Month: October 2023

After so many events were cancelled last weekend due to flooding, this weekend has been the opposite with many different events to tempt the Peel Road Runners to lace up their running shoes and get running.

Having worked hard to regain fitness after a long period of injury, Club Chairman Lee Rickards had a fantastic run at Saturday’s Eryri marathon in Llanberis. The race is renowned for its scenic but testing course taking in the Llanberis Pass, Beddgelert, Waunfawr and the infamous last mile down a track from Bwlch-y-Groes, but this didn’t stop Rickards running a course personal best time of 3:26:45, nearly 30 minutes faster than his last best at this race! Also running at Eryri (Snowdon marathon), Neal Dempsey ran well over the testing course to finish in 5:09:55.

The clocks going back on Saturday night could only signal one thing … the start of the cross country racing season! The first race for the Peelers running in the Derby/Staffs XC League was held at Anslow near Burton on Trent on a challenging and undulating course of 5.5 miles complete with water feature! First home for the club in 6^th place overall was Wayne King followed by Luke Collins (23^rd), Scott Chapman (41^st), Ben Dorkins (63^rd), Allen King (72^nd), Chris Bennett (108^th), Mark Boffey (110^th), Darren O’Leary (111^th), Billy King (115^th), Simon Gordon (116^th), Ian Orton (121^st), Tim Mudd (129^th), Michael Hughes (150^th) and Lee Guffick (156^th). In the ladies race, Lisa Stretton was first home for the club in 16^th place, followed by Lorna D’Sylva (29^th), Sophie Galloway (56^th), Claire Guffick (61^st), Caroline Evans (67^th), Sarah Boffey (77^th), Jackie Tierney (78^th) and Helen Manton (82^nd). 

At the Coventry half marathon on Sunday, Mike Shelton ran a well paced race to finish in a season’s best time of 1:37:32. Building on her recent good form, Emma Pick raced well at the second running of the Brewers 10k road race in Burton finishing in second place in a time of 41:04.

Meanwhile at the Tamworth 10k, Anthony Trueman ran a strong race to cross the line in 48:51 as did Clara Walton finishing in 56:49. At last week’s Big Bear Events Headtorch 10k at Cannock Chase, Val Lawson ran the night time trail run in very wet conditions to finish in 1:09:30.

At the weekend’s parkruns, four Peelers took their “alphabet challenge” to new levels by flying out to Poland to collect their letter Z at the Zalew Zyrardowski parkrun to complete their challenge! (They even returned in time to run cross country for the club on Sunday!). Ian Orton was first to finish this international challenge in a time of 22:46, followed by Mark Boffey (23:08); Michael Hughes (25:54) and Sarah Boffey (27:04). 

Closer to home at the Tamworth Castle parkrun, Ben Dorkins was first home for the club in 22:19 followed by Sophie Galloway (27:20); Jackie Tierney (29:04); Claire Guffick (29:28); Roger Eastaff (31:36); Joy Sykes (31:59); Wendy Roe (32:00); Emma Whorwood (33:01); Lee Guffick (36:58) and Steph Attenborough (53:12).

Other parkrun tourists included: Mike Shelton celebrating his 250^th parkrun at Kingsbury in a time of 23:27, followed by Phil Neale (23:45); Tim Clark (23:58); Darren O’Leary (24:57); Lisa Stretton (25:09); Emma Pick (25:59) and Stella Taylor (30:25). Tim Mudd (25:52) ran at Snowden Field, Lincolnshire; Allen King (23:36), Chris Bennett (25:59) and Darren Truman (28:03) at Beacon Hill Country Park and Martin Hollamby (28:24) at Blaise Castle, Bristol.

The 2023 Burton & District Summer League culminated in the Presentation Evening on Friday and several Peel Road Runners were able to celebrate their successes.  Emma Pick finished a superb season of racing winning the SL category, having run every race in the series with distances from 2 mile relays through to half marathon! Wayne King finished first in the highly competitive M40 category, a prize he has had in his sights for several years.  James Stretton came second in U25 category, with Billy King third in the same age group, showing the strength of talent among the younger Peelers.

At Sunday’s Carsington Water trail half marathon, Peeler Billy King ran a strong and well paced race to finish his first half marathon in 1:56:47, just behind Allen King who finished in 1:55:17.

Over the weekend, Steph Attenborough ran the Enigma Death Star half marathon (2:44:48) and the Southend Pier marathon (consisting of 11 out and backs along the world’s longest pier) in 5:56:29, which completed her 100 marathons in 100 weeks challenge!

Taking on a different challenge, Luke Collins ran the North Arden Heritage Trail in a time of 4:21:15, which if verified, will give him the fastest known time for this run taking 00:04:43 off the previous record! (The North Arden Heritage Trail covers canal towpaths and public footpaths and trails around Atherstone, Mancetter, Arley, Fillongley, Shustoke, Nether Whitacre, Hurley, Baddesley and Merevale).

After years of planning, Tamworth Castle parkrun held its inaugural run on Saturday. As is normal with inaugural parkruns, the event was not advertised but still managed to entice over 200 runners to try out the new course (possibly aided by Kingsbury’s parkrun being cancelled due to flooding). Representing the Peelers, Emma Pick was first across the line in 19:55 followed by Ben Dorkins (22:17); Garth Cox (23:59); Chris Bennett (24:39); Darren Truman (25:55); Allen King (26:01); Sarah Boffey (28:01) and Jackie Tierney (28:58).

At the weekend, Neal and Helen Dempsey took part in the Thoresby Leafkick 10k canicross race running with dogs Banana, Elvis, Minstrel and Sydney. They crossed the line together in 1:13:01.

Parkrun tourists included Ian Orton (23:09) and Michael Hughes (34:34) at Northampton; Sarah French (51:56) and Ann Hill (51:56) at Conkers; Steph Attenborough (parkwalker – 51:13) at Rushborough; Mike Shelton (22:53) at Sutton Park; Tim Mudd (25:37) at Babb’s Mill; Michael Stevenson (34:22) at Warwick Racecourse and Sophie Galloway (27:12); Dave Fern (30:29) and Joy Sykes (31:49) at Beacon Park, Lichfield.

The Chester Triple is a series of races of different distances over the summer culminating in the Chester marathon. Peel Road Runner Malcolm Bembridge (M55) was the sole Peeler to achieve the ‘triple’ starting with the Chester 10k on 12^thMarch, which he finished in 48:44; the Chester half marathon on 21^st May, which he finished in 1:53:35 and the Chester marathon on 8^th October, which he finished in 3:51:00. He was joined at the marathon this weekend by Wayne King, who ran a very well paced race to cross the line in an impressive 2:52:00 and by Trevor Thompson, who finished in 3:54:00.

In other events, Joy Sykes completed the Kielder Gravel Duathlon in 4:41:17 and Rob Mace, Neal Dempsey and Helen Dempsey took part in the Canicross Midlands event at Box End Water Park, Bedford last weekend with results showing good promise for the upcoming season.

With Kingsbury’s parkrun cancelled due to a hornets’ nest on the course (!), all Peelers were parkrun tourists this week. Running at Sixfields, Upton Tim Mudd crossed the line in 25:35, whilst at Sutton Park Garth Cox was first Peeler to finish in 26:14 followed by Claire Guffick (29:14); Jackie Tierney (30:26) and Lee Guffick (45:25). Other results included: Ben Dorkins (22:14) at Chasewater; Emma Whorwood (32:06) at Babb’s Mill; Sophie Galloway (28:00); Dave Fern (30:21); Sarah French (63:37) and Chris Norris (63:42) at Beacon Park, Lichfield; Simon Gordon (24:46) at Roberts Park, Baildon; Darren O’Leary (23:59) at Pavilion Gardens, Buxton; Chris Bennett (25:48) and Darren Truman (28:19) at Beacon Hill, Loughborough; Mike Shelton (22:16) and Ian Orton (24:38) at Sence Valley, Ibstock.

Peel Road Runners welcome runners of all abilities.

Several Peelers took on the iconic challenge of the Baxters Loch Ness marathon on Sunday. The race followed a linear route with competitors taken by bus to the start at Knockie Lodge before running back along the loch side to the finish in Inverness. Tim Mudd was first home in a time of 4:39:03 followed by Claire Guffick, who ran a personal best time of 5:12:04 (taking over 6 minutes off her previous best time) and Lee Guffick (6:20:38).

Over the weekend, Steph Attenborough completed her first ever 100 mile race at the Hootiful 100 at Samphire Hoe, Dover. The multi-lap course was made up of a mix of very high quality gently rolling trail, bike paths and a flat sea wall all within the shadow of the White Cliffs of Dover. She completed this immense challenge in 33:35:00.

Closer to home, Ben Dorkins took part in the Dovedale Dash on Sunday. This very popular trail race attracts up to 1400 runners who run an often muddy and technical 4.5 mile cross country course taking in a crossing of the River Dove (either using, or not using, the stepping stones!). Dorkins ran strongly to finish in 42:51.

Whilst not a running event, the fitness earned from running helped Peelers Craig Smith and Natalie Walker to an amazing achievement of conquering Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania on Friday. At a height of 19,341 feet (5859 metres) many hikers who start this walk fail to reach the summit due to the effects of altitude, which can be very debilitating. Wearing their Peeler bobble hats with pride and raising money for the Wooden Spoon charity they said that it was “Without doubt the most challenging thing we’ve ever done … left camp at 00:01 Friday (Kili time) and summited at 07:04am. It took every ounce of strength and determination on summit day but was well worth it”.

Following on from last week’s result of finishing first lady at the inaugural Sence Valley parkrun, Emma Pick was first home for the Peel Road Runners at Kingsbury parkrun on Saturday. She finished in a time of 20:39 and came in as second lady. Tim Clark was the next Peeler over the line in a time of 23:33, followed by Simon Gordon (23:50); Sophie Galloway (26:52); Jackie Tierney (27:50); Dave Fern (30:33); Roger Eastaff (30:45); Laura Bowyer (31:44); Joy Sykes (34:09); Martyn Candy (36:02); Ben Dorkins (36:11) and Ann Hill (61:20).

Parkrun tourists included: Mark Boffey (22:57) and Sarah Boffey (31:58) at Coventry; Garth Cox (23:55) at East Park, Wolverhampton; Roger Lloyd (24:41) at Beacon Park, Lichfield; Tim Mudd (28:38) at Torvean, Inverness; Ian Orton (23:01) and Michael Hughes (33:08) at University of Northampton and Allen King (22:52) and Chris Bennett (24:50) at Sence Valley, Ibstock.