The Peel Road Runners were once again out and about at different parkruns across the region on Saturday. The lure of Kingsbury proved the strongest again with the greatest number of Peelers attending. First across the line and in fourth place overall was Martin Hollamby in a time of 20:12. His swift finishing time was all the more impressive as he was pushing a running buggy with his daughter in it!
In 25th place overall, Allen King finished in 23:08 equaling his personal best time from 2021. Other Peelers running at Kingsbury included Chris Bennett (24:20); Simon Gordon (25:03); Ash Goodman (25:35); Mark Boffey (28:23); Jackie Tierney (28:27); Joy Sykes (29:56); Claire Guffick (30:45) and Nicola Bannister (36:52). Meanwhile, Sarah French, Alison Dolphin and Stephen Andrews made great ‘hi-vis heroes’ by volunteering to scan the runners’ barcodes as they crossed the finish line, whilst Mike Shelton was this week’s Run Director.
Parkrun tourists this week included: Tim Mudd at Coventry (26:51); Rob Mace at Cannock Chase (20:42); Ian Cooper (27:02) and Tanya Murphy (33:50) at Brueton, Solihull; Andy Pickard at Rotherham (23:10); Garth Cox at Chasewater (24:12) and Mick Stevenson at Warwick Racecourse (31:46).
With the Staffs and Derby Cross Country League in full swing, Peel Road Runners Men’s team are in fourth place out of fourteen teams, whilst the women’s team are currently in seventh place out of fourteen teams, meaning that there is lots at stake at the next league race on Sunday, 6th February at Boothorpe, near Swadlincote. The teams are hoping that the dry weather holds out to make for good running conditions on what can be a very muddy course.
Peel Road Runners welcome new runners of all abilities.
Peel Road Runners took part in the third race in the Derby Runner Staffs & Derby Cross Country League on Sunday. Travelling to Allestree Park in Derby, the Peelers were faced with slightly drier conditions than would normally be expected in January, although the dreaded “hill of mud” still proved as challenging as ever on both laps of the race! Although unable to run due to injury, Team Captain Sandra Ingram described the day saying, “it was a struggle to get the teams together (due to injury and illness), but it worked out well in the end. The camaraderie of the other clubs was amazing, they all waited to cheer in our last runner. It was really heartwarming!”
Although men and women run together over the 5.5 mile course they score separately. Rachael Rickards ran a strong race to finish first of the Peel ladies in 13th place overall. Close on her heels, Lisa Stretton put in a great performance finishing in 17th place, followed by Lorna DeSylva, Sophie Galloway and Claire Guffick. Running for the men’s team, second claim runner Robert Dyjak continued his impressive performance this season by finishing 3rd overall in a very competitive field. Second Peeler home for the men was ultra runner Martin Hollamby, who is well used to running on technical terrain and ran strongly finishing in 8th place. Club Chairman Lee Rickards crossed the line in 10th place overall (though maybe regretting his choice of white XC spikes!), followed by Wayne King, second claim Scott Chapman, Darren Truman, Ben Dorkins (on his cross country debut), Roger Lloyd, Simon Gordon and Lee Guffick. The team were also able to take shelter before and after running in their recently purchased and branded gazebo, which was well appreciated and will prove to be a godsend in less favourable weather!
Peel canicross runners were busy this weekend at the Canicross Midlands event held at Lincomb Equestrian Centre near Worcester. Neal Dempsey, running with Banana and Hugo on the 5k course, finished in third place overall. Helen Dempsey ran the same course with Sydney, but was not placed. Both Neal and Helen ran the fun short course (around 3k in distance) with Paddington and Sydney (Neal) and Minnie (Helen). Rob Mace also ran a strong race on the 5 k course with Axis. All six dogs are rescue dogs living their new lives to the full!
The National Running Show at the National Exhibition Centre is always a draw for runners both locally and from further afield. Several Peelers took advantage of the occasion to meet some of the “stars” of the running world and to check out the latest gear and equipment to tempt their credit cards. Mark Boffey was able to chat with the astounding Scott Jurek, an American ultra runner whose impressive record of distance wins include the Hardrock Ultra, the Badwater ultramarathon, the Spartathlon and the Western States 100 mile race. Definitely a day to remember!
Saturday morning parkruns once again proved popular for club members with Kingsbury Water Park drawing the largest number of Peel runners. First to cross the line for the club was Mike Shelton in a time of 22:31, followed by Ben Dorkins (23:21); Darren O’Leary (25:41); Stella Taylor (26:15); Jackie Tierney (29:34); Claire Guffick (30:50); Emma Whorwood (35:19); Ann Hill (35:38); Sarah French (35:41); Nicola Bannister (36:44); Alison Dolphin (38:47); Stephen Andrews (39:46); Wendy Bowyer (40:22); Lee Guffick (41:58) and Chris Norris (47:05). Parkrun tourists included: Andrew Pickard at Hillsborough, Sheffield (23:31); Garth Cox at Chasewater (23:56); Ian Cooper (25:20) and Tanya Murphy (33:06) both at Babb’s Mill, Solihull and Mick Stevenson (32:12) at Warwick Racecourse. Joy Sykes was the sole club hi-vis hero this weekend, volunteering at Carlisle Park parkrun in Morpeth, Northumberland.
Although a quiet time of the year for running races, Peel Road Runners have been working hard at improving their fitness levels on their weekly club runs and structured training sessions. Combining this with parkruns has helped to bring variety to their training and the opportunity to celebrate individual successes, which has always proved popular with the Peelers.
At Kingsbury parkrun this weekend, Mike Shelton was first across the line in a time of 21:55. He was followed by Lisa Stretton (24:54); Darren Truman (25:32); Darren O’Leary (26:31); Ashley Goodman (26:41); Mark Boffey (28:18); Simon Gordon (28:32); Joy Sykes (30:55) and Nicola Bannister (39:26). Celebrating Stephen Andrew’s 50th parkrun, a group of enthusiastically attired Peelers had a more leisurely paced run around the course at Kingsbury finishing together in around 51 minutes. It’s suspected that Wendy Bowyer, Alison Dolphin, Sarah French, Claire Guffick, Roger Eastaff, Christine Norris and Lee Guffick enjoy the opportunity to dress up, as much as the opportunity to run!
Parkrun tourists this week included: Jackie Tierney (29:03) at Highbury Fields, London; Tony Bryan (24:36) at Conkers; Tim Mudd (36:28) at Dishley Park, Loughborough and Chris Bennett (26:33) at Sutton Park.
Despite the Christmas and New Year holidays, Peel Road Runners have been busy over the festive period. Anyone seeing a group of festively clad runners on the streets of Tamworth may have rubbed their eyes and questioned how much they had had to drink, but they can rest assured it would have been the Peelers celebrating the season on one of their social club runs!
Peeler Stella Taylor was definitely celebrating on New Year’s Eve, as she completed an arduous year of running 5k every day in 2021 to raise money for Cancer Research UK. To date she has raised over £2800 and ran every day in 2021 whatever the weather, even getting up very early on her wedding day to run 5k! Anyone wishing to support her challenge can donate at https://fundraise.cancerresearchuk.org/page/stellas-5k-everyday-in-2021.
Club Secretary Alison Dolphin started off 2022 on a high note by running her 100th parkrun at Kingsbury. She was accompanied by Peelers Sarah French, Roger Eastaff, Claire Guffick, Lee Guffick, Chris Norris and Nicola Bannister and they all finished together in a time of 54 minutes. Also running at Kingsbury were Rob Mace (21:37), Mike Shelton (23:10), Phil Neale (24:24), Lisa Stretton (25:39), Stuart Hatton (26:39), Ben Dorkins (26:49) and Clara Walton (30:01).
Parkrun tourists this week included: Simon Gordon (25:51) at Brighouse near Leeds; Mick Stevenson (32:51) at Fountains Abbey, Ripon; Ian Cooper (25:21) and Tanya Murphy (34:33) at Babbs Mill, Solihull and Jackie Tierney (31:32) at Watermead Country Park, Leicester.
Peel Road Runners meet every Tuesday and Thursday on the Skate Park carpark in the Castle Grounds.
