Rob Danson Repeated His 2015 Win in the Palma Half Marathon Last Week with an Improvement

Lytham Hall parkrun club takeover by Wesham

Rob Danson repeated his 2015 win in the Palma Half Marathon last week with an improvement of 1 min 18 sec to hit the top slot again this year with a time of 1:11:05, over a minute clear of second place. With a fast first 10k of 32:56 and 5km splits of 16:15 and 16:41 he eased off slightly in the heat of the second half through the town with 34:11 to 20k but kept the pressure on right to the finish line. Preston’s popular Gary Pennington was 6th in 1:15:18. Troy Watson was the second Wesham finisher in 119th place in 1:31:55, 18th M45 with 42:39 and 44:07 10k splits. Nicola Unsworth was 369th and 7th W45 in 1:42:07 for the 13.1 miles. Helen Lawrenson ran the 10k and she finished 134th in 46:19, 3rd W45. Stephen Browne was 165th in 47:53; Nigel Shepherd was 197th in 48:45, 10th M55, and Kerry Eccles 313th with 51:52 placing 8th W50.

Wesham had a good showing in the Fairclough 5 mile race on Sunday morning around the lanes of Stanah from the Wyre Country Park. Jason Barlow was the first Wesham runner to finish in 8th place with a time of 30:09 for 3rd Over-40. Brother Lee was 15th in 30:56 5th Over-40 in a close race with club mate Paul Gregory who finished 17th in 31:03. The Wesham men won the male team. Peter Cruse was 3rd Over-50 and 24th in 32:21. Nigel Shepherd was 32nd and 5th Over-50 in 34:09, while Alan Hudson was 2nd Over-60 and also 1st M65 in 34:20 for 35th place. Martin Bates was 40th in 34:59 just ahead of Nicola Unsworth who finished 6th woman and 2nd Over-40 in 35:15. Kath Hoyer was 15th woman and 4th Over-50 in 39:05, 62nd overall. Michaela Dempsey was 17th woman and 5th Over-50 with a time of 39:24. Kerry Eccles was 76th in 41:38; Tanya Barlow 84th in 43:17; Debbie Myerscough 102nd in 46:59; Chris Moss 51st 37:29; Ben Wrigley 63rd 39:11; Phil Leaver 68th 39:31; alan taylor 71st 39:49; Dave Youbg 74th 40:59; Dave Waywell 42:02 1st M70; Finlay McCalman 79th 42:05; Paul Carter 83rd 42:59; John Howorth 97th 45:27; George Flanagan 122nd 56:29. Kath Hoyer finished 16th woman in the Standish Hall Trail Run near Wigan on Saturday afternoon and won the W55 category in 53:49 for the undulating 6-mile trail course.

Wesham undertook a club takeover at the Lytham Hall parkrun on Saturday and had a total of 26 runners and 20 helpers laying out and marshalling the course and counting and timing in the 242 finishers. Rob Danson ran the course in tandem with Blackpool’s Luke Minns with the two of them recording the fastest time of the day at 16:41. Lee Barlow ran 18:45 (M40 75.02%); Steve Myerscough (his first parkrun away from Preston in 113 runs!) 19:02 (M40 72.77%); Simon Denye 19:12; Carl Groome 19:57 (M45 72.18%); Arran Galvin 20:11; Stuart Topping 21:09; Helen Lawrenson 21:22 (W45 74.04%); Jonathan Lawson 21:39; Nicola Unsworth 21:41 (W45 73.94%); Robert Brown 24:16; Phil Leaver 24:21; Garry Barnett providing pace at 24:55; Robert Danson 25:53; Diane Blagden 26:18; Paul Carter 26:40; Maureen Danson 27:08; Caz Wadsworth 27:30; Kim McGuire 28:20; Anne Berry 28:44; George Helme 28:45; Ben Wrigley 29:16; Debbie Bell 29:19; Wendy Monnelly 30:47; Lynn Brown 36:57; and sweep runner George Flanagan 41:30.