Report on The Pennine Lancashire 5K Road Race – 11 July 2010

 

Five members of Holmfirth Harriers AC took part in the The Pennine Lancashire 5K Road Race last Sunday, which incorporated The Home Countries International Road Race Challenge, the England Athletics 5k Road Championships and the Northern Athletics 5k Road Championships. The race was held on a traffic free out and back course, starting adjacent to Witton Park with the finish inside the park. The high profile road race attracted a quality field including some Kenyan athletes no doubt interested in the attractive prize money. The race started with a fast downhill section spanning almost a kilometre. Holmfirth’s Mark Buckingham representing England moved into the leading group followed closely by club mate Matthew Pierson and not far behind Dave Turnbull returning from injury. Katie Walshaw tracked the leading female athletes followed by team mate Claire Leaver. Kenyan athlete Edwin Kipkorir followed by Jean Ndayisenga of Birchfield Harriers opened a lead, chased by Buckingham and Matt Barnes of Altrincham, the other senior man representing England. In the final kilometre Kipkorir had a decisive lead and went on to win the race in a new course record of 13.42 with Ndayisenga finishing 2nd in 14.06. Matt Barnes broke away from Buckingham in the final kilometre and clinched 3rd place in 14.11 and the in-form Johnny Mellor of Liverpool Harriers took 4th place in 14.15. In a sprint to the finish line Buckingham was beaten by Paul Richardson of Owls AC (14.17) and finished in 6th place in 14.21, a slight improvement on his best time for the distance. Matthew Pierson ran well over this relatively short race and finished 21st in 14.42, improving his 5K road time by 23 seconds. Dave Turnbull also had a good run for 34th place improving his PB by the same margin as Pierson with a time of 15.21. The ladies race was won by Helen Clitheroe of Preston claiming the course record bonus for her effort with a time of 15.45. Katie Walshaw improved her best time by 79 seconds finishing 25th in a time of 18.02 and Claire Leaver finished 39th in 19.17. Buckingham won a cash prize as a member of the winning England Home International Team Challenge. He also won an individual bronze medal for 3rd place in the Northern Athletics Championships and together with team mates Matthew Pierson and Dave Turnbull won bronze team medals (61 pts) for both the England Athletics and Northern Athletics Championships, ahead of Leeds City on count-back and behind winners Liverpool Harriers (33 pts) and runners-up, host club Blackburn Harriers (55 pts).