#clickyourclock on your weekend result
It was another big weekend for racing! Did you race? Many of the results are now in. Make sure you #clickyourclock on yours before 12 o' clock tomorrow to be in with a chance of winning a Polar FT4 heart rate monitor in week 3 of the weekly #clickyourclock competitions for 2016.
There are lots of results that have clocks to be clicked! Some of the bigger races were:
Greater Manchester Marathon - 9,358 finishers
Plusnet Yorkshire Half Marathon - 5,948 finishers
Cheshire 10K - 1,115 finishers * Provisional
Titanic 10K - 1,092 finishers
Bushy parkrun - 917 finishers
Jim Dingwall 10K - 903 finishers
There are currently 430 runners on the leaderboard who have improved their handicap score in the race they did this weekend. They will all be entered into the prize draw for the Polar FT4 Heart Rate monitor along with anyone else who clicks their clock and sees a % improvement from their race this weekend.
The biggest event of the weekend was the ASICS Greater Manchester Marathon that took place in Trafford on Sunday. The event delivered a day of sporting greatness, lively entertainment, inspirational stories and fantastic athletics performances.
It was a fine and sunny morning when the runners were lining up on the start line under the Trafford Arch on the A56. Manchester running legend Dr Ron Hill (handicap 24.9) started the race at 9am, and a group of ten runners took the lead straight from the start with five of them still leading by half way. It was a close gap between Steven Bayton (handicap -3.9) of Hallamshire Harriers and Kevin Rojas (handicap -3.4) of Brighton & Hove AC, but Bayton, who was competing in his first ever marathon, managed to extend the gap from mile 18 onwards and took the winning title in a time of 02:22:34 and knocked 0.2 from his handicap score. Kevin Rojas claimed 2nd place in 02:23:03 and took 0.4 from his score and Salford Harrier Nathan Kilcourse (handicap -3.3) came third in 02:25:08, taking 0.3 from his score.
In the women’s field Samantha Amend (handicap 1.1) of Belgrave Harriers was in the lead until mile 22 before Kelly Crickmore (handicap 1.7) of Stockport Harriers pulled up and went on to secure the title in a time of 02:48:04 and take 0.2 from her handicap score. Runner up Amend finished in 02:52:07, that kept her score stable, and Anne Holyland (handicap 2.2) of Wreake Runners took third place in 02:52:52 and sneaked 0.1 from her score.
John Smith of Tunbridge Wells Harriers claimed the ASICS Greater Manchester Marathon wheel chair race title in ahead of Mark Telford, and Mexican athlete Alicia Ibarra won the female wheel chair race.
For the first time this year the race village was based at Emirates Old Trafford, home to Lancashire County Cricket Club, and over 9,358 runners crossed the finish line on Talbot Road outside the iconic stadium. The Half/Half and 4 Leg Team Relays also took place again, giving runners the opportunity to experience the marathon atmosphere and to raise money for charity without covering the full marathon distance.
This 26.2 mile race sees athletes of all levels and abilities, from first time marathoners to club runners and elite athletes seeking a PB or qualifying time. Many runners lining up on the start line raised money for charity including the official charities Cancer Research UK, The Christie charity and Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital Charity.
In other races, Adam Cornford (handicap 5.4 ) has made the biggest handicap improvement, so far this week, after running the Yeovil Montecute parkrun on Saturday in 20:05. Adam has started racing again, this year, after a long spell out and has made significant improvements. This week's improvement was a huge 5.768%.
David Whitaker (handicap 10.8) also made an improvement of more than 5% with his run at the Plusnet Yorkshire Half Marathon where he covered the course in 94:52. David has been a little bit up and down over the last few years but a couple of good, recent performances have given him the large increase this week.
Catherine Farrington (handicap 14.1) has also, after a few years out, put in some fine, recent performances including 22:24 at the Hanley parkrun on Saturday. Although this time was slower than the 22:04 she did, at Hanley, in March, getting back to regular racing is paying off and her handicap increase, this week, was 3.473%.
Did you improve your % score this weekend? If so, be sure to #clickyourclock before 12 o' clock tomorrow when the competition finishes for this week!