Loftus Athletic Club - Road Running

The Loftus and Whitby trip to the Lakes once again took place with a smaller number than usual signing up for the race and the supporters club limited to the Herbert family.
However with the late entry of John Hunter the possibility of prizes grew.
Loftus and Whitby Womens presence was limited to Adele and Claire Fowler who were both running easy prior to next weeks London marathon. Claire brought her own group of runners and supporters from the Fitness Machine and Family.
The race set off in wintry conditions but with the wind on the runners back. A lead group of 4 soon broke away containing two of our runners, Alec and John, Rob Williamson was not far behind. The last member of the mens team Neil was further behind running a solid but steady race.
Alec soon stretched away from the rest of the field and continued running strongly to the finish in 74mins, winning by 3 minutes and showing the last six weeks of uninterrupted training had paid dividends. He will now concentrate on faster running and the track.
John was busy having a very competitive race coming 3rd out of the 1300 runners and first vet by 7 minutes.
Rob has enjoyed an improvement of racing lately and continued that into his Coniston run finishing 33rd in 91 mins. Neil was some distance behind, disappointed to finish 116th in 98mins.
In the team event Loftus managed to take 2nd place.

Claire and Adele both enjoyed the scenic race knowing that their pain will arrive next week. Claire still ran a quick 1:45 and Adele was pleased with her 2:01. Good luck next week!

On Saturday 15th March, four members of Loftus and Whitby AC travelled to Wigan to take part in the Haigh Hall Relays. This is the first time the club has entered the race.
It was a cold and overcast afternoon as the relays got under way. First for Loftus and Whitby, was second-claim runner Rob Cole, making his debut for the club. Rob had a terrific first leg, breaking the course record by 4 seconds – handing over to Steve Musset in a time of 19 mins, 32 secs. Steve, who is more at home on the track, had a very strong run, holding third place as he passed on to England international Steve Hepples in a time of 22 mins, 11secs. Hepples showed great form by smashing the course record for the second time in the afternoon with a time of 18 mins, 42 secs, handing over to the Peter Pan of athletics (!) John Hunter. Hunter did not just consolidate but stretched the lead by a further minute, crossing the finish line in 20 mins, 47 secs, giving him the eighth fastest time of the day and also the leading Vet runner.
Loftus and Whitby’s winning time was 1 hour 21 mins and 12 secs. Second team was Horwich RMI Harriers and 3rd – Bolton United Harriers AC.

On Sunday 16th March, Loftus and Whitby AC won the NYSD (North Yorkshire and South Durham) Cross Country League senior men’s title for the third consecutive year. Congratulations to everyone involved with the club.

Alan Duffy was a long time member of Loftus AC. On the 20th June 1997 Alan, a local Police Officer, then based at Saltburn was riding his cycle on Brotton Bank from the direction of Carlin How, toward Brotton at around 5.40am, en-route to Saltburn Police Office for a 7.am start. The roads were quiet and it was June therefore daylight. No obvious dangers as Alan peddled up the bank, until a car travelling from Brotton down to Carlin How lost control and swerved violently to the right fully across the road colliding with Alan, killing him instantly.

Alan, was in the purest sense one of life's gentleman. An accomplished sportsman in many sports he always had a smile on his face and was the very best of company. During the winter months Alan would accompany Kevin Ryder, Welsh Steve, Martin Hubbard, Arnie Barber (deceased) Ted Jardine (deceased) Tex Hutchinson and Peter Clifford on long Sunday runs ranging from 11 - 22 miles in preparation for spring half and full marathons.

God Bless you Alan, you will forever be in our thoughts.

PC

I would like to echo the comments made by Peter.
Alan was indeed a true gentleman.

Mark Walker 29.06.07

New PB for Hepples more
Chester Half report here

Tees Barrage 10k May 2007
Ladies win Team Trophy

The course, based on the banks of the Tees was interesting with lots of twists and turns and a variety of surfaces. Because of the course and strong wind, times were never going to be good, so it was just a case of racing and coping with the weather.

Julie Mastrolanardo ran a very strong mid section of the race moving up to 2nd position, she comfortably held on to her form and finished in 40:40 with Louise Noble from Sunderland being the only Lady ahead and finishing 28th out of the whole field. Nicola Kent continued her return to form and finished 5th Lady picking up the vets prize and posting a time of 42:42. Her position of 52nd out of a total field of 320 also shows the strength of her run.

Third counter for the team was Adele Thompson. Having only run a few miles since completing the London Marathon two weeks ago she found racing very hard and was happy just to get round! However her position meant that the 3 Ladies won another team trophy for Loftus and Whitby.

Neil Duffield

Hartlepool Marina 5 mile Road Race 1st April 2007

The Loftus Senior Men's pirates sailed into the Hartlepool Marina to plunder the team prize from under the noses of the Hartlepool Burn Road Harriers. Led home by Alec Duffield in 2nd place backed up by the ever improving Paul Wildmore and BIll Bingham. Also a fine performance from Julie Mastrolonardo who finished a creditable third place.
Results

Andrew Pearson

Stephen Hepples, ran another personal best recording 29.31 in the Manchester 10K. Hepples finishing in 18th place ( 8th British runner) in the arguably the best ever 10 k ever assembled in the UK. Hepples, cautious at the start let the African runners go and concentrated on picking up as many British runners as possible. Over the final 3K Hepples picked up those runners who had gone off too fast and were paying the price. Hepples, previous best 10 K time set in 2004 was eclipsed by just one second as he took a magnificent 18th place, doing all his best wok in the latter stages.

RESULTS - men: 1 M Kogo (Kenya) 27:21; 2 Z Tadesse (Eritrea) 27:24; 3 M Farah (GB) 28:07; 4 J-M Martinez (Spain) 28:09; 5 P Makau Musyoki (Kenya) 28:42; 6 R Silva (Portugal) 28:50; 7 M Geele (GB) 28:55, 8 W Chinhanhu (GB) 29:03; 9, J Ward (GB) 29:07; 10 I Hudspith (GB) 29:08; 11 Y Hychun (Ukraine) 29:11; 12 D Webb (GB) 29:12; 13 I Galan (Spain) 29:12; 14 D Robinson (GB) 29:12; 15 R Russell (GB) 29:16; 18 S Hepples (GB) 29:31; 48 C Sampson (Morp) 31:11.
Peter Clifford

The sun was shining, the course challenging and the people friendly! This was a race that I had targeted and my build up to it could not have gone better……that is until 6 days before the race I came down with a stinker of a cold. Determined to run I managed to shake off the bugs using a mixture of vitamin C, lots of water and lots of rest!

My aim was a sub 75 half which I thought was achievable given recent results and the training I had been doing. Not one to shirk a challenge I set off at a quick pace and went through 3 miles in under 17 mins, 6 miles in under 34 mins and was on target right up until 9 miles. At 9 miles a steady climb (which lasted for about a mile!) saw me start to struggle. The combination of heat, the dreaded cold, heavy legs and the hill saw me slip out of my target time. I was also passed by three local runners who were obviously fairing better than me.

A steady finish, under no pressure from anyone behind, was on the cards…no reason to bust a gut – no places to be gained or lost so I relaxed and enjoyed (?) the last three miles at a shade outside 6 minute miling.

I finished 10th overall (9th Senior Male) out of a field of just under 2000 runners in a time of 77-22.

The race is a great race, really scenic (if you like country lanes) and you get to run onto the famous Roodee Racecourse in Chester as a finishing straight.