Month: September 2023

A beer mile? Who knew there was such a thing or that it would be contested at Tamworth Athletics Club on Thursday, 21st September? Well there is, and it was! Described by Beermile.com as ‘in equal parts gastric challenge and athletic endeavour, competitors are required to drink a 355 ml beer (5% minimum ABV) before every quarter of a mile of the track, totalling four beers in the one mile course’. Peeler Wayne King brought home the winners’ trophy for the Peel Road Runners in a time of 7:44, beating his nearest Tamworth AC rival by just 4 seconds!

Peel Road Runners had a good turnout of runners at the Tissington Trail half marathon on Saturday and Sunday. Running Saturday’s event in beautiful sunshine, Claire Guffick was first home for the club in a personal best time of 2:10:36, followed by Ann Hill (2:31:17 PB), Roger Eastaff (2:31:26 PB); Lee Guffick (2:58:07) and Wendy Bowyer (3:12:52). At Sunday’s event on the same course but with cloudier and overcast conditions, Sarah Boffey ran a personal best time of 2:08:40.

On Sunday, George Hope ran the second of his marathon ‘Majors’ at the Berlin marathon, having completed New York last year. He ran a solid first half but he reported that he “couldn’t keep it up in the second half as my hips, quads and hamstrings all gave up on me at about 34km”. However, he still crossed the line in 4:30:24, which was a great run under the circumstances and he could say that he had run the race on the same day as the women’s marathon world record was broken at Berlin (Tigst Assefa from Ethiopia finished in 2:11:53, taking 2:11 off the previous record!)!

At the weekend’s parkruns, Darren O’Leary was first home for the club at Kingsbury in a time of 22:52. He was followed by Chris Bennett (23:31); Simon Gordon (24:05); Lisa Stretton (25:17); Roger Lloyd (25:26); Jackie Tierney (28:17); Wendy Roe (31:21 – Personal Best); Dave Fern (31:22) and Emma Whorwood (34:22). Parkrun tourists included: Tim Mudd (27:24) at Severn Valley, Bridgnorth; Mark Boffey (28:44) and Sarah Boffey (31:35) at Irchester, Wellingborough; Mike Shelton (21:32) and Sophie Galloway (26:34) at Beacon Park, Lichfield; Ian Orton (22:51) and Michael Hughes (30:40) at Quakers Walk, Devizes; Steph Attenborough (33:15) at the inaugural parkrun at Clarence, Bury and Allen King (23:35) at the inaugural parkrun at Sense Valley Country Park, Ibstock. Steph Attenborough also volunteered at the Queen’s Park junior parkrun in Bolton on Sunday.

With summer drawing to a close, the Tamworth 5 mile race provides the final competition in the Burton & District Summer League. Hosted by Tamworth Athletics Club, the course follows cycle paths and footpaths through Stonydelph, Green Lane (Birchmoor) and Wilnecote before returning to a rewarding finish on the athletics’ track. The race was won by Peter Hackett of Tamworth AC in a time of 26:41. The first Peeler back was Martin Hollamby in 31:12 followed by Emma Pick, who finished second lady in a time of 32:57 and first in age category (FSEN). Next home for the club was James Stretton (35:00); Michael Shelton (35:36); Phil Neale (36:39); Allen King (36:50); Mark Boffey (37:20); Ian Orton (38:56 – personal best); Darren O’Leary (39:11); Chris Bennett (39:34); Simon Gordon (40:16 – personal best); Lisa Stretton (40:27); Billy King (41:28); Roger Lloyd (42:41); George Hope (44:54); Sophie Galloway (45:30) and Sarah Boffey (45:44).

Meanwhile, disappointed not to have been able to run the Thunder Run 24 this year as the event was cancelled, an intrepid group of Peelers took on the equally infamous challenge of the Equinox 24 race at Belvoir Castle. Stephen Andrews, Alison Dolphin, Sarah French, Kelly Porter, Wendy Bowyer, Lee Guffick, Roger Eastaff, Ann Hill and Claire Guffick took part in the 10k Day and 10k Night Runs, supported by Peelers Chris and John Norris. Ben Dorkins also represented the club in a different team at the race, completing 4 x 10k laps. 

Another Peeler taking on a challenge this weekend was marathon addict Steph Attenborough, who completed her 100^thmarathon with Phoenix Running enabling her to join the prestigious ‘100 Marathon Club’, an achievement that many runners aspire to. After running her 100^th event she stated that she had run “100 full marathons which had been completed in 714 days between 3/10/21 and today, with 61 in the last year l believe.. apparently 1 in every 4.25 days”.  She celebrated by completing her 101^st marathon on Sunday by running laps of Chasewater with Yabba Dabba Doo events.

Peel ultra runner Luke Collins had a very strong run at the Ultra X 50 km Peak District race on Sunday. The 31.4 mile course with 6604 ft of ascent started and finished in Edale, taking in iconic hills such as Back Tor, Lord’s Seat and Lose Hill. Luke finished in a time of 6:17:58 and 3^rd in age category. 

On Sunday Val Lawson ran the Charnwood Challenge 10.5 mile trail race, an event organised by Nanpanton Scouts and taking in the scenic and undulating countryside around Windmill Hill, Beacon Hill and Jubilee Wood near Loughborough. She crossed the finish line in 2:20:42.

At Saturday’s parkruns, Darren O’Leary was first home for the club at Kingsbury in 23:46, followed by Garth Cox (24:50); Mike Shelton (25:30); Chris Bennett (25:50); Emma Pick (25:45); Sophie Galloway (27:49); Jackie Tierney (28:52) and Dave Fern (30:41). Parkrun tourists included: Ian Orton (23:47) at Valentines; Mick Stevenson (35:35) at Warwick Racecourse; Claire Guffick (31:54), Ben Dorkins (32:33) and Lee Guffick (45:09) at Belvoir Castle. Claire also celebrated her 100^th parkrun at this event! Mike Hughes took on the Thames Path parkrun at Woolwich, crossing the line in 26:42, while Mark Boffey (23:27) and Sarah Boffey (30:25) ticked off another of their alphabet challenge parkruns at Quakers Walk, Devizes.