Horwich 5 Race Report by Garry Baines

Horwich 5 – 20^th July 2011

28 A&T runners, accompanied by a combination of parents, children, recovering athletes and cyclists, turned out for the Horwich 5 mile race at Rivington last night.

The field was strong and was headed by the outstanding Ben Fish from Blackburn who completed the course in 24’ 37” and beat the next man in by over a minute. Horwich filled positions 2, 3 and 4 and generally provided strong competition.

First home for A&T was Lewis Eccleston in an electric time of 27:39, taking the prize for first Junior Male in the process. Particularly impressive was his powerful surge over the last 250mts which saw him overtake an experienced Bolton United athlete.

Pete Chan tucked in behind Simon Ford on the first lap of the race but got the better of him at the line with 28:54 – Simon recorded 29:19. Next in was Mark Riches with 29:43, who, as ever, keeps turning in consistent performances. Alan Hilton enjoyed a tremendous race, outflanking teammates who are normally in sight of him, and knocking almost a minute off his PB with 30:08. Next came Gary Stevens, who started the race in pre-holiday mood, but produced a satisfying time of 30:50. Hot on his heels were Steve Coleman 31;02, Troy Topping 31:07, Kevin Edwards 31:13 and Rufus Bennett 31:22.

Marcus Taylor 34:04, Mark Lysycia 34:35 and Dale Kenyon 35:09 crossed the line in a cluster with Nasser and Ian Hamilton bagging 36min plus times. Other finishers for the men were an off-colour Robin Chan, Wayne Babynec, Paul Basnett, Barry Allman and Dave Crowe.

The Ladies had a great evening and walked away with the Team Prize.

First home was Maria Lowe, who looks to be returning to form, in a time of 31:12 and outpaced the 2^nd placed runner by over a minute. Josey Maley finished 4^th overall with her 32:52 and Jean Mann pushed hard for 34:37.

Carole Baines 37:01 and Suzanne Gregory 37:47 both recorded PBs for the course, whilst the ever-improving Laura Babynec comfortably beat her sub-40 target in 39:36. Tracy Parry enjoyed a rare outing on the road and finished in 44:26, whilst Cath Hodgetts stuck to the task well for 47:13.

The next club race is the flat 10 mile Elswick Express on 23^rd July.