North Endurance Awards 2021
male runner of the year
Notable Mentions
Ciaran Skinner
Ciaran Hasn’t had the opportunity to race too much, but sticks to the plan and manages to fit in Futsall around his running as well. His hard work and progress have been clear for all to see with a 17:20 in the NE 5km Time Trial and an extremely well-paced 2:55 at Chester Marathon despite attending more weddings than anyone I know in the weeks prior. Ciaran clearly enjoys his running and just gets on with it, it would be exciting to see him race more.
Joe McCarthy
Joe has been an absolute pleasure to run with. An old dog with new tricks, Joe’s enthusiasm is infectious. He works hard, he turns up, and he tries to keep the young guns on their toes. His progress may simply be down to staying down with the kids and wearing a backwards cap, but he ran his first marathon at Manchester (3:23) and has PB’d over all distances including a and 35 second 5km PB and a 3 minute half marathon PB (1:26:51 at Tatton Park finishing first +50 Vet).
Thom Atkinson
We can’t mention the run squad guys above without mentioning Thom. It’s great to see Thom enjoying his running again and finding a healthy balance of pursuing his goals and chasing performance alongside his new career and young family. A hugely impressive 1:16 Half Marathon was the reward in 2021, a huge 10minute PB over the distance!
Winner - Fabian Devlin
Fabian has had an outstanding 2 years of running since joining North Endurance. His passion and enthusiasm are infectious, and he’s immersed himself in the club. His running has gone from strength to strength, he’s taken chunks of his PBs over all distances, all before setting his sights on Ultra Marathons. In April he took on his first-ever ultra, the Liverpool to Manchester 50miler. He finished 3rd overall in under 7 hours! This confidence and belief he took from this result were obvious to all, maybe too confident, blowing up in the Irish Ultra Champs 100km Raod Race.
Deterred?.. no! Next was the Chester 50mile Ultra where he finished 12th despite a poor shoe choice and 10km detour! To finish off the year it was Ultra-Trail Snowdonia to try to secure points for the UTMB CCC Ballot. I knew how tough it would be for Fab with a lack of experience over that terrain with 3300m+ of elevation, but he toughed it out and finished in the top half of the field.
Fab wants to do everything tomorrow… each week he says.. ‘I want to smash my 5km PB , I want to run a sub 3 marathon, I want to do run another ultra’.
He’s capable of it all and works extremely hard on all aspects of his running.
Female runner of the yeaR
The first of our new awards for 2021! It’s great to have had more ladies than ever running with us over the last 2 years, and hopefully, this trend will continue. The ladies have worked really hard all year. Hannah now enjoys running, so much so she doesn’t want to miss out despite being pregnant, and Emily, Emma, and Lucy have all progressed and grown in confidence running Sub 2 together at Liverpool Half. We must also mention, Lauren, Jill, Maria, and most recently Olivia, Lucy, and Joanna who have all run with us, and a special mention and thanks to Lauren Fitzsimmons for sourcing all our fantastic New Balance prizes. She’s also improved as a runner massively, and although keeps it very quiet has run some significant PBs.
Winner – Holly Tyrer
Holly joined 18 months ago, and it’s been a pleasure to see her progress and thrive. She’s run PBs over all distances. When she joined, she told us she had run a sub 4-hour marathon at Stolkholm but had never run intervals. We knew how much potential she had, and with a little belief what she could achieve. With some newfound confidence, she smashed London out of the park, smashing her sub 3:30 target to run a 3:24, a Boston Qualifying time and 30 minutes faster than Stockholm!
Male Triathlete of the year
Notable Mentions
A hotly contested award, and as always, so many people to recognise for their achievements. In our first-ever awards in 2019, this award was won by Dan Harbidge, so despite a great year, he won’t have it this time.
Dan Harbidge
3rd AG Southport, 4th Overall and AG win at Chester, 3rd overall at Shropshire Middle (& Dad Paul taking the AG win in the Olympic on the same day!), outstanding performance at Barcelona 70.3. In horrendously windy conditions, Dan finished an awesome 10th overall!
Matt Collins
2nd Middle Distance Tri at Epicman, 7th AG at Ullswater Tri, and a first AG win and 20th in Shropshire Olympic. Have attacked the year from the off and seem to flying with renewed vigour. Great result at first XC of the season shows the progress and strength developed.
Paul Williams
2nd AG at Southport Sprint, 1 hour 30 PB at Outlaw full, just missing Sub 11 for the IM distance, (which is why he’s going back next year!... again!). He finished the season strong with 12th in AG Bolton 70.3.
Winner – Johnny Boylan
Johnny joined us by accident last December but hasn’t looked back! Despite asking for and missing 2 kit windows, he’s raced incognito this year, flying under the radar! He started the season with a 4th Overall at the Wild Boar Triathlon, a super tough middle distance race. But the highlight was an outstanding race at IM70.3 Bolton, a brilliant 29th Overall and 4th in the hotly contested 35-39 AG. Johnny finished the season with a superb 7th AG at Challenge Paguera in Mallorca.
Female Triathlete of the year
Another new award for 2021! We’ve had a 400% increase in female triathlon participation this year!
Notable Mentions
Leanne O’Leary
Back on the wagon! Leanne always says she wouldn’t do another Ironman, but she couldn’t resist one more entry to Challenge Roth. She upgraded her turbo, she Zwifted, and boxed off swim set after swim set. The result, a superb 6th in AG at Chester Middle, and a PB after a 4-year hiatus! She also walked the 500 mile Camino de Santiago in the summer!
Lucy St John
Lucy eturned to running after niggles last year, but we finally convinced her she was more than capable of doing a Sprint Triathlon. She beamed the entire way around West Lancs Autumn Sprint, enjoying every second. There will be more in 2022!
Winner – Hannah Morrow
Hannah Morrow joined our Tii Squad at the start of the year. Having done one triathlon before and loathing running, alongside Emma, set herself the target of completing a Middle distance triathlon. She worked hard on the bike all winter and once run sessions restarted made huge strides despite her unique sloth-like stride. She told me she hated running when she started, but now enjoys it and is continuing to run with the group on Tuesdays while growing a tiny human in her belly. Great effort! Hannah stuck with it, despite working throughout the pandemic in a senior role in the hospital, training after night shifts and on rest days. Hannah smiled her way around the UK Ultimate Half, finishing in 6:20, 25th female and 2nd in AG.
Most improved Female athlete
Winner – Emma Prowse
Emma got in touch last year saying she had a list of 30 things she wanted to do before 30. One such thing was doing a 70.3. That was that. She joined our Tri Squad and threw herself into training, Zwifting away, coming to run sessions, and open water swimming. She reaped the rewards as her running improved enormously throughout the year, and she’s still coming back for more. During the year, after lots of canceled jumps, she also said she did a skydive, but no evidence exists! Oh… and she got married too! Pretty busy year in our books!
Most improved Male athlete
This award could be given to so many of our athletes and members. Progression isn’t linear, and it comes in waves. Once you improve, the harder it is to maintain. So while we recognise the giant leaps some of our athletes have made, It’s important to acknowledge the athletes who do it year in year out, maintaining and chipping away to progress.
Notable Mentions
Nick Romano – First triathlons and middle Distance at Outlaw Holkham. Run and swim have progressed massively, going sub 1:30 at Liverpool Half despite twisting his ankle.
Carl Lowe – First Triathlon Southport, 12th AG on middle distance debut at Chester Diva, and although he hadn’t planned at the start of the year, entered Outlaw Full and finished in a brilliant 11:34:53, a stellar IM distance debut!
Dan Scott – Dan didn’t own a bike this time last year… a bit of an issue when you’re trying to coach someone for IMUK. He managed a single 1000m pool swim prior to lockdown, so when open water started in April, he was first in and swam no matter the conditions. Dan finished IMUK in a fantatsic14:21, despite 2 punctures.
Joe Crossland – 20kg Lighter than a year ago, a 37 Minute PB at Liverpool Half, before running an aggressively paced Liverpool Marathon. Joe fell away to a 4:15 marathon, but still managed an improvement of 1 Hour 15minutes on his previous time a year ago!
Winner - Phil Aspinall
Mr Chill. Phil is relaxed, never flustered, gets on with it and trusts the process. Not being from an endurance background, Phil has made massive strides this year. Previously a top badminton player, he’s worked hard on his run, progressing from a 20+ 5km runner, to run a huge 5km PB at Podium, in 17:07.
Phil began swimming in June, and stuck at it, progressing and developing swim fitness quickly. He finished 5th at his first-ever triathlon in Windemere, 4th overall, and took the AG win at Shropshire Olympic, and was 9th AG at Bolton 70.3, his first middle distance race! Phil finished the year with a superb 27th overall and 4th in AG at the Britsh Duathlon Championships at Oulton Park. 2022 is going to be big!
Club Member of the year
Firstly, a quick thanks to Fabian, Thom Atkinson and Steve Benno who are all now certified Triathlon Activators and I’m sure will lead more run sessions in the future on our behalf.
Notable Mentions
Felipe Fortes
A mention to WhatsApp group favorite Felipe. Felipe’s moaning about the weather never fails to brighten a gloomy day! In all seriousness, since joining, Felipe has been a great ambassador for the club, and we are delighted to see him progress and get stuck in (despite the moaning). A great 15minute PB at Manchester Half, before finally going sub 2 at Liverpool Rock ‘‘n Roll will hopefully give him the confidence to push on!
Winner - Patrick Breen
The first person to introduce himself to new members, Paddy is a great asset to the club. Full of enthusiasm, he’s happy to share his training, and first with the invites for group runs and rides. He’s always on hand to organise the Zwift Team Time Trials and give up his time to explain how it all works and how to get set-up. All clubs should be inclusive, and that comes from sharing opportunities and knowledge and making people feel welcome. Paddy embodies that. He’s not a bad athlete too! This year he finally got to race IMUK, finishing in 13:22, and continues to progress across all disciplines.
Memorable Performance of The Year
What a year!!!
Fabian Devlin - 3rd overall Liverpool2Manchester 50miler in sub 7hrs, his first Ultra Marathon
Carl Lowe - 5:06 Deva Middle - 1st Middle Distance Tri
Shaun 'Gordo' Meese - 12:08 IRONMAN UK
Johnny Boylan - 4th in AG Bolton 70.3 in 4:52
Ciaran Skinner - Chester Marathon 2:55
Holly Tyrer - London Marathon 3:24
Phil Aspinall - British Duathlon Championships 4th in AG
Coaches -
Dean Hanwell - 3rd at British Triathlon Championships in Leeds
Paul Martin - London Marathon 2:39, also Outlaw full in 9:34
Sean Husband - Outlaw Full distance Debut in 9:20, 10th overall and AG win and course record, Pro Licence achieved
Winner - Dan Harbidge
IM Barcelona 70.3 10th overall in 4:06 -
The First British finisher and only 19 minutes off the winner, 16th fastest bike leg on a course, and in conditions that we’d say wouldn’t suit a slighter rider. Thankfully, we gave Dan a pretty damn good bike fit ;) . Dan ran into the top 10 with a 1:26 run split for the 10th fastest run of the day.
New athlete of the year
Notable Mentions
Michael Hopkins – Mike completed his first triathlon at Southport Splash World in September weeks before his first middle distance at IM70.3 Bolton. He worked incredibly hard on his swim prior, and came into his own through the race to finish well in under 6 hours!
Steve Carleton – Steve completed his first Triathlon at Chester Deva. Steve worked incredibly hard on his swim while the pools were closed, battling the cold week in week out from April to be ready for IMUK. On the day, he ran a superb (3:54) making up 350 places in the process! Steve is a role model to his son Lucas who I’m sure will be on his heels in no time.
Kris Dandy - Kris had a brilliant first year in triathlon. Not to do things by half, he cruised around Southport Olympic and EpicMan Middle before finishing Outlaw Full. Kris made huge strides throughout 2021, executing each race at ease with a big smile on his face.
Ryan Walmsley – At the tender age of 22, Ryan rounded off a great season of firsts! First duathlon, triathlon, and middle distance triathlon finishing IM Bolton 70.3 in 6:02. Ryan is full of enthusiasm, hard-working, and has even made the journey from Blackburn to Liverpool for our run sessions in recent weeks!
Dan Owens – 10km PB, 5km PB, Dan has enjoyed his year so much, he decided to run an extra lap at Southport for fun! Dan has worked extremely hard through the year and progressed in all disciplines. An exciting 2022 awaits.
Shaun Meese – A truly epic 2021! 13th AG at first Middle Distance at Chester, hugely impressive performance at IMUK (12:08), backed up by another Iron Distance at Outlaw Full only 4 weeks later! It’s easy to say, Shaun didn’t know when to stop! He battled around IM Bolton 70.3 before rounding the year off with an easy stroll around Liverpool Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon! 2022 is predicted to be even bigger!
Winner – David (Day) Carroll
If you need cheap Nikes from Cheshire Oaks, Day is your man! Day is ever positive if not a hazard in a gym (he can explain that one). Despite the commute and working crazy retail hours, he’s enjoyed all aspects of NE since joining and has progressed steadily. Day went Sub 4 at Liverpool Rock ‘N’ Roll marathon, ending the year 1.5 stone lighter! Not bad going! He also rand a 5 minute 5 (20:29) in the NE 5km Time Trial.
Crimes against Fashion
Thom Atkinson
Who wears short shorts? Thom wears short shorts!
Best Race Face
Ben Sweeney
Plenty of nominations for this one, but ben pipped the bunch!
Saddest Tail of the year
Adrian Gilleard
Adrian arrived into T2 at Bala to find his wetsuit and shoes had been stolen. Did he finish the race?!… You bet!
Injury of the year
Paul Squires
Paul misunderstood the term multi-sport and has continued to play Cricket. Well… Paul managed to tear both his hamstrings off the bone after tripping over his bat!
That’s a wrap
One of the best parts of coaching and running a club is witnessing people challenge the preconceived notions of their own ability. This may simply be from turning up and participating, to progressing and achieving milestones or goals they didn't perceive possible.
But a key ingredient in starting any journey is the people with whom you surround yourself. It’s the supportive community and culture; the people who help you strive, support you in your ambitions, who make doing the hard things that little bit easier, and provide a positive attitude when you have a setback or are simply struggling to do the sometimes tedious work.
When we feel secure and supported, and we have good people in our corner, anything in life feels possible. I'm really proud of the community we've built over a few short years, all that our athletes and members achieve, and the inclusive ethos and culture that we built upon.
Cheers!
