Peel Road Runners were well represented at Sunday’s Rotary Club Cathedral to Castle 10 mile mixed terrain race. The race started in Beacon Park in Lichfield before running through the city and passing Lichfield Cathedral. It then followed the lanes to Whittington before going onto the trails across the Firing Ranges and into Hopwas Woods. A leg-sapping run up through the woods was rewarded with a cramp-inducing downhill stretch onto the canal at Hopwas, followed by a flatter section through Wigginton Park before finishing with a lap of the Castle Grounds in Tamworth. The weather conditions were perfect for the 884 runners who finished the race.
First Peeler home was the in-form Wayne King, finishing in a time of 1:03:00 and in 7th place out of 884 runners. Following not far behind was Rob Mace in a time of 1:07:57. Third Peeler home was Phil Neale in 1:15:09, closely followed by first lady Peeler Rachael Rickards in a time of 1:16:00. In total 27 Peelers crossed the finish line in Tamworth including Richard Satchwell and Kathryn Adams (1:18:00), Lisa Stretton (1:18:52), Ash Goodman (1:20:21), Craig Smith (1:22:39), Chris Bennett (1:24:53), Natalie Walker (1:24:57), Donna Read (1:28:07), Marcus Fairburn (1:28:11), Andrew Gilman (1:29:01), Helen Chyla (1:29:04), Stuart Hatton (1:29:12), Sophie Galloway (who ran a personal best time of 1:29:18), Carl Hole-Maloney (1:29:20), Joanne Harvey (1:30:28), Sandra Ingram (1:37:18), Claire Guffick (1:46:05), Emma Petricca (1:48:45), Ann Hill (1:53:22), Lisa Vickery (1:56:47), Helen Dempsey (1:59:23), Nicola Bannister (2:12:59) and Alison Dolphin (2:16:13).
Meanwhile, Val Lawson took part in the 10 mile Charnwood Challenge trail run near Loughborough finishing in 2:14:00. The run, which was organised by Nanpanton Scouts, covered an undulating and scenic route that included Windmill Hill, Broombriggs Hill and Beacon Hill.
Several Peel Road Runners supported Peeler Mike Shelton in his role as Race Director at Saturday’s Kingsbury parkrun by volunteering as finish funnel marshals and timekeepers. Without volunteers there would be no parkruns, so thanks to Alison Dolphin, Claire Guffick, Ann Hill, Sarah French and Alison Upton for representing the club in these roles.
Running at Kingsbury, Darren O’Leary was first Peeler home on the 5k course in a time of 23:09. He was followed by Mark Boffey (24:11), Ash Goodman (24:19), Lisa Stretton (27:04); Stella Martin (27:14), Jackie Tierney (29:41) and Lawrence Williamson (38:22).
Parkrun tourists this week were Tanya Murphy at Brueton parkrun (38:04), Garth Cox at Walsall Arboretum (23:39), Tim Mudd at Babb’s Mill (27:41) and Michael Stevenson at Warwick Racecourse (34:50).
