It’s been a busy weekend for the Peel Road Runners with a variety of well-established and new races of different distances to tempt club members!
As spring marathon season approaches, the sell out Ashby 20 race attracts runners from all over the country to test themselves over a longer distance before taking on the 26.2 miles of the marathon. Considering the calibre of runners who enter this race, it was brilliant to see Peel Road Runner Emma Pick take first place in the ladies’ race and 19th position overall out of a field of 1307 runners. Emma crossed the line in a time of 2:03:15, knocking 29 minutes of her previous personal best over the distance and only 35 seconds slower than the ladies’ course record! An amazing achievement!
Seven other Peelers took on the challenge of the Ashby 20 with Georgie Mead running a personal best time of 2:46:52, followed by Darren Truman in 3:33:29, Claire Guffick (3:38:06 – personal best), Helen Manton (3:43:58), Helen Dempsey (4:34:35 – personal best), Neal Dempsey (4:34:35) and Lee Guffick (4:45:12).
Advertised as a fast and very flat course, the Fradley 10k is another very popular sell out road race. Five Peelers took on the challenge on Sunday with Luke Collins first back for the club in 38:58 followed by Emma Whorwood (1:04:52), Alison Upton (1:11:43), Sarah Boffey (1:16:31) and Roger Eastaff (1:16:31).
On Saturday, Val Lawson took on the inaugural First Light Adventure’s Trails of Mena half marathon starting in Sutton Scarsdale near Chesterfield. The race was named in memory of the Race Director’s spaniel and was raising money for a spaniel rescue charity. Val completed the 13.72 mile undulating trail route in 2:46:49.
Also on Saturday, Steph Attenborough and Jo Sharman ran the LDWA BB Charnwood trail marathon taking in some beautiful and surprisingly hilly countryside. They finished the 27.11 mile route (with 2844 ft of ascent) in 8:32:00.
There were some spectacular achievements at the weekend’s parkruns as a group of Peelers travelled to London to run the Battersea parkrun whilst celebrating Jackie Tierney’s 350th parkrun, Chris Bennett’s 300th parkrun and Allen King’s 50th run at a different parkrun venue! Phil Neale was first home for the club in 22:14, followed by Allen King (25:29), Chris Bennett (25:30), Mark Boffey (25:48), Billy King (26:38), Tracy Ford (29:01), Jackie Tierney (29:27) and Michael Hughes (32:38).
In other parkruns, Emma Pick finished first lady and second overall in a time of 20:13 at Rosliston parkrun, while Ian Orton finished in 25:45 at Telford. Running at Kingsbury, Ben Dorkins finished in 24:38, followed by Lisa Stretton (25:05), Katie Stretton (25:05), Darren O’Leary (28:31), Simon Gordon (28:42), Jo Insley (32:16) and Nicola Bannister (43:04). At Warwick Racecourse, Mick Stevenson finished in 40:11, whilst at Beacon Park, Lichfield Club Chairman Mike Shelton crossed the line in 20:42, followed by Garth Cox (23:16). Closer to home at Tamworth Castle Grounds, Rob Mace was first home for the club in 21:17, followed by Sophie Galloway (27:35) and Christie Rosser (29:07) and at Battlestead Croft, Tatenhill Tim Mudd stopped the clock on 28:11.
