Merrik Bousfield rounds off season with yet another win (30-9-01) A win in the over 50s at the National Throwers Decathlon at Milton Keynes capped what has been another milestone in Merrik's long career. throwing almost as well as any time in his life this stalwart of the LPS senior team took time off from club competition to record this victory. If he gets a good winters training under his belt I am sure we will see him at the usual high standards we have become accustom to over years  Results  

LPS Pack them in at Southport Autumn 5(30-9-01) LPS runners took 2nd, 3rd and 4th places in the Southport Autumn 5. Nathan Vengdaslam was second to the winner Neil Tattersall of Hydburn by 2 seconds. Next home was Bernie Murphy who is running into some of his best form for some time, Brian Currie took 4th and Paul Cadwallader in 9th placed closed the team for a comfortable victory. Also hitting a good patch of form is former club captain Mark Bleasdale who was 19th. A good turn out by LPS athletes at this popular event  Results 

North West Road Relays – Stanley Park, Blackpool (22/9/01) It can be hard to get runners out for the first relay of the season and this year proved no exception. Writes Club Captain Jim Eden I began with a list of 21 ‘potentials’ and had hopes of entering maybe up to 3 teams. Such hopes were dashed as athlete after athlete turned down a run on grounds of injury, illness or work. One or two simply lacked interest. The 21 names were gradually being whittled down to just 7 available athletes. 
The venue was the reasonably flat and fast Stanley Park and though there was no repeat of the sunshine from last year, conditions were still pleasant. For the first leg, Alan Woods (19.46), clearly hoping to get his picture in the local paper, led out from the track and maintained his position amongst the leaders to bring the team home well up in 4^th place. Captain Jim Eden (21.19) running as a solo ‘B team ‘ athlete, and carrying almost half a stone due to holiday over-indulgence, started down the field and finished even further down in 18^th position. In this first leg Salford established the lead which they were to maintain throughout. Bernie Murphy (19.47), quickly approaching veteran status, and even more quickly going grey defied the years to run just a second slower than ‘Woodsie’ to move the team up into 3^rd. Luke Sanders (21.53) one of our up and coming younger runners and a strong contender for ‘most handsome athlete of the day’ battled well and handed over in 7^th place to former captain Mark Bleasdale. Bleasdale (21.39) for once chose to forsake his usual Friday evening drinking session in the local, and it clearly paid off as he pulled the team into 6^th. Mark made it look as painful as it undoubtedly was. Sammy Rashid (20.41), still revelling in the glory of his stunning Christmas Handicap victory, pulled up one more place to set up a thrilling head to head between LPS and the Harriers. Birmingham city supporter Sam once again demonstrated that the disappointment of his teams perpetual failure to climb out of Division One is not slowing him down. Turning out on the final leg after a long term battle against injury was former ‘Ace of Clubs’ comedy columnist Chris Henry who was unable to catch the Harriers athlete and the team finished 5^th overall and 2^nd in the Merseyside championships.
 This was a respectable start to the season and hopefully we can build on this starting with the Northern in 2 weeks time. Very few athletes are at peak fitness right now but it is still important that we get a team out and all credit is due to the runners who made the trip. Results
The ladies had one team only at Blackpool, a under 13 girls team. The girls all ran well and came 8th out of 20 teams. The team was Emma Ward, Steph Swift and Tammy Jones. Well done girls

Nathan wins Liverpool Half (02-9-01) In increasingly difficult times for race promoters the Liverpool International Half Marathon seemed this year at least to have lost it's international status. Less fickle local athletes once again supported this popular event, with over 2000 entries. Nathan Vengdaslam 10th last year's top quality field, picked up another win to add to his impressive list of victories this summer and in doing so also lead the team home to victory. Nathan's time of 70.01 was enough to give him victory by over 2 and half minutes. Alan Woods was 5th home in 73.02 followed by John Kilbane 7th in 73.28. Bernie Murphy was 8th in 74.13 but missed out on a team medal. Jeff Mason was 20th in 77.21 Liverpool Running Club picked up the second team slot with Wirral 3rd.  Results