The Montane Lakeland 100 is renowned for being one of the hardest and most challenging events on the Ultra running calendar. The circular route encompasses the whole of the Lakeland fells, includes in the region of 6300 m of ascent and consists entirely of public bridleways and footpaths. The route starts in Coniston and heads south before completing a clockwise loop which takes in the Dunnerdale fells, Eskdale, Wasdale and Buttermere before arriving in Keswick. From here the route heads to Matterdale and continues over to Haweswater before returning via Kentmere, Ambleside and Elterwater to the finish at Coniston.
Peel Road Runner Martin Hollamby took on this unique challenge, starting on Friday 23rd July at 6.00 pm and finishing 29 hours 48 minutes and 14 seconds later, having run 100 miles with minimal stopping through the night and day! This was Hollamby’s first attempt at the Lakeland 100 and he finished in 75th place out of a starting field of 524 (of whom, only 338 finished). When asked to describe his adventure he said, “It’s difficult to put a nearly 30 hour journey into words. I had a massive smile on my face all the way around – even in the last 20 miles when I slowed somewhat. The scenery was inspiring, made all the better by clear skies and a full moon on Friday and Saturday night. I’d thoroughly recommend this to anyone!”
The winner of the race was Mark Darbyshire (one of the top ultra runners at this distance in the country) in a time of 19:10:27.
Meanwhile following in their dad’s footsteps (or showing him how it’s done?), Sally and Emma completed the Lakeland 1 (mile) event on Friday, collecting their medals without a blister or broken toenail in sight!
Closer to home, but also taking on their own endurance challenge, a group of Peelers were camped out at Catton Park running the Conti Thunder Run 24 hour race starting on Saturday and finishing 24 hours later on Sunday. The Challenge requires runners to complete as many laps of the 10k course in the time as they can. The route is a great mix of terrain and surfaces keeping it engaging lap after lap, covering twisty trails, technical woodlands, open fields, stone tracks, climbs and descents. The race can be entered as either solo runners, pairs or teams.
Running in the solo categories, Ian Cooper completed an impressive 70km whilst Tanya Murphy managed 40 km before frustratingly having to withdraw due to shin splints.
In the team event, Team Peel Road Runners (comprising of Sophie Galloway, Sandra Ingram, Kathryn Adams, Jo Insley, Natalie Walker, Ash Goodman, Darren O’Leary and Andy Pickard) completed 23 10k laps, with an average lap time of 1:02:33. They finished 33rd out of of 146 mixed teams of between 6 and 8 runners. Meanwhile, Team Peel Pips 1 (comprising Chris Norris, Sarah French, Ann Hill, Chris Bennett and Ian Grigg) and Team Peel Pips 2 (comprising Alison Dolphin, Kelly Porter, Claire Guffick, Stephen Andrews and Lee Guffick) both completed 14 laps, finishing 133rd and 134th out of 146 teams. “We are completers, not compeeters!” said Club Secretary, Alison Dolphin, demonstrating the inclusivity of the Peel Road Runners for runners of all abilities.
Finally, the long-awaited return of parkrun was celebrated by runners all over the country on Saturday. Running for the first time since parkrun was cancelled due to the Covid19 pandemic, five Peelers tested out the course at Kingsbury Water Park. First home was Rob Mace in 20:28, followed by Garth Cox in 23:52, Lisa Stretton in 24:41, Tim Mudd in 30:31 and Jacqui Tierney in 31:20. Doing a spot of parkrun tourism, Mick Stevenson represented the club at Northallerton parkrun finishing in 32:31.
Peel Road Runners meet every Tuesday and Thursday at 6.45 pm at the skate park car park in the Castle Grounds.
