Port Sunlight Road Race Blooms Wirth Success
Picture by Paul Francis Cooper.

FEMALE 5K winner beats her own time and sets new course record for 2nd year. Flower Power was out in force, at Port Sunlight, on Sunday, 17 June 2018, as runners descended on the picturesque village for its 7th annual race festival.

A field of 1,750 runners geared up to take part in the Port Sunlight Road Race 5K and 10K events. The 5K race and 2 lap 10K took runners on a route taking in the tree lined boulevards of Port Sunlight. Both races sold out. The race day coincided with Father's Day. Almost 300 youngsters took part in their very own 1K Fun Run, giving the day a real family atmosphere.

The Port Sunlight Road Race is organised and delivered by BTR Liverpool, in conjunction with Port Sunlight Village Trust (PSVT). Unilever was headline sponsor for a fifth consecutive year.

The day's official proceedings were overseen by Maggie Sparks, Honorary President of Port Sunlight Village Trust (PSVT), and Cameron Jones, Head of Unilever Port Sunlight. Both were on hand to officially start the 5K and 10K and present trophies. Cameron also took part in the 5K race.

This year's event embraced a new Flower Power theme which was in full bloom for 2018, including the day's musical soundtrack, race numbers, medal ribbons, groovy green 5K T shirts, and sunshine yellow 10K T-shirts.

Olympic Gold Medallist Samantha Quek, from Wirral, surprised 5K runners by taking part dressed as a green logo brick to raise awareness and fu seconds for Clatterbridge Cancer Centre.

The 5K was won by Rob Pearse from Wallasey AC in 16 minutes 27 2 seconds. 2nd position male was Ben Lewington from Kirkby Milers in 16 minutes 28 2 seconds; Billy Starling from Mercia Fell AC took 3rd place in 17 minutes 13 2 seconds.

The 5K female winner was Helen Sahgal from Liverpool Pembroke and Sefton Harriers, who set a new female 5K course record with a finish time of 38 minutes 13 2 seconds. Helen also took the female 5K honours at Port Sunlight last year, breaking the previous course record. This year she beat her own time, taking off a further 12 2 seconds.

2nd place 5K female was Helen Stansfield from Wallasey AC in 19 minutes 30 2 seconds; while 3rd place was taken by Rachel Bailey from Bolton United Harriers AC in 21 minutes and 1 2nd.

The 10K race was won by Dave Bennett from Ellesmere Port AC in a winning time of 32 minutes 31 2 seconds. 2nd place male was Jamie Rutherford from Liverpool Running Club in 32 minutes 53 2 seconds; while Jay Walker took 3rd position in 35 minutes 11 2 seconds.

First place female in the 10K was Carmel Triggs from Kirkby Milers in 40 minutes 29 2 seconds - taking the top position for 2 consecutive years. 2nd place 10K female was Alexa Besnard from Chorlton Runners in 41 minutes 13 2 seconds; while Jo Irvin from UTS Running Club took 3rd position with a time of 41 minutes 22 2 seconds.

The final finisher in the 10K was Barbara Ann Smith from West Derby. A BTR race regular, Barbara was given a round applause as she crossed the finish line by youngsters who lined both sides of the start line funnel ahead of their 1K Fun Run.

It was also a special day for Port Sunlight residents, Victoria and Steve Bowness, who took part in the 5K for the very 1st time - despite Victoria breaking her foot in March. They ran in memory of Victoria's Grandfather Terry Brazel, who passed away in July 2017. Together, the couple have raised more than ₤700 for the Lee Spark Foundation, to help raise awareness about Necrotising Fasciitis.

Port Sunlight celebrates the 130th Anniversary of the founding of the village during 2018. The historic village was founded by William Lever in 1888 for the employees of his Lever Brothers soap works. Today it is considered the finest example of an industrial worker village in the UK.

Port Sunlight Village Trust (PSVT) is an independent charity created in 1999 to be the guardian of Port Sunlight, working with the community to protect the heritage, ensure a great quality of life for residents and celebrate William Lever's amazing legacy. PSVT invests nearly ₤3million each year in maintaining and conserving the estate and in lifelong learning programmes for all.

To coincide with the 130th Anniversary in 2018, PSVT will launch a new 5 year Strategic Plan and 10 year Conservation Management Plan and, for the 1st time, the organisation will exhibit a back to back garden, at RHS Tatton, in July 2018.

PSVT was also recognised at the Liverpool City Region Tourism Awards 2018, when it was named Independent Tourism Business Of The Year and Port Sunlight Museum won Small Visitor Attraction Of The Year.

Maggie Sparks, Honorary President of Port Sunlight Village Trust, commented:- "This year's Port Sunlight Road Race was particularly special and had a real carnival atmosphere. It was wonderful to see so many families taking part across all 3 races, and proudly wearing their medals with big smiles. The race is a highlight in our events calendar and we are indebted to the residents, the race stewards and Unilever Port Sunlight for their support. Well done to everyone who took part. We look forward to welcoming you back to the village next year."

To mark Port Sunlight's 130-year Anniversary, a team of 130 employees from Unilever Port Sunlight also took part.

This is the 5th year Unilever has sponsored the Port Sunlight Road Race as part of its Bright Future campaign. 1 of the company's goals is to help a billion people around the world improve their health and well being by 2020.

Unilever is extremely proud of its history and heritage in Port Sunlight, where company founder William Lever built his factory and village in 1888. The company continues to have world class manufacturing, R&D and IT facilities based here, along with a 3rd of its UK workforce. Unilever's bra seconds include household names Persil, Dove, Tresemme, Radox, Comfort and Surf.

Cameron Jones, Head of Unilever Port Sunlight, commented:- "What another fantastic turn out, the village green was a hive of excitement and activity. Unilever is immensely proud of its 130-year heritage in Port Sunlight, so we were delighted to have a Unilever team of 130 runners taking part. Congratulations to everyone who took part."

This year, a team of 208 runners took on the Port Sunlight Dual Race challenge; taking part in both the 5K and 10K races. A handful of runners set themselves the unofficial challenge of completing both races back to back 4 years ago.

Last year BTR made the combined 15K distance a challenge in its own right; this year those completing both races received an extra medal to mark their achievement.

The date for next year's Port Sunlight Road Race has been set for Sunday, 16 June 2019, entries are now open at:- BTRLiverpool.com.

Hoylake-based race organisers BTR is the leading independent organisation for creating, managing and delivering headline race events across Liverpool City Region, including:- Wirral Half Marathon/10K; and Liverpool Santa Dash.

Next up in the BTR race portfolio is the 7 day, 6 race, 52 mile Tour Of Merseyside, with events taking place in Southport, Wirral and Liverpool.

West Lancs pupils clinch spots at county finals sports extravaganza

A flurry of pupils from across West Lancashire are celebrating after securing places at the largest youth sporting event in Lancashire following victory in 5 district-wide competitions. The Schools battled it out in cricket, rounders, tri golf, super 8 athletics and inclusive football against other West Lancashire Schools and will now represent the district at the SPAR Lancashire School Games county finals where they will compete against teams from 14 other Lancashire districts in a bid to be crowned county champions.

Our Lady Queen of Peace Catholic Engineering College took on Burscough Priory Science College, St Bede's Catholic High School and Lathom High School in a under 13s inclusive football tournament held at Ormskirk School, coming out on top and clinching a place at the county finals. The year 7 super 8 athletics competition saw all 7 West Lancashire 2ndary Schools battle it out at Edge Hill for a highly-coveted spot at the SPAR Lancashire School Games, with Ormskirk School clinching the places for both the girls' and boys' events.

Meanwhile, Ormskirk School also took home gold in rounders after competing against 6 other Schools, and Burscough St John's CE Primary School took on 4 other Schools in the district's tri golf tournament held at Tarleton Academy, snatching gold after a win. The success did not stop there for team West Lancashire, with 8 Schools meeting at Burscough Cricket Club for the district's mixed cricket competition. The final was contested between Richard Durning's Endowed Primary School and Aughton St Michael's Church of England Primary School, with Richard Durning's Endowed Primary School coming out on top and going on to represent the district at the county finals.

Chris Hart, School games organiser for West Lancashire, who arranged the events, said:- "Huge congratulations to each of our winning Schools for securing these highly-coveted places at the SPAR Lancashire School Games. The level of play has been exceptionally high this year so well done to everyone – I'll be cheering you on from the side lines."

Organised by Active Lancashire, the SPAR Lancashire School Games comprises a series of inclusive sporting events that provides competitive and participative opportunities for all School children across the county. Children across Lancashire will continue to battle it out in a range of sports to gain a place at the SPAR Lancashire School Games county finals which will be held at Blackpool's Stanley Park, on 3 July 2018.

More than 3,500 children from Schools across Lancashire's 15 districts are now battling it out for a place at the county finals in 16 sports including gymnastics, football, athletics, mixed cricket and touch rugby. New additions to the SPAR Lancashire School Games line up have also been introduced for 2018, including quick sticks and quad kids.

The SPAR Lancashire School Games is the biggest School games programme of its kind and is implemented by the county's School games organisers.

This year will mark the 12th year the county's School games programme has been sponsored by James Hall and Company Ltd, the SPAR distributors for the north of England. Over ₤128m of National Lottery and Government funding has been invested into the School games programme.