Lancaster and Morecambe Athletics Club chair speaks about busy summer

The chair of Lancaster and Morecambe Athletics Club has spoken to Beyond Radio about a busy time for its members.

Alan Wyllie appeared on the Saturday Sport Show to talk about what the club have achieved so far this year, from its annual Three Bridges 10K race to runners taking their passion to places such as Rome and Ibiza.

Alan also talked about the club’s plans for the coming months and the recent  formation of a beginners’ club.

He’s been a club member for around four and a half years, when he moved to Lancaster, a city he says he “loves to bits”.

Alan took on the role of chairman earlier this year.

“Our club is very friendly and very approachable.

“We started a beginners club on July 9 at the clubhouse and that’s going to be a regular thing on a Tuesday night.

“Running should be a bit of fun and these sessions are too, people shouldn’t be frightened to turn up and give it a go.”

The club are holding a barbecue on August 10 and the clubhouse is also the starting point for a ‘Coffee and Cake’ charity run organised by Lancaster Race Series for Cancer Care on July 24 at 7pm.

“People don’t need to enter races at our club if they don’t want to, this club is for everybody and it’s just meant to be enjoyable.

“We’re trying to think of some fundraising ideas and trying to raise the profile of the club.

“We’ve had a busy year already, we have runners who want to do races who go everywhere.

“My last run was in Rome, I’ve always wanted to go there and I really enjoyed it.

“They’ve got a wall there where all the names of the 19,000 marathon runners are inscribed.”

Alan has also been to places such as New York and Adelaide to run marathons in the past.

Hear more from Alan Wyllie by listening again to the July 13 edition of the Saturday Sport Show on the Beyond Radio website or app.

As for club results in recent weeks, many runners took in some of the more scenic routes of Lancashire and Cumbria in June.

Here’s how some of them got on.

On June 2, it was Lancaster Race Series’ Morecambe 5K and 10K events.

James Brassington finished first overall in the 5K, impressing as ever with a time of 16.07.

Three LMAC members finished in the top ten:

Grzegorz Niewladomski 36.07 (2nd place)

Gareth Lee 37.15 (6th place)

John Brassington 38.16  (9th place)

Graham Dent 41.46

Peter Lloyd  45.35

In LRS’ Celebration of Running event on June 16, the same day as Father’s Day, there were runners taking part in the half marathon and 10K

Both club members who ran the half marathon finished in the top ten.

Mark Holgate finished fourth with 1.21.42, while Mikes Roy came in seventh with a time of 1.31.35.

Two runners from the club who took part in the 10K finished in the top three.

James Brassington once again finished top, while Grzegorz Niewladomski was third.

Their times were 34.52 and 35.40 respectively.

Three others, Arthur Glaves (37.00), Luke Davis (37.08) and John Brassington (37.42) finished fifth, sixth and seventh.

Peter Harrison and Peter Lloyd also completed the 10K in times of 43.37 and 44.40.

Five club runners took part in the Hawkshead 10K on June 12.

Lee Parrington finished seventh and Edgar Raymond came ninth, recording times of 35.17 and 36.09 respectively.

Lauren Gora, Russell Wareing and Louise Wareing finished with times of 42.42, 50.17 and 50.22.

It was the 3000m Northern Masters track championships in Leigh on June 29.

Mark Leadbeatter and Mark Holgate both did very well, both finishing second in their  separate age categories, with Leadbeatter finishing fifth overall and Holgate seventh.

Seven LMAC runners competed in the Forton School 4.8K Fun Run on June 13:

Graham Dent 19.12

Gary Atkinson 20.01

Joe Maguire 20.42

Miriam Maher 23.09

Mark Simmill 24.31

Gurbaksh Dhillon 28.23

Elaine Simmill 29.32

The Lancaster Girls Grammar School 6K run on June 20 was the most heavily LMAC-represented event of the month:

Graham Dent 25.45

Arthur Glaves 28.13

Clive Gregory 30.21

Miriam Maher 30.55

David Wilkinson 31.38

Claire Waite 32.18

Mark Simmill 32.20

Carole Wilkinson 33.41

Christina McGuire 35.07

Catherine Douglas 37.47

Elaine Simmill 38.17

Gurbaksh Dhillon 38.34

Stephen Perry 40.26

Anne Carmen 41.00

Christine Perry 41.00

Georgina Briffitt 43.37

Vanessa Cadman 46.46

Four runners took part in the Endmoor 10K on June 26:

Arthur Glaves 39.14

David Wilkinson 56.37

Mark Simmill 56.54

Elaine Simmill 1.08.20

Stephen Perry finished with a time of 26.48 in the Lostock Hall 5K.

Finally, in the club’s own event, the Power of 5K, which takes place every eight weeks, three runners recorded impressive times:

David Brown 16.46

Arthur Glaves 17.05

Matthew Guilder 17.06

For more information on Lancaster and Morecambe Athletics Club, visit their website