October 29, 2016 – St Helens Sutton AC

Two of St Helens Sutton A.C.’s male veterans tackled the Snowdonia marathon at the weekend. This challenging course begins just outside Llanberis and sees competitors climb 1,100ft to the top of Llanberis Pass before looping down through Beddgelert and Waunfawr.

Participants also have to tackle a rapid climb of around 1,200ft at Bwlch y Groes before finishing back in Llanberis.

The marathon, first held in 1982, has grown to become one of the most iconic sporting events in Wales and entries this year sold out in 12 hours (Entries open Jan 1st).

This is definitely not a race to enter for a fast time with the winner only clocking 2 hrs. 35 min.. Andrew Wilson (V45) finished an excellent 21st in a field of 1500 runners in a time of 2 hrs.59 min.49 secs. and Ian Robert (V40) was 606th with a time of 4 hrs.2 min.3 secs..

Matt Crehan’s clarion call for this to be Sutton’s year on cross country was emphatically answered when fifteen athletes competed at Arrowe Park in Birkenhead. Matt led the way opening a big lead until he was slowed down by a bad stitch but continued to finish tenth. “Dropping out wasn’t an option” he said after the race. Tom Griffiths ran steadily for ninth and Steve Anders came home twelfth to lay the foundations for the place in the top three Matt had demanded. Peter Fairclough (17), John Greenall (29) and Ian Hayburn (31) completed the count which gave the club a four point advantage over Wirral for second place with Wallasey A C a further five points adrift.

Ian Costello (41st) led the second team with Rachael Fairclough (49th) second counter winning the women’s contest. Dave Twigg made a steady return to competition in 58th place, Barry Graney (64th), Andy O’Connor (105th) pushed all the way by Rachael Beesley (112th) and Amy Corfield (116th) who were ninth and tenth ladies respectively on their debuts in the League. The Liverpool and District President Ray Vose completed the course in 149th place at a venue where he won a team medal in the West Lancs Championships as a youngster. Rachael McGoldrick bravely attempted to do the same despite recent illness but was forced to stop after the first of the three laps.

With Greg Williams, Louise Hogg, Julia Eccleston, Jamie White, Gemma Connolly and Louise Hayes unavailable on this occasion there’s great optimism and encouragement for the coming season and the county championships in January.

Results: – http://www.lps-athletics.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Arrowe-Park-2016-Results-v1.pdf

Phil Thomas – Team Manager.