Stuck for something to do on an overcast and damp Sunday morning? Why not run 5.5 miles around a shoe-sucking muddy cross country course complete with log jumps and water hazards!! This is exactly the challenge that an enthusiastic group of Peel Road Runners took on at the Poplars Farm Equestrian Cross Country course near Burton Upon Trent in the second race of this winter’s Burton & Derby Cross Country League. First home for the club in fourth place overall was Wayne King, closely followed by Martin Hollamby in 11th place, Lee Rickards in 12th place, Chris Samson in 16th place, Luke Collins in 21st place, Mark Boffey in 89th place, Simon Gordon in 97th place and Lee Guffick in 128th place. In the ladies’ race, Sam Cart (in her first cross country race) was first home for the club in 58th place, followed by Gemma Pritchard in 59th place, Claire Guffick in 68th place, Val Lawson in 74th place, Emma Petricca (also running her first cross country race) in 75th place and Sara Boffey in 89th place. Supporting the club by covering essential volunteering roles were Lisa Fletcher, Chris Bennett, Tracy Ford, Elizabeth Young and Sandra Ingram. The next cross country race will be held at Sinai Park, Burton Upon Trent in January.
In their quest to run as many marathons in as many different locations as possible, Steph Attenborough and Joanne Sharman completed the world’s first marathon run completely underground! This required runners to complete 91 laps of a cold, twisty and surprisingly wet course wearing head protection and head torches at the UCAP Bunker in Portsmouth (a former underground headquarters for the Royal Navy to plot the progress of the allied troops during the invasion of Normandy on D-Day). Steph and Jo completed the course in 6:17:00.
Running in the canicross event at Trail Betws in Eryri, north Wales Helen Dempsey (running with Sydney) and Neal Dempsey (running with Banana and Elvis) completed the 10k course in a time of 1:20:15.
At the weekend’s parkruns, Emma Pick broke her own club record by running a time of 17:48 over 5k at Long Eaton parkrun! Other Peel parkrunners this weekend included: Michael Hughes running at Upton Country Park in Dorset in a time of 49:10 whilst at Kingsbury water park, Darren Truman finished in a time of 28:48 followed by Ann Hill (49:44), Sarah French (52:29) and Stephen Andrews (60:25). Running at Fountains Abbey in North Yorkshire, Mick Stevenson finished in 37:38; at Melton Mowbray Ian Orton finished in 24:42 and at Babb’s Mill, Garth Cox finished in 25:57. Running closer to home at Tamworth Castle parkrun, Luke Collins and Jamie Abbiss were first back for the club in a time of 22:46, followed by Roger Lloyd (25:19); Chris Bennett (25:43); Simon Gordon (26:51); Tim Clark (28:30); Joanne Harvey (28:50); Stuart Hatton (28:53); Dave Fern (30:20); Jacqui Tierney (33:38) and Sarah Boffey (48:20).
A happy group of Peelers and their families also supported Santa on his Round Table charity sleigh run through Wilnecote and Hockley on Sunday evening.
