Dave Evans reports:

The second appearance of newcomer Sean Goldsmith , a former resident of the Isle of Man, proved what a very capable and exciting prospect he is. His previous outing at Simister was on a conventional relatively even course but Chorley takes aspirants from the sublime to the ridiculous. How would he cope? With no knowledge of the ups and downs he took them all in his stride and strode past the timekeeper at 1 mile in 10 minutes 27. His nearest pursuer was long distance exponent Martin Payne nearly 50 seconds adrift with Greg Smith 4 seconds further back.

Course marshalls were positioned at critical junctions so Sean could at least be pointed in the right direction. At halfway the clock registered an impressive 33 minutes 12 and he retraced his steps giving him a negative split at the finish. Martin hung onto runner up spot with a resurgent Greg claiming the bronze position. Glyn Jones posted a very creditable 78 mins 36 on what was not his favourite course.

Special mention must be made of Sailash Shah who despite an injury decided to leave the sidelines and pace Andrea Lennon for the whole journey.

Thanks to Roy Gunnett, Phil McCullagh and Eric Crompton for manning the “difficult” geography on the ground.

Results

1. Sean Goldsmith (10:27/33:12)65:07
2. Martin Payne(11:15/35:31)71:26
3. Greg Smith(11:19/37:34)74:34
4. Steven Wilde(11:42/38:05)77:05
5. Glyn Jones(12:33/40:05)78:36
6. Joe Hardy(12:37/40:19)79:11
7. Pat Evans(12:51/40:46)80:52
8. Andrea Lennon(14:46/48:49)96:11
9. Sailash Shah(14:46/48:49)96:11

Handicap

1. Sean Goldsmith 64:37
2. Greg Smith 68:04
3. Joe Hardy 69:56
4. Pat Evans 70:52
5. Martin Payne 71:26
6. Glyn Jones 72:06
7. Steven Wilde 72:50
8. Andrea Lennon 77:11
9. Sailash Shah 89:11

Thanks to Phil Mccullagh and Greg Smith for the photos