Saturday dawned sunny but cool at Kingsbury Water Park park on Saturday with a good Peeler turnout among almost 600 keen park runners. Saturday marked the first outing of the eagerly anticipated new course and it did not disappoint.
Mark Webster was first home for the club in 13th overall in 19.43 mins. He was followed by Garth Cox in 22.45 mins on his 50th park run. Judith Matthews was next home in 24.13 mins for a new personal best followed by Rob Hirst (25.13), Stuart Hatton (26.01), Sandra Ingram (26.57), Tim Mudd (25.13) and Carl Hole who set a new personal best of 27.52 mins. Michael Stevenson was next home in 28.25 mins, ahead of Ann Hill (29.58), Christine Norris (36.46), Stella Martin (36.48) and Alison Dolphin who came home in a leisurely 51.11 mins, having volunteered to act as tail walker.
Peelers on tour included Jackie Tierney who completed the Cheltenham event in 27.21 mins, Sophie Galloway who crossed the line in Newcastle in 29.27 mins and Simon Gordon who finished the Watermeadows parkrun in Tewkesbury in a time of 23.45 mins. Closer to home Nickolas Neale completed Sutton Park parkrun in 23.50 mins.
On Sunday Tricia Bunn completed the North Dorset marathon in a time of 4:00 hours while several Peelers were at Uttoxeter racecourse for the Uttoxeter half marathon, the second race of the Burton and District Summer League (BDSL) that the club participates in. Given the challenging nature of the course, some strong performances were in evidence with Cathedral to Castle winner Rob Mace crossing the line in 15th place overall in a fast 1:25.17 hrs, narrowly beating Mark Harriott who finished in 1:27.29 hrs. Ash Goodman finished in 1:41.52 hrs, smashing his half marathon personal best in the process,
Craig Strong in 1:51.11 hrs, Dave Fern in 1:53.21 hrs, sole Peel lady Val Lawson in 2:07.21 hrs and David Ash in 2:13.33 hrs.
Peel Road Runners meet every Tuesday and Thursday at 7pm at the Snowdome, new members are always welcome. For further details or to get in touch please see the club’s website or Facebook page.
Picture: Rob Mace at the Uttoxeter Half Marathon