Age is no barrier at Peel Road Runners and to prove the point, M75-79 veteran Bob Donovan ran last week’s London marathon in a time that many much younger runners would be proud of. He completed the 26.2 mile course with a ‘Good for Age’ place in 5:29:27, a result all the more impressive as he had been unwell with Covid earlier in the year.
Manchester marathon is always popular with club members and this year was no exception. Richard Satchwell chose this race as his first marathon and ran an impressive 3:47:51. Jenna Colin completed the course in 3:56:05, whilst Mark Boffey ran an amazing personal best knocking over 29 minutes off his previous best time to finish in 4:20:13.
Claire Guffick ran the Manchester half marathon held on the same day and finished in a time of 2:22:15, whilst husband Lee Guffick crossed the finish line in 2:53:29.
Meanwhile, at the Royal Parks half marathon in London, Jackie Tierney had an encouraging return to racing after a frustrating injury which had restricted her training programme and finished in a creditable time of 2:23:00.
Several Peelers enjoy the additional challenge of running with their dogs in canicross races. At the Canicross Midlands event in Bedford at the weekend, Rob Mace came second in the Long Course (5k) running with Axis, whilst Neal Dempsey and Helen Dempsey came third in their two dog Short Course (3k) classes. Neal ran with Banana and Hugo and Helen ran with Minstrel and Sydney. It’s worth noting that all the Peeler pooches are rescue dogs, rather than purpose bred “sled” dogs!
Kingsbury parkrun, the Peelers home parkrun, was a lonely place this week as all the Club’s parkrunners chose to become tourists! Running at Rosliston, new club member Ben Dorkins finished in a swift time of 22:36, whilst keeping to the forestry theme, at Conkers parkrun John Vann (30:18), Alison Dolphin (46:33) and Christine Norris (47:22) enjoyed the challenge of a new route. Further north in Bridlington, Sophie Galloway (28:03) ran her landmark 50th parkrun at Sewerby. Other ‘tourists’ included Marie Llewellyn (23:55) at Telford, Mick Stevenson (34:05) at Colby, Amroth in Pembrokeshire, Nick Neale (20:50) at Perry Hall, Garth Cox (23:42) at Bedworth, Mike Shelton (21:26) at Sutton Park, Ian Cooper (23:57) and Tanya Murphy (30:19) at Babbs Mill, Jackie Tierney (29:48) at Salcey Forest, Harwell in Northamptonshire and Tim Mudd (26:32) at Edgbaston reservoir.
