482 runners lined up for the challenging Liversedge Half Marathon on Sunday. The race is a counter in Todmorden Harriers’ Road Championship for whom points were more important than times in this hilly 13.1 mile test.
Tod’s Jon Wright and Paul Brannigan ran a sensible and tactical first half of the race and were just inside the top 10 with 6 miles remaining. Brannigan faded, but Wright worked his way through the field to come home in 3rd position overall laying down another brick in the foundations of his London Marathon preparations. Andrew Bibby produced a fine performance to finish 2nd in the men’s aged 60-64 category.
Mel Blackhurst, Catherine Elvin and Moyra Parfitt formed Tod’s ladies team finishing 9th, 22nd and 119th in the ladies race with Blackhurst taking 3rd place in her age category. Blackhurst entered the home straight level with Tod’s Richard Butterwick. Despite having raced at Windy Hill fell race the day before Butterwick found the strength to open a 9 second gap at the finish line.
Results:
Place Name Gender Place Chip Time
3 Jon Wright 3 01:19:24
113 Richard B’wick 105 01:36:01
114 Melanie B’hurst 9 01:36:10
130 Paul Brannigan 119 01:38:20
149 Andrew Bibby 135 01:40:06
187 Catherine Elvin 22 01:43:40
221 Kevin Coughlan 191 01:46:46
264 Joseph Courtney 224 01:51:03
396 Peter Ehrhardt 304 02:05:02
417 Nic Corrigan 103 02:08:42
450 Moyra Parfitt 119 02:16:36