Gin Pit 5 Race Report - by Garry Baines

Race Report – Gin Pit 5

CLGP Title retained

In a record field of over 200 entrants, we managed to retain the Central Lancs Grand Prix title for a second consecutive year at the Gin Pit 5 yesterday. The results have not been officially announced but I’ve had the abacus out and confidently stand by this statement. For good measure we also added the Veterans and ‘B’ Team titles with the Ladies finishing 2nd behind Burnden Road Runners.
The race itself was won by local runner, Neil Pendlebury, now representing Horwich and was supported by another 4 or 5 of their top runners. However this wasn’t enough to oust the trophy from our hands and we showed our strength in depth by providing 10 of the top 40 finishers in a strong field and 32 runners overall.
First home for A&T was Paul Mannion in 28:51, hotly pursued by a bang in-form Simon Ford just 7 seconds behind.
Next came new Head Coach, Peter Chan in 29:30, with Shaun Moran, back after a lengthy lay-off, showing all his old experience to clock 30:14.
Two exceptional runs were produced by the ever-improving Rufus Bennett in 30:24 and Mark Riches in 30:39, who just did enough to hold off the challenge of daughter Laura of Leigh Harriers, who took the female Junior prize.
Another improving runner is Gary Atherton, who got round the course in 31:31.
Steve Coleman 31:40, Malc Collins 31:43, Mark Ruscoe 32:10 and Mary-Anne Tracey-Aguera 32:14 all scored vital points for the club and were ably supported by Derek Coop, Joanne Iborra (look out for the new name next season),Alan Hilton, Craig Little, Steve Foster, Mark Lysycia, Paul Jackson and yours truly, who all dipped below the 35 minute mark. Marcus Taylor just missed out on joining this group by 10 seconds.
Ian ‘Bacon Mon’ Hamilton looked fresh as he crossed the line in 36:36 and was followed by first-time racers Tony Quinn and Dave Crowe who both recorded encouraging times of 36:47 and 37:12 respectively.
Ray Taylor was pleased with his course PB of 38:24 and Mark Crowley’s fitness is improving all the time in the build up to that 2010 marathon.
After a hard cross-country race at Kendal, Michelle Fairclough showed great stamina to register 40:30 and it was great to see a number of our newer lady runners on the course. With little training Sarah Jackson produced a solid run of 42:38 – Paul may be under pressure to take up more baby-sitting duties in future!
Marjorie Leigh, Laura Babynec, Sonia Gadsby, Vanessa Thomson (complete with injury) and Helen Minshall all ran hard and recorded respectable times.
The 1.8mile Fun Run which preceded the main race was won by Robert Powell of Trafford AC with Georgina Leck of Leigh Harriers in 2nd.
I’m really chuffed that the Club has been able to pull off this trophy haul in my first season as Road Captain and would really like to thank our members who have turned out in numbers in every race and have responded positively to the club cause.
Our next Club Championship race is the Lancaster ½ Marathon on 8th November, where we are under no pressure to score points and where we can all relax, have a good day out and be supportive of some our runners who may be racing this distance for the first time.