Sefton Park 5 Mile Race, 22nd July

On Wednesday evening Mossley Hill Running Club played host to the excellent Tony Barnes Memorial 5 mile race, comprising two laps of picturesque Sefton Park. Once again by far the largest representation came from Penny Lane Striders, with no less than 70 of our runners taking part.

Up at the front, a close battle for first Strider home saw Alex Cowin narrowly edge out John Connolly in a new PB time of 28:45. Also breaking 30 mins for the first time was Jon Toft (29:30), whilst Dan Thomas and PB animal Stephen Watkin both chalked up top 40 finishes and set new bests into the bargain. Staying within the top 100 finishers, Andrew Biddle set a new best of 33:00, edging out fellow PB achievers Marc Goudie and Paul Brady by just five seconds. 

The close battles continued down the field with the resurgent Eamonn Brady (35:31) edging out Louise Warn by just one second. Trish Dudley (36:31) Louise Watson and Nigel Foo all recorded their best ever 5 mile times to finish within three seconds of each other, whilst Helen Osborne, Holly Johnston and James Stansfield all went under 41 minutes to record PBs.  Meanwhile Annmarie Williams, Debi McMillan and Claire Meadows (43:04) also continued their recent good form with new PBs, as did club newcomer Jon Windle (42:25) and - with his first PB in 18 months - Mike Welsby (41:19).

Full results can be found here. Well done to all who took part !