Month: October 2022

After a week of wet days and the prospect of a soggy cross country course, Peel Road Runners were relieved to have a mild and dry start to the cross country season at Anslow near Burton Upon Trent on Sunday. The race was the first in the Derby Runner Derby & Staffs Cross Country League with runners taking on a 5.5 mile course around an equestrian cross country course complete with a jump and water splash! First Peeler to gallop across the finish line was second claim athlete, Robert Dyjak, in a time of 32:27 and 6^th place overall. Next to finish was Luke Collins in 32^nd place; Rob Mace in 39^th place; Scott Chapman in 48^th place; Mark Boffey in 76^th place; Ben Dorkins in 78^th place; Phil Neale in 81^st place; Darren Truman in 84^thplace; Tim Clark in 95^th place; Ian Orton in 117^th place (having run the Snowdonia marathon the day before!); Michael Hughes in 123^rd place; Simon Gordon in 125^th place and Lee Guffick bringing the men’s team home. Running for the ladies’ team, Emma Pick was first home in a time of 39:33 and 9^th place overall, with Lisa Stretton next to finish in 23^rd place; Sarah Boffey in 49^th place; Stella Taylor in 60^th place; Claire Guffick in 79^th place and Jackie Tierney in 80^th place. Some great results from both first timers to cross country and seasoned veterans!

Peelers Sandra Ingram and Ian Orton took on the Snowdonia marathon on Saturday. Advertised as one of the hardest road marathons in Britain, the race started in Llanberis before taking in the Llanberis Pass to Pen-y-Pass, passing through Beddgelert at around the 13 mile mark and running up to Rhydd Ddu and Waunfawr. The final three miles of the race begin with a cruel slog over the Bwlch-y-groes pass, then a hair-raising rough trail descent back into Llanberis. Only three weeks after running the London marathon, Orton crossed the line in a time of 5:41:40 with Ingram not far behind in 5:46:39.

Meanwhile across the Irish Sea, Mike Shelton ran the Dublin marathon on Sunday finishing in a time of 3:41:07, an impressive 20 minutes faster than his previous run at Dublin in 2019!

Saturday morning parkruns were as popular as ever with the Peelers this week. At Kingsbury Allen King was first to finish for the club in a time of 22:40 followed by Ben Dorkins (23:24); Neal Dempsey (27:58); Sarah Boffey (29:06); Mark Boffey (29:19); Helen Dempsey (33:51); Kelly Porter (43:21); Wendy Bowyer (43:54); Alison Perry (51:08); Chris Norris (51:39); Alison Dolphin (55:57) and Sarah French (55:58). Sarah French and Ann Hill acted as Tail Walkers at Kingsbury; Alison Dolphin as Park Walker (a role designed to encourage walkers to join in at parkrun without feeling the need to run) and Wendy Bowyer helped with Communications before the run.

Parkrun tourists included: Tim Mudd (27:36) at Brueton; Roger Lloyd (25:47) at Walsall Arboretum; Tony Bryan at Conkers (25:31); Rob Mace at Sandwell Valley (1^st finisher and 25^th time finishing first in a parkrun!); Chris Bennett (24:58) at Henley Wood, Oswestry; Joy Sykes (30:04) at Tyne Green, Hexham; Mick Stevenson (32:17) at Warwick Racecourse; Michael Hughes (26:41) at East Park, Wolverhampton and Jackie Tierney (29:13) at Beacon Park, Lichfield (Jackie also volunteered before the run).

The Abingdon marathon is renowned for its fast and flat course, so is a draw for many runners seeking a personal best for a marathon and for Peel Road Runner, Wayne King, this would be his first attempt at the distance after a period of promising and very consistent training. Unfortunately the weather was against the runners on Sunday with heavy rain and wet roads hampering their efforts. However, despite this, Wayne had an outstanding run crossing the finish line just 23 seconds over the magic “3 hours” in a truly impressive time of 3:00:23. On a different day with better weather conditions, it’s not difficult to imagine that this time will be well and truly broken!

Unfortunately, the weather proved too much for the Droitwich half marathon, which was cancelled due to a flooded course. Having trained for the race, several Peelers decided to test themselves against the Peel RR half marathon course which was designed to be run as a virtual race during the Covid Lockdown period. Despite not ‘racing’ the route, the 13.1 mile course (based on the north side of Tamworth) gave them a good indication of how their training was progressing for their key half marathon race next month at Clowne near Chesterfield.

At the weekend’s parkruns, Kingsbury was again the most popular with the Peelers. Club member Mike Shelton had the double celebration of being able to claim his award for volunteering for the 100^th time at Kingsbury (that’s a lot of Saturday mornings given over to helping others!) and also for knocking out his fastest time in 2022, crossing the line in 20:16.

First over the finish line for the club was James Stretton, who stopped the clock at 19:44, closely followed by Mike Shelton (20:16); Ben Dorkins (personal best time of 21:28); Tim Clark (22:12); Lisa Stretton (25:37); Stella Taylor (27:02); Joy Sykes (30:48); Helen Dempsey (33:11); Alison Perry (33:33); Wendy Bowyer (41:38); Alison Dolphin (41:40) and Chris Norris (49:02). Sarah French and Roger Eastaff volunteered as finish scanners, whilst Wendy Bowyer helped with communications at Kingsbury.

Parkrun tourists included: Mick Stevenson at Northallerton (33:20); Tony Bryan at Walmer and Deal Seafront (25:38); Emma Barley at Chasewater (38:36); Ian Orton at Babb’s Mill, Solihull (23:10); Tim Mudd at Beacon, Lichfield (26:45); Jackie Tierney at Watermead Country Park, Leicester (28:58) and Michael Hughes at Bramshall Road, Uttoxeter (27:50).

With the autumn marathon season upon us, many Peelers have been training hard for events all over the UK but this Sunday Michael Hughes crossed continents to record a personal best time in the Chicago marathon, finishing in an impressive 4:25:55. 

With autumn upon us and supposedly cooler weather, the Canicross racing season has started again. Rob Mace was out on the trails at the Midlands Canicross Short Course event held at Box Park, Bedford. He came third running with Base in the mile event (shortened course due to warm conditions), recording times of 6.09 and 6.58. Clara Walton also ran at the Novice event with Nanook finishing in 8.05 and 8.03.

At the weekend’s parkruns, a good contingent of Peelers headed to Kingsbury for their weekly fix! First over the finish line for the club was Ben Dorkins in a time of 22:36 and 16th place overall. Next to finish was Mike Shelton in 25:23, followed by Judith Matthews (25:24); Jason Church (25:44); Sophie Galloway (26:09); Garth Cox (27:17); Stella Taylor (28:24); Chris Bennett (28:42); Allen King (28:46); Darren Truman (28:49); Roger Eastaff (30:01); Jackie Tierney (31:00); Ann Hill (32:17); Martyn Candy (33:59); Chris Norris (48:18) and Alison Dolphin (59:37).

Parkrun tourists this week included: Mark Boffey and Sarah Boffey at Dudley (24:56) and (27:34 PB)respectively; Mick Stevenson at Colby, Pembrokeshire (34:44); Claire Guffick and Lee Guffick at Sutton Park (29:12) and (41:56) respectively; Emma Barley at Chasewater (33:36) and, travelling the furthest for his weekly parkrun, Michael Hughes at Heritage Harbour, Ottawa (27:13).

The London marathon needs no introduction and this Sunday saw thousands of runners pounding the capital’s streets running for their clubs and raising money for their charities. This year the Peel Road Runners had three runners in the race with Ian Orton first over the line in a time of 4:41:36. Ian was running on behalf of MACS (a national charity supporting children born without eyes or with underdeveloped eyes). Sophie Galloway was next to finish in 4:53:40, running on the Peel RR club place (her name was drawn out of the ‘hat’ of eligible runners in the club and the place is highly coveted every year!) with Carolyne Browne close behind in a time of 4:57:41. Carolyne was running for the British Heart Foundation and has raised an incredible £3331.00 for the charity at the time of writing! Her run was made even more memorable as she met the women’s marathon record holder, Paula Radcliffe, whilst collecting her running number at the Expo on Friday.

Taking on another distance challenge closer to home, Clara Walton completed 7 laps in the Big Bear Rainbow Challenge at Kingsbury Water Park on Tuesday on a rather wet day. The run held on a mixed surface trail course equated to a distance of 23.1 miles, a distance personal best for her.

At the Kielder Run Bike Run event on Saturday (11 km run – 25 km bike – 6 km run) Joy Sykes finished in a time of 4:03:41 on the mixed surface trail run/bike course in somewhat muddy conditions.

After a summer of racing in the Burton and District Summer League, several Peel Road Runners were prize winners at the Presentation Evening on Friday. Emma Pick won first over all the races in the Senior Ladies category; Zac Simmons was second overall in the U25 male category; Lisa Stretton was second overall in the VW45 category and Wayne King was third in the VM40 category.

At the weekend’s parkruns, 12 Peelers took on the 5k course at Kingsbury Water Park. First over the line for the club was Mike Shelton in a time of 20:18, followed by Ben Dorkins (22:50); Phil Neale (24:22); Darren O’Leary (24:29); Richard Satchwell (26:36); Stella Taylor (27:13); Neal Dempsey (27:48); Allen King (28:50); Darren Truman (28:51); Helen Dempsey (32:26); Alison Perry (51:09) and Chris Norris (51:10). Parkrun tourists included: Tony Bryan at Conkers (25:39); Tim Mudd at Jersey (39:30); Garth Cox at Chasewater (25:03); Mark Boffey at Woodgate Valley Country Park, Bartley Green (22:52) and Jackie Tierney at University Parks, Oxford (30:12). Parkrun volunteers this week included: Sarah French, Ann Hill, Roger Eastaff, Wendy Bowyer, Claire Guffick, Lee Guffick and Mike Shelton (who ran and volunteered!).