After a busy year of running and racing, Peel Road Runners were able to reward the hard work and achievements of club members at their annual Presentation Night held at Bolehall Swifts on Friday evening. Prizes were presented by Club President, Ray Rogers and Club Chairman, Lee Rickards in the following categories: Best Male Runner of the Year – Wayne King; Best Female Runner of the Year – Emma Pick; Best Over 40 Male – Luke Collins; Best Over 50 Male – Phil Neale; Best Over 35 Female – Rachael Rickards; Best Over 45 Female – Carolyne Browne; Marathon Award – Lee Guffick; Most Improved Male Athlete – Allen King; Most Improved Female Athlete – Sarah Boffey; Best Potential (Male) – James Stretton; Best Potential (Female) – Catherine Tierney; Club Members of the Year (an award voted for by Club members) – Sandra Ingram and Mark Boffey; President’s Award – Sophie Galloway and Emma Whorwood.
At the Peel Road Runners Gate Gallop race (in aid of St Giles Hospice) on Sunday, with many of the club members and their families on marshalling duties, Peel were only able to put out a smaller team to brave the very hot and humid racing conditions. The first Peeler home was Wayne King crossing the line in 39:32 and 1st M40. He was followed by Emma Pick in 45:54, 3rd FSEN and 5th overall. James Stretton showed great promise to finish as 3rd MU20 (48:03), followed by Tony Bryan (61:58); Chris Bennett (who threw away his chances of a faster time to help another injured runner – 63:28); Sarah Boffey (65:52); Gemma Pritchard (67:19); Claire Guffick (72:11) and Clara Walton (74:15).
Meanwhile, at the Leamington Spa half marathon in aid of Myton Hospice on Sunday, George Hope completed the one lap 13.1 miles route on closed roads in 2:11:51. As with many other events this weekend, the hot and humid weather took its toll on runners’ results with many achieving slower times than normal.
On Saturday, Val Lawson ran the hilly, but very scenic Big Bear Cannock 10 trail race on Cannock Chase finishing in 2:14:48 and 27/56 runners.
At the weekend’s parkruns, Mike Shelton was first home for the club at Kingsbury in a time of 22:44, followed by Garth Cox (25:58); Dave Fern (30:38); Alison Perry (33:22); Matthew Shaw (35:25); Martyn Candy (36:41) and Chris Norris (60:28). Parkrun tourists included: Sarah Boffey (31:10) at Valentines, Ilford; Steph Attenborough (61:49) at Southport; Mick Stevenson (34:20) at Warwick Racecourse; Ben Dorkins (28:14) at Edgbaston Reservoir and Tim Mudd (24:47) at University Parks, Oxford. A group of Peelers supported Lichfield’s Beacon Park parkrun’s 100th event, made all the more special as it coincided with Michael Hughes (37:15) 100th parkrun! Running at Beacon Park were: James Stretton (19:17); Tim Clark (22:54); Chris Bennett (23:25); Ian Orton (23:28); Lisa Stretton (24:22); Mark Boffey (27:51); Darren Truman (28:00) and Jackie Tierney (29:39).
