Forecasts of freezing weather, snow and icy ground conditions did nothing to deter a hardy bunch of Peel Road Runners from taking part in the third cross country race of the Derby/Staffs XC League at Anslow, Burton on Trent on Sunday. The two lap course, including the notorious water splash, was made more difficult by the slow thaw on previously hard-frozen ground making plenty of opportunities for slips and stumbles. Due to the weather and clashing events, the ladies’ team was smaller than usual but Jackie Tierney ran well to finish first lady back for the club, followed by Claire Guffick and Sarah Boffey. The men’s teams were better represented with Martin Hollamby first Peeler over the line in 6th place overall, closely followed by Club Chairman Lee Rickards in 7th place overall. Ultrarunner Luke Collins was next to finish in 14thplace overall, followed by Mike Shelton, Ben Dorkins, Mark Boffey, Chris Bennett, Tim Mudd, Billy King, Allen King, Ian Orton, Simon Gordon, Michael Hughes and Lee Guffick.
Running in slightly warmer but none-the-less challenging conditions, Steph Attenborough took on the Lanzarote International marathon on Saturday. The race was run on an undulating out and back coastline course, which Attenborough completed in 5:46:04.
At the weekend’s parkruns, Tamworth Castle parkrun drew the largest number of Peelers on a chilly but sunny Saturday morning. First to stop the clock for the club was Luke Collins, running his 5k in 21:38 followed by Ben Dorkins (23:14); Simon Gordon (24:33); Stuart Hatton (25:42); Judith Matthews (26:01); Roger Lloyd (26:27); Garth Cox (26:54); Sophie Galloway (28:02); Clara Walton (28:18); Roger Eastaff (33:02); Joy Sykes (35:39); Ann Hill (55:32); Alison Dolphin (55:34); Sarah French (55:36); Wendy Bowyer (55:37); Chris Norris (66:43) and Stephen Andrews (66:44). Mark Boffey and Sandra Ingram volunteered at Tamworth.
Parkrun tourists included: Ian Orton (24:38) and Michael Hughes (37:44) at Lincoln; Allen King (22:28) and Chris Bennett (25:25) at Sandwell Valley; Jackie Tierney (28:23) at Kingsbury Water Park; Claire Guffick (31:22) and Lee Guffick (42:18) at Sutton Park; Mick Stevenson (33:24) at Warwick Racecourse; Emma Pick (21:53) at Market Bosworth Country Park and Tim Mudd (26:06) at Holbrooks, Coventry.
At their monthly structured training session at Tamworth Athletics Club, the Peelers were joined by Olympic athlete and middle-distance runner Amy-Eloise Markovc. Amy-Eloise won the gold medal at the 3000m event at the 2021 European Indoor Championships; ran at the Tokyo Olympics; last year’s World and European Championships and the Birmingham Commonwealth Games and is a great inspiration to all the Peelers, but especially her proud uncle Peeler Phil Neale!
