The second week of the traditional summertime mid-week racing saw the action move to the familiar surroundings of Haigh Hall. The Haigh Hall 4 was being run for the second time in it’s current format by Wigan Phoenix. It was also a Central Lancashire Grand Prix fixture so a combination of that and the sunny skies were likely to lead to a massive field.
Wigan Harriers were out in force – a very healthy 16 runners making the start line, (although it proved to be impossible to capture everyone in a photo). Unfortunately some of these runners were not quite so healthy by the end of proceedings!
The 4 mile course starts right in front of the Hall, follows the main path downhill and then after 1/2 mile takes the track that is a sharp left. It then follows this up to the gates by the road, this is then followed round to the main entrance to the Park. Then a final run down Harriers training hill back to the start. That’s one lap, you do two with the finish about 100 metres away from the Hall’s front door. A nice level sprint (or maybe not) to the finish.
With 16 runners taking part, I can only pick out the edited high/low lights.
Tony Morgan was the first to suffer a problem, pulling up at the bottom of the hill with an ankle problem, hopefully it won’t be serious and Tony will be back in action soon. Chris Burgess fresh from his London Marathon experience went off well but stumbled on the rocky track on the second lap, hitting the ground. Fellow runners shot past him whilst checking that he was still breathing, thankfully Chris was able to finish out the race.
Caroline Rasburn raced again with a knee op looming, nothing like making sure you get your money’s worth out of those joints before they are fettled!
At the sharp end of things Andy Kaufman had no challenge from fellow Harriers and was a comfortable first finisher in 22.49. I have seen Andy after many races where he is already changed, sweat free and a cuppa in hand before most of his fellow club mates are finished. Last night there was a flushed face and sore calves, plenty of evidence of it being a hard race and of the Kaveman being human!
An usually familar face at training recently has been our tree swinging Steve Nicholls. Steve was disappointed with his run last week but right from the off he shot off like a scolded cat, racing home in 24.25.
Well done to Jayne Taylor in her first race back after marathon madness. Jayne was home in 25.50 and collected a £20 Endurance Store voucher for first L50, great stuff! Jayne managed to find some spare energy to spend a few minutes helping marshals with guiding runners down the funnel when the queue of runners was backing up.
13 Andrew Kaufman 22:49
37 Stephen Nicholls 24:25
45 Chris Burton 24:38
49 Mike Harris V40 9 24:55
69 Jayne Taylor L50 1 25:50
81 Chris Burgess 26:18
93 Gary Wane 26:46
100 David Banks V55 4 27:00
133 April Morgan L45 3 28:14
160 T Foster V50 20 29:10
172 Caroline Rasburn L50 4 29:39
181 Annemarie Craven L40 5 30:03
270 Pauline Foster L50 11 37:01
277 Pauline Taylor L55 4 39:10
278 Pat Cole L55 5 39:10
Well done to the 16 Harriers who raced and contributed to another fantastic showing for the club in our backyard. The Mens team were 6th and the Ladies 5th so a respectable showing for all. A big thank you to the Harriers supporters who cheered on fantastically. Well done to the organisers and marshals who coped very well with the large turnout.
The mid week bandwagon rumbles into Rivington next week at 7.30pm for the Jubilee 5 Miler run by Horwich RMI. A two lap undulating road course, another chance for the Harriers to shine?
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