Records Tumble at Keswick's 'Round the Houses' Race

All three records were broken at Keswick AC's annual 'Round the Houses' 10k road race on Wednesday night. The event also saw a near record turnout with nearly 200 runners turning out for a midweek classic.

The route starts and finishes in Fitz Park and includes a circuit of the town via the Hospital, Main St and the dreaded Manor Brow. On a balmy evening the entire route was lined with spectators enjoying the sunshine, making for a fantastic atmosphere.

The mens race was won by some distance by James Douglas in 31.32, who also completed a hat-trick of victories and course records since the course was extended in 2013.

                                          James Douglas cruising to victory
Winning the ladies race was Keswick's very own Hannah Horsburgh in another record time of 38.39, and completing the trio of records was Sam Stead who set a new Keswick AC record of 33.32.

                                                       Hannah Horsburgh - new ladies record
Despite being weakened by providing a tremendous 37 volunteers to organise the event, Keswick also bagged the mens and ladies team prizes, providing the icing on the cake for what was already a hugely successful evening for the club.

Men:
1. J. Douglas (Border) - 31.32
2. S. Stead (Keswick) - 33.32
3. Mark Lamb (Keswick) - 34:07

Ladies:
19. Hannah Horsburgh (Keswick) - 38.39
48.  Karen Bridge (Eden) - 41.45
55. Viv Winter (Derwent) - 42.17

Keswick:
14. Jonny Hume 37.36
17. Adam Campion 38.18 (PB)
26. Steve Freeman 39.31 (1st V50)
27. Simon Jackson 39.40 (PB)
36. John Beetham 40.32
40. Rob Jones - 41.14
68. Stuart Edginton - 43.31
83. Louise Winter - 45.37
86. Craig Dring - 46.04
87. Keith Loan - 46.10
90. David Rice - 46.31
98. Lindsey Welch - 47.27
108. Louise Brown - 48.25
118. Joanne Kierney - 49.08
123. John Shaw - 49.40
139. Adrian Holme - 51.57
160. Suzanne Gilmore - 54.58
165. Linda Jubb - 55.44
169. Ella Scott - 56.20
179. Rachael Collins - 60.13

Keswick Take On Nation's Finest at National Championships

Keswick AC rose to the occasion of their first National 12 Stage Road Relays on Saturday, finishing 45th. The team were also the 14th highest placed Northern club - a superb result for a club with less than 200 first claim members.

The National 12 Stage Road Relay at Sutton Park is a classic event of the athletics calendar, and over the years has seen many of the greats of British distance running take part -Dave Moorcroft, Seb Coe, Brendan Foster, and Mo Farah to name just a few- and every year is of a high standard giving an opportunity  young runners to race against international athletes.

The event was again held at Road Running's equivalent of Wembley Stadium, Sutton Park in Birmingham. Despite the bright sunny day making for great spectating conditions the route was quite exposed and a brisk wind coupled with an undulating route made the challenge for the athletes all the more compelling. The spectators, many of whom consisted of runners waiting their turn, based themselves either side of the finishing straight. The Keswick boys made sure each of their compatriots were given an encouraging cheer as they slogged their way up the uphill finish.

The format of the 12-stage saw six runners having to tackle a long leg of 5.5 miles and the remaining sixmembers had to do a shorter 3.5 mile leg. 

Club captain Steve Hebblethwaite had selected a strong quartet of runners to tackle the longer legs.  Sam Stead kicked off the Keswick challenge on the first leg against an elite field headed by National XC Champion Charlie Hulson. Thriving off the electric atmosphere, he set Keswick's fastest long leg of the day in 29:13 to return the team in 34th place.  Pete George then ran a superb 3rd leg in 32.46 despite struggling with an achilles problem, but perhaps the gutsiest performance of the day went to Chris Brewer whose effort clear to see as he headed down the finishing straight of his leg of 32.56. Pat Malkinson followed with 33.20, and Keswick's strategy of placing stronger runners towards the end of the field paid off as Marc Brown (29:23) and captain Steve Hebblethwaite (29:41) clawed back 3 and 4 places respectively.

Interspersed with these runs were shorter legs run by Rob Wynne, Ian Davies, Rob Jones, Steve Jones, John Curran and Adam Campion, who demonstrated the strength in depth possessed by the club. Every runner is on their own personal journey and it is no different in this team - Rob W, Ian and John are all returning after injury, Steve Jones is training for an Ultra Marathon, Adam Campion for the Edinburgh Marathon and Rob Jones, competing in his first relay for the club, is chasing a long term target of a sub--40 10k. These individual journeys were set aside for a day and each athlete put their body on the line for their teammates, displaying some impressive times in the process. Of particular note was Ian Davies. who showed he is getting back to his best by setting the fastest short leg of the day for Keswick in 18:37. Adam Campion put the icing of the cake by finsihing the club in 44th place.

 44  Keswick Aac                         5:03:15
Sam Stead        (34) 29:13
        Rob Wynne        (47) 19:07
        Peter George     (48) 32:43
        Ian Davies       (51) 18:37
        Chris Brewer     (51) 32:56
        Steve Jones      (53) 20:17
        Patrick Malkinso (54) 33:20
        Robert Jones     (54) 20:15
        Marc Brown       (51) 29:23
        John Curran      (50) 19:02
        S Hebblethwaite  (46) 29:41
        Adam Campion     (45) 18:41

At the head of the field, Morpeth Harriers took their first ever Men's 12 Stage title and Aldershot, Farnham & District continued their dominance of Women's running by winning the 6 Stage title. 

Northern 12-stage Road Relay

For the second successive year Keswick AC has entered the Northern Athletics Road Relay Championships.  Prior to 2014, the Club had never before entered the prestigious 12-stage relay but with an increasing interest in road running, and the emergence of some real road-running talent within the Club, 2014 was a landmark as Keswick sent a team to Heaton Park in Manchester.  It was to prove an enjoyable experience and the Club put in a sound performance, finishing 28^th and mixing it with some of the strongest running clubs from the North of England.  But with the top-25 clubs automatically qualifying for the National equivalent, there was a little disappointment that Keswick had narrowly missed out on making it to the illustrious English Championships.

So it was a resolute group of 12 Keswick AC runners who travelled down to Sefton Park in Liverpool determined to finish within the top-25 and guarantee a place at the National 12-stage in Birmingham.

Sefton Park was to prove an excellent venue for the 12-stage road relay.  The course designed was exclusively on paths which weaved their way around the leafy confines of the park and it was a picturesque venue for runners, marshals and spectators alike. The nature of the route made it perfect for spectators to watch the race unfold and also allowed runners to cheer on their club colleagues as they tackled their respective legs.

The format of the 12-stage saw four runners having to tackle a long leg of 4.9 miles and the remaining eight members had to do a shorter 2.4 mile leg.  Some strategy has to be employed in deciding the running order of the team; some clubs preferred to stack their stronger runners at the head of the field to establish a strong start whilst others looked to put their speed merchants towards the end with a view to making up valuable places towards the finale of the relay.

Club captain Steve Hebblethwaite had selected a strong quartet of runners to tackle the longer legs.  Marc Brown led the way on the fierce opening leg clocking an excellent time of 25:05.  Sam Stead, on the third leg, was to achieve the fastest long-leg time of the day for the Keswick runners, running a superb 24:36.  Peter George, despite feeling under the weather for most of the week, put in an excellent 27:12 for the fifth leg and Steve Hebblethwaite concluded the longer-legs with a strong 25:12 on the seventh leg.

Interspersed with these runs were shorter legs run by Patrick Malkinson (making his debut for Keswick AC), Christopher Edis, Adam Campion and Andrew Slattery.  For some of these runners, tarmac is an alien concept, as their focus is very much on fell-running.  But the performances on the day clearly demonstrated that these fell-runners possess some decent road speed as Patrick ran 13:40, Chris 13:39, Adam 14:03 and Andrew 14:05.

Keeping track of overall positions throughout the relay is a tricky business as clubs are perpetually lapping other teams and positions are continuously changing.  But with two-thirds of the race done the impression was that Keswick AC was hovering just within the top-25. 

So it was down to the final four runners to put in solid runs to cement that position and guarantee a place at the Nationals.  And they duly delivered with Ian Davies clocking 14:16, Steve Jones 14:52, Rob Wynne 14:08 and Chris Brewer 13:35 (the fastest short-leg from a Keswick AC runner).

The feeling was that this team performance was enough to secure Keswick AC a tremendous 20^th position.  But there was to be a dramatic turn of events on the final leg at the head of the field as both Liverpool Harriers teams went astray on their own stamping ground.  This led to disqualification and Keswick AC was promoted to 18^th place.  This was a fantastic result for such a small running club and they can now look forward to battling with the country’s elite when they travel down to Birmingham for the National 12-stage road relay.

The navigational error from Liverpool Harriers was to open the door for Leeds City Athletic Club.  The Yorkshire based club took advantage of Liverpool’s mistake and took the Northern title in a time of 3:11:10.  Taking the other podium positions were Morpeth Harriers (3:12:07) and Salford Harriers (3:12:42).

Leeds City were to make it a double victory as their ladies took victory in the equivalent women’s 6-stage.  It was to be a dominant performance as they went onto clock 1:47:20, over four minutes ahead of Stockport Harriers who finished second in 1:51:41 who were closely followed in by Rotherham Harriers (1:51:54).