Swan song for Ian19 November 2023 (by D.Cartwright) |
Ian Swan described the Tour of Pendle as “relentless” after completing the fell race in 3:58:00.
The event – one of the toughest in the North West - took runners on a 16.7-mile route which packed in 4,500ft of climbing on the Lancashire hills around Barley.
It has been a busy year for Ian who has completed several other challenging fell races and ran the hilly Alton Tower Half Marathon the week previously.
He said: “I thought I’d be prepared after races such as Ben Nevis in Scotland and the Langdale Horseshoe in the Lake District, but the tour is a different beast altogether!
“The 4,500ft of climbing doesn’t tell the whole story. There were vertical descents and any flat parts were energy-sapping bogs.”
Katherine Biddle also continued to clock up the miles. A week after completing a 20-mile trail race in the Yorkshire Dales, she ran 2:11:53 at the undulating Clowne Half Marathon in the Chesterfield countryside.
Katherine was also among the RAC contingent in action at the popular Saturday morning 5k parkruns. She clocked 27:51 at Heaton Park, where junior Ronnie Parkinson was the first Radcliffe finisher in 21:55 and Sheila Jones was first VW65 in 24:22. Also running were Elaine Bailey (28:52) and Bev Quinton (50:17).
Mark Garner was 12th in 21:41 at Philips Park, and it was a family affair at Peel where Skyler Parry was first JW10 in 33:25. She ran with her dad Dominic, who finished in 33:26, and her mum Sara finished in 41:09.
Results from other parkruns: Congleton – Stephen Crowe (29:04); Ormskirk – Helen Kay (31:42); Stretford – Lucy Tighe (29:01), Whinlatter Forest – Julie Robertson (34:12); Worsley Woods – Tracy Wroe (33:32).
Share this: