Peel Road Runners Mens & Womens Cross Country teams were in action at Anslow for race #3 of the Derby Runners XC Winter League on January 14th, 2018.
Conditions were very difficult on what turned out to be a VERY tough course but still there were some tremendous performances from both teams on the day.
For the Womens race there were two elite ‘guest’ runners (twins who both run internationally for England) who blitzed the course and finished almost 4 ½ minutes ahead of the rest of the field. Those 2 runners aside, Peel Road Runners own ‘elite’ runner Emma Pick finished in 4th place overall with a superb run and finishing time of 35:38mins. Rachael Rickards was struck by an injury in the latter stages of the race but still ran an incredible end to the race to finish in 13th place with a time of 43:00min. Her heroic efforts led her to end up on crutches the following day with some bad swelling to her ankle. Sophie Galloway ran a very smart race too finishing as the third Peeler woman with an excellent time of 47:07mins ahead of team captain Sandra Ingram who crossed the line in 26th position with 49:18mins. A trio of Peelers finished together in 30th, 31st & 32nd places, Val Lawson (50:19mins), Helen Manton (50:37mins) and Annie Wilson (50:50mins) respectively. Caroline Evans completed the team performance in 40th position with her time of 58:02mins.
This team effort placed the Peel Road Runner Womens XC team in =3rd position on the day sharing the points with Mickleover, however, they now sit top of the division in League 1, after three races, 2pts ahead of 2nd place Lichfield as they move towards race #4 in February.
For the Peel Road Runner Mens XC team it was Robbie Baden who was once again the first team member to cross the finish line. Robbie finished in 4th place overall and a time of 30:48mins was just 3 secs off the 3rd place finisher on the day. Martin Hollamby finished in 11th place with his time of 32:35mins just ahead of Lee Rickards with his time of 33:18mins (14th position overall). Next to finish was Michael Shelton in 21st position with a time of 35:20mins just ahead of team mate Simon Smith who finished in 22nd position with his time of 36:05mins. Darren O’Leary crossed the line in 28th place with 37:20mins followed by Trevor Thompson (37th place) with his time of 38:56mins, Darren Truman (47th place) with 43:02mins and Phil Neale (53rd place) with 44:20mins completed the mens team performance.
The mens team finished in 3rd place overall on the day and remain in 3rd place in the division after their 3 races so far, just 1 point behind South Derbyshire in 2nd place.
As a combined team, the Peel Road Runners finished the day in 3rd place overall and lie in 2nd place in the division after 3 races. This is just 4 points behind Lichfield with 4 races of the season still to go.
Peel Road Runners very own ‘Marathon Man’ Robert Donovan notched up yet another 26.2mile run on the 20th January running at the Holme Pierrepont 6-hour Challenge over in Nottingham. Bob finished his run in a time of 5:24:02hrs and in 95th position in what he described as “very cold and wet” conditions.
Saturday 20th January was also the day for Parkrun event #231 over at Kingsbury Water Park and which saw a total field of 388 runners descend upon the local venue for the weekly 5k run.
It was Simon Smith who was the first Peeler back through the finish tunnel with his time of 21:31mins and in 23rd position overall, just 4 places ahead of Darren O’Leary with his time of 22:05mins and 27th position overall. Phil Neale was next to finish with his time of 24:34mins in front of Dave Fern (25:20mins), Tim Mudd (25:26mins), Michael Shelton (25:42mins) & Allan Williams (25:55mins).
Carolyne Browne was the first Peeler women to enter the finishing tunnel with her time of 26:06mins ahead of Annie Wilson who finished with a time of 37:29mins.
Date for your diary: Members are to be reminded of the Clubs AGM which is to be held on Friday 23rd February at Bolehall Manor and is open to all current members. This is a great opportunity to show your support for your club and to also present any thoughts you may have about the club.
Peel Road Runners meet every Tuesday and Thursday at 7pm at the Snowdome in Tamworth.
New members are always welcome.
