Fairhurst Claims Victory at Club 5k Whilst Sale Dominates in Slovenia

Last week saw a return to the calendar of the Club 5K, which was founded in 2001 and, in a nice touch of continuity, race organiser Pete Ramsdale started in that initial race and club President Stuart Westhead was present as support on both occasions. A pleasantly large field of 24 runners took their marks and in a hard-fought scrap, Sam Fairhurst took first place in 17:15, just three seconds ahead of George Burton, who pushed him all the way. Julian Goudge rounded off the podium in a time of 17:48.

Sam Sale, on the other hand, fancied something more on the wild side instead of the track as she took on the Sky Trail 50K in the far north-west of Slovenia. This started close to the Austrian border in the village of Zirovnica, climbing up to follow the border for several kilometres and finishing in Kranjska Gora, almost at the point where the Slovene, Austrian and Italian borders meet. On a course with over 3,000 metres of elevation, Sale impressively took first position in her V50 age group, coming home in 8:36:51.

Some members fancy more than just running. Matthew Wilson decided to mix in a bit of cycling with his pair of runs at the Ray McGloin Duathlon on a hilly course featuring ascents (and thankfully also the odd descent) of Smithills Dean Road and Scout Road on a cycle route that took participants over to Abbey Village and back. A trail route on the run around Horrocks Fold Woods was a stern test to be handled twice, but he came third in 1:44:30, less than four minutes behind the winner.

A couple of runners even fancied mixing up the terrain, as Tony Hesketh and Graham Schofield headed to Hyndburn on a wet day to take on the undulating two-lap Hyndburn 10K road and trail race. Schofield took second V65 in 48 minutes precisely, just 11 seconds behind the age group winner, whilst Hesketh took the V75 category in 1:04:37.

The parkrun set found international representation again as Paul Kaye was in the Polish spa town of Kudowa-Zdroj to run a course which got to within metres of the Czech border, taking first in his V55 age group in 22:52. Isaac Parker blasted around Coldham Common’s course in Cambridge in 19:24 and on more local terrains, Robert Jackson did 18:58 at Sale Water, Gillian Smith did 36:23 at Haigh Woodland, Jason Middleton took on Bolton’s hilly thrash and ran 25:48, and Michael Crook stopped the clock after 38:32 at Pennington Flash. On top of that, the Seddons, Robert and Mark, got around Stretford’s fast course in 18:04 and 24:43 respectively, Gordon Stone went under 30 at Worden in clocking 29:24 and Richard Pollitt had fun at Worsley Woods, taking third place overall in 18:24.