Horwich Jubilee 5 mile Race - By Garry Baines

26 A&T members made their way to the environs of Rivington on a sticky evening on Wednesday to compete in the Horwich Jubilee 5 mile road race. The race was part of the CLGP and as result the field was boosted to 160 runners.

The prolific Ben Fish of Blackburn Harriers easily won the race in a time of 24.27 a full I min and 21 seconds ahead of his nearest rival.

For A&T Simon Ford, in a rich vein of form, crossed the line as 1st finisher in 29.18. Pete Chan in 29.50 fought off the challenge of Shaun Moran who was the 3rd A&T finisher in 30.01.

Terry Gardiner produced a fantastic run to knock almost 2 minutes of his PB to record 32.09. One of his victims in the finishing straight was Alan Hilton with 32.17. Craig Bradbury’s fitness continues to improve and a time of 33.34 was a just reward. Not far behind was Marcus Taylor, running solidly for 33.53. Rufus Bennett completed his first race of the year after serious injury and despite slowing down a couple of times still managed to cross in 34.15, just staving off the challenge of Mark Lysycia in 34.22.

I was pleased to get near to the 7 min/mile mark with 35.12 and Ian Hamilton ran well for 36.57. Glyn Thomson in 38.14 and Dave Crowe 38.28 finished within sight of each other and Paul Basnett stuck it out well for 41.35.

For the Ladies, Joanne Iborra made a rare outing in the blue vest, and promptly finished 1st for A&T and 2nd overall in an excellent time of 32.14. For once Josie Maley played second fiddle, but still finished third overall with 32.49, collecting a “non-alcoholic” prize on this occasion.

Brenda Wane, currently in the throes of marathon training, was 3rd A&T lady home in 36.36.

Carole Baines finished very strongly and smashed her PB with a time of 37.24. Michaela Shaw continues to make progress back towards full fitness and clipped 33 seconds off her time from the same race in June for 38.09.

A host of PBs followed, including Suzanne Gregory 38.33, Michelle Fuller 42.39 and Laura Babynec 43.58. Sandwiched in between was Vanessa Thomson with 43.54.

Denise Babynec stuck to the task well for 46.59 and it was good to see Helen Minshall racing again who came in 1 second ahead of Emma Carter with 48.21.

The next CLGP and Club Race is the 4.4 mile Chorley Trail Race and takes place on 4th August at 7.30pm. Let’s all get out there again for that one!

Attached are the up-to-date positions in the Road Champs after Wednesday's race.  Click on the links below to view the tables.

Men

Ladies