Month: March 2023

As a local, ‘gold standard” race organised by the Ivanhoe Runners in Ashby de la Zouch, the Ashby 20 road race has always been well supported by the Peel Road Runners.  Lured by the promise of sweatshirts and cheese cobs at the finish line, several Peelers took on the challenge of the undulating two lap course.  Despite a cold damp start, the weather improved as the morning went on and Tim Mudd was first back for the Peelers in a time of 3:14:12, closely followed by Carolyne Browne in a time of 3:19:17. Sarah Boffey ran a well paced race to finish in 3:44:27 with Emma Whorwood not far behind in 3:52:03, a particularly good result for Emma as a period of injury and illness had negatively impacted her training.  Running her first race at this distance, Claire Guffick was close on Emma’s heels crossing the finish line in 3:56:49 with husband Lee (also first time at distance) finishing in 4:28:30. 

Continuing with her quest to run 100 marathons, Steph Attenborough ticked off her 54^th marathon at Staines-on-Thames with Saturn Running’s ‘Chasing the Numbers’ 7 lap marathon on Friday in a time of 6:34:48. On Sunday, she ran the Phoenix running half marathon event at Walton on Thames, crossing the line in 3:10:00.

Parkrun events proved as popular as ever over the weekend with Kingsbury drawing the greatest number of Peelers. First home for the club was Ben Dorkins in 22:39, followed by Phil Neale (23:03); Tim Clark (23:52); Darren O’Leary (24:13); Mike Shelton (24:34); Jackie Tierney (30:04); Roger Eastaff (34:55); Wendy Bowyer (37:55); Ann Hill (37:56); Alison Dolphin (1:04:16) and Sarah French (1:04:17). Parkrun tourists included: Garth Cox (23:47) at Walsall Arboretum; Stuart Hatton (25:50); Tony Bryan (28:12); Marcus Fairburn (28:55) and Dave Fern (30:05) at Conkers; Allen King (23:29); Chris Bennett (24:54) and Darren Truman (25:41) at Clifton, Nottingham and Mark Boffey (23:14) at Chasewater.

With warm weather on the horizon but not quite here yet, Peel Road Runner Phil Neale flew out to Spain to take part in the sunny Barcelona marathon at the weekend. He finished the flat and fast course in a very respectable 4:17:38 commenting that the course was “definitely a PB course, but I suffered a bit with the heat at the end … however I still absolutely loved the marathon!”

Many Peelers run a 20 mile race prior to their marathons as a way of seeing how their training for the distance is progressing. With this in mind, Wayne King travelled to the flat and fast Twin Lakes 20 near Milton Keynes where he finished in 6^th place overall and covered the 20 mile route in 2 hours and 7 minutes! 

Last week, Malcolm Bembridge also showed a clean pair of heels when he ran the Chester 10k and finished in 48:44, while Chris Bennett and Helen Dempsey took on the Stafford half marathon finishing in 1:56:57 and 2:53:21. Also running on Sunday in the beautiful grounds of Staunton Harold, Clara Walton competed in the 5k Canicross event with Nanook, finishing in 29:40. 

From the weekend’s parkruns: at Kingsbury, Mike Shelton was first home for the club in a time of 21:19, followed by Tim Clark (23:14); Darren Truman (25:55); Michael Hughes (25:57); Dave Fern (29:12); Claire Guffick (30:10); Roger Eastaff (36:09); Wendy Bowyer (37:56) and Lee Guffick (37:56). Parkrun tourists this week included: Jackie Tierney (29:01) at Colwick, Nottingham; Sarah and Mark Boffey (27:26) at York; Ian Grigg (35:44) at Torbay Velopark; Garth Cox (23:49) at Arrow Valley, Redditch; Tim Mudd (25:17) at Mansfield; Stuart Hatton (26:01), Marcus Fairburn (29:00) and Tony Bryan (29:38) at Conkers; Martin Hollamby (19:12) at the Whammy, Newcastle Under Lyme; Mick Stevenson (33:43) at Warwick Racecourse and Ian Orton (27:26) at Beacon Hill, Loughborough.

After a series of six races, Sunday saw the final race in the Derby/Staffs Cross Country League with Peel Road Runners racing on a scenic and relatively dry two lap course at Foremark reservoir. A good turnout ensured some great racing from team members with second claim runner Rob Dyjak first to finish for the club in 4th place overall in the men’s race. Finishing his first full season with Peel, U20 runner James Stretton showed great form and maturity to cross the line in 11^th place overall with Ben Dorkins (38^th); Mark Boffey (81^st); Simon Gordon (84^th); Billy King (87^th); Michael Hughes (90^th) and Lee Guffick (98^th) making up the men’s team. First home for the ladies’ team, Emma Pick finished in 4th place overall closely followed by Lisa Stretton in 8^th place. Catherine Tieley was next for the ladies in 17^th place, followed by Lorna D’Silva (21^st); Sarah Boffey (43^rd); Jackie Tierney (45^th); Val Lawson (49^th) and Sandra Ingram (54^th). 

This race brought the cross country season to a close with some great racing over the winter and the best ever turnout of club members participating. Eight Peelers ran every race and, in the individual results, Emma Pick finished 3^rd senior lady over the series; Lisa Stretton finished 1^st V45 over the series and Rob Dyjak finished 1^st V40 and 2^nd male over the series. Peel ladies’ team came 2nd overall with the men 4^th, making for 3^rd placed team on the combined score.

Away from the cross country field, Steph Attenborough ignored everything the weather threw at her this last week and completed her 7 marathons in 7 days ‘Week at the Knees’ challenge! With finishing times ranging from 5:42:35 through to 6:52:05, she showed a huge amount of resilience and self belief to complete the challenge under such difficult weather conditions. She was joined by Peeler Michael Hughes on Wednesday, who completed his marathon in 4:50:41.

Chris Bennett was the sole Peeler to take on the Stafford half marathon this year, crossing the finish line in 1:56:57.

With many local parkruns cancelled due to icy conditions, parkrun Peelers had to travel to get their 5k fix this week. Sarah Boffey (27:58); Mark Boffey (27:59) and Jackie Tierney (28:51) ran at Brueton; Stuart Hatton (25:18) and Marcus Fairburn (28:50) ran at Conkers; Chris Bennett (22:54); Darren Truman (25:18) and Ian Orton (26:17) ran at Babb’s Mill and Tim Mudd (25:37) ran at Irchester, Wellingborough.

Cool, dry and calm conditions provided near perfect running conditions for those Peel Road Runners who took on the challenge of the Florette Fradley 10k race on Sunday.  The two lap flat course is renowned as a fast course which, continuing his recent run of good form, Allen King took advantage of and was first home for the club in a time of 46:12 followed by Darren Truman in 49:49.  Billy King finished his first ever 10k race in 51:12, showing great potential.  Next to finish was Stella Taylor in 57:57, then Jackie Tierney (57:59); Emma Barley (59:43); Clara Walton (1:00:41); Emma La Planche (1:03:02); Emma Whorwood (1:04:27); Ann Hill (1:08:05); Alison Upton (1:08:43); Lee Guffick (1:13:29); Roger Eastaff (1:17:06); Wendy Bowyer (1:18:27) and Sarah French 1:18:28.

At the weekend’s parkruns, Mike Shelton was first home for the club at Kingsbury in a time of 20:39 followed by Tim Clark (23:39); Phil Neale (24:21); Garth Cox (25:51); Sophie Galloway (26:26); Stella Taylor (27:46); Jackie Tierney (28:49) and Joy Sykes (31:11). Parkrun tourists included: Stuart Hatton (25:10) and Marcus Fairburn (29:19) at Conkers; Allen King (23:16), Chris Bennett (23:43) and Darren Truman (25:13) at Rushcliffe, Nottingham; Mark Boffey (22:41) and Michael Hughes (36:19) at Alvaston, Derby; Mick Stevenson (33:00) at Warwick Racecourse and Tim Mudd (25:56) and Steph Attenborough (54:34) at Market Bosworth Country Park.