Month: September 2021

Some Peel Road Runners run short, some run long and some run with dogs! This weekend has seen Peelers representing the club at all these different distances in various challenges across the country.

The ever-popular Equinox 24 hour challenge at Belvoir Castle in Leicestershire required runners to run as many laps of a mixed terrain 10k course as they could in a 24 hour period. Representing the Peelers, Sophie Galloway and Andy Pickard completed an impressive 10 x 10k laps (equivalent to 62 miles) in the time available, whilst Jo Insley completed 8 x 10k laps (equivalent to 50 miles) within the 24 hour time limit.

At Sunday’s Chester half marathon, Malcolm Bembridge continued to impress with his consistent form finishing in a time of 1:44:47 having taken advantage of the fast and flat course.

Canicross is a very popular sport which involves running with a dog. Experienced canicrosser and Peeler Rob Mace competed at the Statfold 1 mile event at the weekend and finished in a barktastic time of 4 minutes and 40 seconds, ably assisted by Axis! He then ran as a Guide Runner with Ian McNamara (who is visually impaired), completing the 1 mile course in 10:28, this time assisted by dog Neipher.

Peel parkrunners were also busy this weekend. Kingsbury had the largest turnout of Peelers completing their 5k challenges with the following results: Phil Neale 22:28, Chris Bennett 23:42, Stuart Hatton 24:37, Claire Guffick in a personal best time of 28:07, Clara Walton 30:27, Emma Whorwood 31:24, Roger Eastaff 32:17, Lee Guffick 35:04, Ann Hill 35:28, Alison Dolphin 36:15, Sarah French 37:22, Kelly Porter 37:46 and Stephen Andrews 42:55.

Peeler parkrun tourists this week were: Tim Mudd running at Conkers in a time of 27:58, Darren O’Leary at Sewerby, Bridlington in 24:59, Michael Stevenson at Stratford-upon-Avon in 31:25, Garth Cox at Bedworth in 23:43, Ash Goodman (24:38) and Nick Neale (29:59) at Sutton Park, Tanya Murphy (29:27) at Babbs Mill, Joy Sykes (29:40) at Tyne Green, Hexham and Jacqui Tierney at Edgbaston Reservoir in 29:18.

Peel Road Runners always welcome new members.

After such a long period of cancelled and postponed races, this weekend finally had a feeling of normality about it with Peel Road Runners racing at different events all over the country.

Covering the full marathon distance and crossing the finish line in first place, Martin Hollamby ran the Battle of the Borders trail race on the Long Mynd from Church Stretton on Sunday. The epic trail race consisted of 4000 ft of climb and Hollamby finished in just under 4 hours, a mere 48 minutes ahead of the second placed marathon runner! On Saturday’s Battle of the Borders half marathon, Zoe Schnepp and Michael Shelton ran their trail course with around 2000 ft of climb in 2:20:00 and finished in joint 5^th place overall.

Further north, Sophie Galloway ran a personal best time at the 40^th Great North Run finishing in a time of 2:02:44 on the new undulating course (finishing in Newcastle rather than South Shields). The Great North Run was the largest event to take place in the UK since the lifting of pandemic restrictions with 57000 people registered to run this year’s race!

Closer to home, Mark Boffey ran the undulating Kenilworth half marathon finishing in a time of 1:51:38 and 259^th out of 582 finishers. George Hope also ran and crossed the finish line in a time of 1:56:19 in 312nd place.

Garth Cox was the sole Peeler to take on the Nuneaton 10k course, finishing in a time of 50:16 and 93^rd out of 174 runners.

At the Tamworth 5 Mile race (the final race the in the Burton and District Summer League for 2021), the Peelers were well represented on the undulating course promoted by Tamworth Athletics Club. There was a strong field with a lot of competition between athletes from local clubs and first Peeler back at the stadium was Wayne King in a time of 31:42 and 4^th in the M40 age category. Second Peeler home was Michael Shelton (the day after running his trail half marathon!) in a time of 35:09. He was followed by Lorna Dsylva in 39:22, Roger Lloyd in 40:01, Chris Bennett in 40:04, Darren Truman in 41:23, Stuart Hatton in 41:53, Carl Hole-Maloney in 42:47, Dave Fern in 43:14, Emma Livingstone in 46:51, Sandra Ingram in 47:53, Claire Guffick in 49:03, Alison Upton in 52:54 and Lee Guffick in 1:00:51.

Quite a few Peelers take on the additionial challenges posed by triathlons and Martyn Candy took part in one of the most difficult in the country this weekend by completing the Hellvellyn triathlon in Cumbria. The event requires competitors to complete a swim in Ullswater, a cycle ride to the top of Kirkstone Pass (taking in the infamous “Struggle”) at 1489 ft and finishing with a run up and down Hellvellyn (3118 ft). Candy completed the course in 7:08:26, finishing 19^th in the MV60+ age category.

Despite all the race action this weekend, the Peel parkrunners were busy ticking off their miles on Saturday. Running at the Club home course at Kingsbury parkrun, Mark Boffey was first to finish in a time of 24:42. He was followed by Darren O’Leary in 24:50, Carolyne Browne in 25:45, Darren Truman in 25:56, Garth Cox in 26:00, Stella Martin in 26:29, Tim Mudd in 29:00, Clara Walton in 31:21, Chris Taylor in 31:32, Roger Eastaff in 24:38, Wendy Bowyer in 39:33, Lawrence Williamson in 42:24 and Wayne King in 53:28. The biggest Kingsbury fanfare, however, goes to Peeler Lisa Fletcher who volunteered as a marshal for the 50^th time and without volunteers there would be no parkruns! Ian Cooper ran at Rosliston parkrun finishing in a time of 26:11, whilst Tanya Murphy completed this course in a personal best time of 31:28!