Popular Burnden Road Runner Phil Reaches Milestone Birthday

Glassbrook is adored by all members for his effortless friendliness, great support – especially of new runners – and his ability to make friends laugh with a joke. He is a popular person.

Since March, Burnden’s members have been keeping a big secret: a surprise party to celebrate his 80th birthday, last Tuesday. For months, a secret and busy WhatsApp group quietly pinged away, while Glassbrook himself knew nothing of the planned festivities.

On Friday evening the runner was surprised at The Roundhouse in Bolton, where more than 130 people attended, including his own family and friends and his family from Burnden.

Glassbrook is a friend to everyone and once you meet him you will never forget him. Club members say he is a great help to the new runners in the group – always there to support and chat and put people at ease.

He is always present at the competitions and from track cycling to triathlon, he always gives his best.

Glassbrook described his running career this way: “I have been a member of Burnden for 11 years.

“I started running at the age of 40, when I stopped playing tennis. I played in mixed leagues for St Thomas Tennis Club and was the first to win all three trophies – Mixed League, Men’s and the Cecil Cup Trophy.

“Because tennis involves so much travelling, I started running independently.

“My proudest achievement was climbing Ben Nevis in 1984 in 2 hours and 11 minutes (1:36:00 ascent, 35:00 descent).

“I also ran the Three Peaks and the London Marathon in 1984. I finished London in 3:12:00 and did the Three Towers in 2:36:00 – 24 miles in hail and a bit of sunshine later.

“My favourite races are the Rivington races /fell/ Leo Pollard type races. I love Edenfield – the effort and the views.

“My goal is just to keep going, to keep the same level of interest.”

There was a huge turnout of Burnden residents as the Ramsbottom Mile returned last week with an evening of running, food, celebratory beer and lots of smiles.

Not an easy task, as the terrain was quite grassy, ​​but Burnden gave it their all.

Mark Whittington had just topped the Rammy tree in a stunning time of 5:23.62, with Suleman Badat arriving the same minute – microseconds later – in 5:23.97. In third place at Burnden was Lyall Mew, in 5:28.98.

Burnden’s top female was Vicki Hamer in 6:40.90, with Gwen Kinloch second in 6:54.72 and Holly Smith third in 6:57.60.

The personal bests were set by Michael Kermode, who crossed the finish line in 5:41 – 16 seconds faster than last year – and Carolyn Edwards, who ran five seconds faster, finishing in 8:00.43.

Results from the selected Wave: Wave 1 – Martin Archer, Gillian McGowan, Cheryl Dunleavy; Wave 2 – Gillian Morris, Kath Berry, Bernie Jones, Jocelyn Chadderton, Louise Righini, Sarah Brown, Anthony Fulop; Wave 3 – Carolyn Edwards, Finlay Coyne, Jordan Hulme; Wave 4 – Steve Holt, Rick Winnard, Ged Turner, Joanna Warburton; Wave 5 – Holly Smith, Katie Walsh; Wave 6 – Andy Warburton, Linda Doherty, Vicki Hamer; Wave 7 – Anne Ferguson, Gayle Gerrard, Chris Greenall, Gwen Kinloch, Marie Parkinson, Luke Newell; Wave 8 – Patrick Filio, Martin Whitehead, Paul Christie; Wave 9 – Marcus Hamer, Ivan Brown, Andrew Norman, Michael Kermode; Wave 10 – Gareth Doherty, Ryan Moore, Mark Cannon, Andrew Crawford, Tom Stratton; Wave 11 – Mark Whittington, Lyall Mew, Martin Fielding, Suleman Badat.

Andy and Rachel Norman were on their way to Lancashire to take on the Preston 10 Mile.

The course was used by England Athletics for the 2019 National Five Mile Road Championships and is an eight kilometre loop with a mix of fast, straight roads and a scenic lakeside loop at the end of the lap.

Meanwhile, coach Steve Riddle was in the water this week, clocking a fantastic time at the Aquasphere Epic Lakes 10K Swim in Windermere, the final event of the Epic Lakes Open Water Swim Series.

The swim took place at YMCA Lakeside in the beautiful location of Newby Bridge and Riddle took sixth position and second place in his MV60 age category with a great time of 2:51:00. He is an advocate of the sport of swimming for rehabilitation and recreation.