On Sunday, 3rd September Ultra Runner Peel Road Runner Neal Dempsey took on the challenge of the Rat Race Man v Mountain in Snowdonia. The legendary mountain adventure run started at sea level at Caernarfon Castle and followed quiet country lanes and rough tracks and footpaths to the summit of Snowdon, before descending down by the railway to Dinorwic Quarry. Here runners took on an array of punishing obstacles including the infamous Vertical Kilometre and a swim in Llyn Padarn! With an approximate distance of 22 miles and 5055 ft of climb, runners also faced the challenge of typical Snowdonia weather which added to the fun! Dempsey crossed the finish line in an impressive time of 6 hours saying “the swim was the best bit!”
Also taking on an equally arduous challenge was Peel Road Runner Martin Hollamby, himself no stranger to ultra distance events. He ran the Peak Running Limestone 50, a 50 mile trail run taking in some of the spectacular scenery of the White Peak starting and finishing in Castleton, Derbyshire. The run had 7500 ft of climb and, and as an UTMB qualifying race, required runners to self-navigate over varied terrain. Hollamby finished the route in 9:50:47 and 4th place overall. Commenting on the event afterwards he said, “I was in 2nd place at one point, but fell off the pace massively in the second half. I was able to collect myself and get in under 10 hours despite desperately wanting to walk for the last 20 miles or so! Can thoroughly recommend the course and the organisation (and the marshals) were superb. I’ll be back!” At the Baslow Checkpoint, decked out as an 80’s disco, Peeler Val Lawson volunteered to support the runners (who were taking on 100 mile, 50 mile and 33 mile distances) by marshalling for Peak Running.
As usual, Kingsbury parkrun proved a good draw for Peelers on Saturday morning. First home for the Peelers was Ben Dorkins in a time of 22:34, closely followed by Mark Boffey (22:48) and Tim Clark (23:04). Next to finish was Mike Shelton in 23:48 and Lisa Stretton (24:24); Garth Cox (24:33); Dave Fern (25:27); Stella Taylor (28:17); Jason Church (29:13); Owen Slater (29:15); Clara Walton (31:38); Roger Eastaff (31:44); Joy Sykes (32:09); Alison Perry (32:12); Ann Hill (37:57); Sarah French (38:08); Alison Dolphin (40:16); Wendy Bowyer (42:12) and Stephen Andrews (42:14).
Parkrun tourists this week included: Chris Bennett (24:58) at Conkers; Ian Orton (23:48) at Barry Island, Glamorgan (23:48); Tim Mudd at Bideford (26:00) and Sophie Galloway and Sandra Ingram at Beacon, Lichfield who crossed the line together in 32:03.
