Lostock’s night of celebration as members receive awards
Lostock AC held their annual awards ceremony last week at Spice Valley in Horwich and members celebrated their achievements in the past 12 months.
The first awards were presented to the fell team with Tony Marlow and Nikki Hamerton winning the Midweek Championship.
In the Main Championships, Robert Sharkey won at M40, Tony Marlow won M50 and Mark Checkley M60, while Josie Greenhalgh won F50. The Lakes Championships were won by Tony Marlow and Josie Greenhalgh.
Next to receive their awards were the multi-sport events where Andy Laycock and Rachel Hancock won the award for the Duathlon, Mary White won the Triathlon Sprint, the Olympic Triathlon (standard distance) was won by Nikki Hamerton and David Wilkes. The Long-distance Triathlon was won by Paul Lacey and Melonie Goodall, who both completed the Bolton Ironman.
There were some excellent performances in the cross-country section with Paul Edwards, Jenna Wood, Rachel Hancock, Andy Laycock and Karen Taylor winning awards.
The Road/Trail section had a lot to celebrate. The Midweek Championship was won by Hazel Hatfield and Greg Kilshaw, while in the female section, Hazel Hatfield won FV40, Rachel Hancock topped FV50, Sheila Garewal won FV65 and Gill Caldwell FV70.
In the males, there were commendations for Paul Lacey (MV40), Dave Parry (MV45), Gareth Pratt (MV50), Andy Laycock (MV55), Brian Halton (MV60) and Tony Maxwell (MV65).
There were extra celebrations for Chris Baker who won best improved, Rachel Hancock who won an award for competing across different disciplines and Jo McManus won the award for going above and beyond by organising the club’s new kit. A special thank you was also awarded to Kate and Scott Rotheram for all their work on the Lostock 6.
Despite a night of celebrations on Friday, this did not deter members from running across the weekend.
Twelve Lostockers headed to Smithills Sports Centre to compete in Burnden Road Runners’ Trotter Trails Race – the third race in this season’s Central Lancashire Grand Prix series.
The race saw a new course for 2025, and participants were keen to see what it entailed. The race started on a steep hill up Smithills Dean Road, before turning right to explore the tracks and trails of Smithills.
This is a tough, undulating five-mile race with an elevation gain of almost 650 feet and runners were rewarded with a fast finish downhill before crossing the finish line.
Janet Rhodes had an amazing race and was the first Lostocker to finish in 40mins 25secs. She was fourth female and first in her age category.
Rhodes was followed by Gaz Foulkes (41:01), Greg Kilshaw (42:38), Andy Laycock (43:17), Chris Baker (44:40), Jo McManus (45:12), Rachel Hancock (45:24), Sally McCoy – who won her age category – (46:18), Mary White (47:39), Mike Berry (47:56), Tony Maxwell (48:06), Rachel Stevens (49:28) and Gill Caldwell (58:37).
Josie Greenhalgh competed in the Saddleworth 10 Reservoirs race, organised by Craggrunner and providing participants with the choice of visiting five, 10 or 15 of the local reservoirs along a set, unmarked route.
Greenhalgh opted to visit 10 and the course covered 27 miles of high moorlands and valleys around the Saddleworth area with an elevation gain of 4,524 feet.
Starting at Saddleworth Rangers RLFC, runners traversed along a mixture of paved paths, including the Pennine Way, tracks and open moorland passing several checkpoints along the way.
The terrain is challenging, with bogs and tussocks followed by rocks and boulder fields to cross. Steep hills leading to the moorlands above were worthwhile for the beautiful views given the day was blessed with sunshine and clear skies.
Greenhalgh had a fantastic race, finishing as 10th lady overall and first in her age category.
Elsewhere, Andy Ginty competed in the Stan Bradshaw Pendle Round Fell Race.
Starting at Barley Village Hall, the race begins with a mile of road to the fell before a lung-busting climb to the summit of Pendle Hill. It then takes an unmarked course along trails and open moorland to several checkpoints and covers 9.4 miles and an elevation of 1,788 feet. Ginty had a great run, finishing in 1:48:45.
