It was a quiet week on the racing front, but the performances of the Peelers who competed more than made up for it.
First, sacrificing her Saturday evening and supported via a live stream by many Peel members, Emma Pick participated in the Podium Festival II in Leicester. All Podium events are graded, creating a great race experience with similar standard competition to give athletes the perfect opportunity to achieve personal bests. Emma was set to run in the Elite Women’s A race, competing alongside some of the fastest women in the UK and top international athletes. She seized the opportunity, beating her previous 5k personal best by 15 seconds, finishing in an outstanding time of 16:23.
On Sunday, Wayne King travelled to Milton Keynes for the MK Festival of Running. Among four event options, he chose the longest distance available—the 20-mile route—as part of his training for the upcoming London Marathon. The conditions were favorable: cool but dry. Wayne took full advantage of the fast course, crossing the finish line in an incredible time of 2:07:22.
31 Peelers were in action at Parkruns this weekend. In alphabetical order we start with Tim Mudd who this week favoured Battlestead Croft in Burton, finishing in a time of 27:59. Beacon Park was the choice of Jamies Abbiss taking 2nd place overall in 18:53, followed by Garth Cox (23:16), Mike Shelton (26:20), Tony Bryan (26:21) and Roger Lloyd (26:30). Birchall Playing Fields hosted Ian Orton (24:08) and Michael Hughes (39:49), Jackie Tierney selected Corby (29:08) while Mark and Sarah Boffey headed north to Jubilee parkrun finishing in 25:20 and 57:10. Kingsbury continued to be a popular location with Darren Truman bringing the Peeler name home first in 28:14 followed by Jo Insley (32:50), Roger Eastaff (35:52), Emma Whorwood (37:38), Wendy Bowyer (37:39), Nicola Bannister (43:42), Sarah French (48:58), Claire Guffick (1:02:38) and Lee Guffick (1:02:39). It was a trip to the beautiful Newborough Forest Anglesey for Stuart Hatton (30:55), Emma Pick was the first lady back at Rosliston in 23:45 and Stella Taylor finished Sence Valley in 32:59. At home in Tamworth Sophie Galloway ran a time of 26:06 with George Hope and Sandra Ingram finishing in 27:45 and 30:51 respectively, whilst at Watermead Country Park Chris Bennett led the Peel pack home in 23:41, chase down by Billy King (24:30) and Allen King (24:35).
Meanwhile the jet setting duo of Joanne Sharman and Steph Attenborough this week graced Vilnius Lithuania with their presence and completed the Vingis parkrun, both finishing in a time of 57:25.
Peel Road Runners meet every Tuesday at the Castle Grounds skate park car park, at 18:45 for a 19:00 start. We are a friendly, accommodating club with runners of all abilities and even a walking group. Anyone is welcome to come along and give us a try.
