The 10k Race Start
Over 200 runners gathered at Whitechapel for the 3rd 10K road race in aid of Whitechapel School and Community Multi Use Games Area.
In perfect conditions runners warmed up along Church Lane or treated themselves to a bacon butty breakfast, cooked in the Village Hall kitchen by school governor Alastair Christopherson and parent helpers. There was a flurry of activity to register the influx of late entries on the morning, but everything went smoothly and at 10am Head Teacher Louise Jones blew the starting whistle.
Aurelia Tetera and Anna Krzyszkows
As runners jostled for position the field soon spread out to fill the whole distance from St James Church to Syke House Lane, and we had only been running for 5 minutes! As in previous years the local community were out in force, marking every lane end along the way and offering much appreciated encouragement.
The scenic course continued up Barns Lane and Carwags onto Beacon Fell. It’s all up hill at this stage with everyone attacking the hill in their own way; one runner jogged up the hill backwards at times to encourage his fellow runners, such was the spirit of the whole race with everyone supporting each other.
The second half of the course is mainly downhill and with the wind in the right direction a new course record was set by Gareth Booth from Horwich who was the first male with a time of 35.04 minutes. First female was local runner Stephanie Roe from Bleasdale with a time of 40.33 minutes, just 0.2 seconds ahead of Joanne Gourney from Wesham who was the fastest female in the 2010 race.
Race organiser Michelle Simey finishing the 10K
For many locals the race has become an annual challenge and two of the organisers, Johnathon Haine and Paul Stirrup, ran alongside club runners to achieve very credible times of 39.01 and 43.53 respectively. First time runner Wayne Sudell from Garstang who has been training for 12 months and has lost over 7 stones in weight, achieved a personal best of 62.27 minutes whilst Tim Fisher from Bleasdale, who makes the Blacksticks Blue cheese which is given to all finishers, achieved a time of 50.25 minutes.
The race line up included two 15year olds, locals Rob Shaw and Alys Brooks. Rob finished 12th overall with a time of 39.58 and Alys was the 48th female with a time of 59.39.
Race organiser Michelle Simey also completed the race, after stopping with a distressed runner on the final section who made a full recovery thanks to the support of St John’s ambulance.
The race was sponsored by local dairy Butlers Farmhouse Cheeses, who created cheeseand wine hampers for the winners; The Post Office and The Runners Centre, Lancaster.
JUNIOR RACE
Junior Race start
To add to the occasion, Whitechapel Football Club organised their own fun run starting immediately after the adults and using a cross country course which ended on the multi use games area. All finishers were awarded a medal and were back in plenty of time to take advantage of the cake stalls provided by Whitechapel School PTFA and to distribute wedges of Blacksticks Blue cheese to finishers of the 10K.
Junior Race competitors with their medals
