9 photos from the 10th annual City of Preston Road Race which boasted record number of runners

Sunday’s sunny conditions helped this year’s annual City of Preston Road Race, which was celebrating the 10th anniversary of its launch, secure a field of 267 runners, an entry up on last year.

The runners set out from Walmer Bridge Village Hall to run a circular, largely flat five-mile course, which 115 chose to do just once but 152 opted to cover twice to take their race up to 10 miles.

First man home in the 10-mile race was Ben Murphy, of Southport Waterloo Athletics Club, in 56:09, while the first lady was Kirsty Maher, of Blackburn Harriers, in 01:00:16.

In the five-mile race, James Bretherton, of Blackburn Harriers, took first place in 27:43 with Lynne Callaghan, of Trentham Running Club, the first lady home in 33:07.

The dual race, which was organised by Michael Brennand and members of the Central Lancs Running & Triathlon Club (CLAN) with help from a team of volunteer marshals supplied by official race charities Rosemere Cancer Foundation, Baby Beat and Lancashire Teaching Hospitals Charity (LTHC), also had 21 official charity runners.

Among these were Dan Hill, head of charities for Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and a member of Blackburn Road Runners.

Dan ran 10 miles as did Simon Blackburn, of Penwortham, who has taken part in every 10-mile City of Preston Road Race in support of Rosemere Cancer Foundation since the event started.

Simon’s mum Norma Blackburn and her friend Margaret Dunn, of Penwortham, both longstanding Rosemere Cancer Foundation Supporters, ran a village hall fundraising refreshment stall, which kept spectators and returning runners fueled with hot and cold drinks plus snacks

Other charity runners included trust charity team members Rebecca Arestidou and Aimee Baines, who ran five miles, the same distance as Royal Preston Hospital colorectal surgical care practitioner Sarah Ashford and theatre practitioner Lorna Helm, who was joined by her dad Gary Helm.

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Michael Brennand said: “Our thanks and congratulations to everyone who took part and who helped to make our decade anniversary such a special event. The conditions were excellent, which I know helped a lot of our runners achieve personal best times or season best times.

“For some of our runners, finishing times are of less concern but these runners are just as important to us. We are proud that our race history includes not only being chosen by England Athletics for its National Five-Mile Road Race Championships in 2019 but also, of our long tradition of attracting good numbers of fun and charity runners, who ensure the City of Preston Road Race always has a great spirit to it.”

Hannah Leahy, fundraising assistant for Rosemere Cancer Foundation, who attended the race, said: “This was my first City of Preston Road Race. Thank you to Michael and his team, all our volunteer marshals, Norma and Margaret and all the runners and their cheering supporters, who made the event an exciting spectacle to watch.”

Rosemere Cancer Foundation works to bring world class cancer treatments and services to cancer patients from throughout Lancashire and South Cumbria being treated at Rosemere Cancer Centre, which is the region’s specialist cancer treatment and radiotherapy centre at the Royal Preston Hospital, and also at another eight local hospital cancer units across the two counties.

The charity funds the latest in cutting-edge equipment, clinical research, staff training and innovative services and initiatives that the NHS cannot afford in order to make patients’ cancer journey more effective, comfortable and stress- free. For further information on its work, including how to make a donation, visit www.rosemere.org.uk