The sun shone on a glorious March afternoon for the Middle Fell fell race in Wasdale.  The race starts from the small village of Nether Wasdale and is 6.6 miles long and includes the 1700’ ascent of Middle Fell.  The route leaves the village and follows the road for a short distance, after which the runners leave the tarmac and can enjoy two miles of relatively flat countryside as they cross the green fields of Nether Wasdale.  As they approach the small cluster of buildings at Greendale, Middle Fell becomes clearly apparent and, with little route choice available, the runners have to make their way to the summit and return via the same way.

There are no official results as yet but Keswick were again well represented.  Tom Addison of Helm Hill was to take the race victory but both Carl Bell (4^th) and Phil Winskill (8^th) were sporting the green and yellow in the top-ten of the field.  But the stand-out performance from the Club came from Jo Gillyon who took victory in the ladies race.

The Wilmslow Half Marathon is a popular and well subscribed half-marathon.  It provides excellent preparation for those looking towards the London Marathon, and with a quick course and stacked field, plenty of opportunity for runners to clock personal best times.

There was a large contingent of Cumbrian runners at the head of the field.  There were two runners from Carlisle-based club Border Harriers; James Douglas (6^th, 1:07:20) and Robert Hodgson (25^th, 1:11:38).  And West Cumbria was represented by Ellenborough AC’s Chris Steele (14^th, 1:10:04).

With each having Marathon aspirations, Keswick’s AC’s Steve Hebblethwaite and Russell Maddams will be well pleased with strong runs at Wilmslow.  Steve managed to score a personal best time, finishing 29^th overall in 1:12:14.  This was over two minutes faster than his 2014 effort over the same course, evidence that his diligent marathon training is paying off.  Russell also had an excellent race and was a mere 14 seconds behind Steve, finishing in 1:12:28 (34^th overall and 8^th MV40).  But the Keswick performance of the day went to Marc Brown.  After a breakthrough season in 2014, Marc is showing further improvement in 2015 and took a massive three minutes off of his half-marathon personal best time.  Marc finished 22^nd overall in a time of 1:11:13.

The race was won by Ben Siwa of Run Fast in a time of 1:04:57 and the female victor was Perendis Lekapana, also of Run Fast, who finished in 1:11:24.