Month: August 2024

Over the past 10 days Steph Attenborough and Joanne Sharman continued to add to their half marathon tally by taking part in the Ten events in Ten days challenge. Something which they both now hold double records for. The Ten events in Ten days challenge was held over two courses and ranged in distances from 5k up to 40 miles. Steph and Jo’s chosen distance was the half marathon, running one each day for 10 days. The two courses that Steph and Joanne ran consisted of one being a 3.6 mile loop over hills, light trail, grassland and cycle route (days 1,5,6,7 & 8) and the second course being 5.25 miles loop with more hills (days 2,3,4,9 & 10). The elevation ranged between 600 & 900 feet depending on which course they were running. Their race times for each day consisted of day 1 03:23:25, day 2 02:53;19, day 3 03:11:53, day 4 03:39:46, day 5 02:56:18, day 6 02:49:13, day 7 02:51:54, day 8 03:05:00, day 9 03:37:30 and day 10 02:35:49. Totalling an impressive 31 hours (approx.) of running. If that wasn’t enough, they both took part and volunteered at the local parkruns across the two consecutive weekends (Cyclopark, Medway juniors, Great Lines and Gravesend Juniors).

In parkrun news, the Peelers were out in force at various locations. Kingsbury Water Park attracted the biggest peel contingent with Tim Clark first peeler home in 26:31. Followed by Jackie Tierney 29:51, Ann Hill 39:56, Wendy Bowyer 40:02, Alison Upton 40:05, Alison Dolphin 40:24, Stephen Andrews 42:24, Alison Perry 01:05:36 and Chris Norris 01:05:37.

As always Tamworth Castle Grounds parkrun was also well attended with Allen King first peeler in 21:47. Followed by Chris Bennett 23:55, Roger Lloyd 24:49, Tim Mudd 28:18, George Hope 29:14, Lisa Barnes 30:20 (so close to her sub 30 aim) and Dave Fern 32:00.

In Parkrun tourism Martin Hollamby takes the credit for the furthest travelled with his outing at Westpark in Munich, Germany. Set within the city park the course is described as a slightly undulating two laps on asphalt paths. Martin completed the course in a very respectable 19:49.

In closer to home parkrun tourism Garth Cox ran at Aston Hall in 26:08. At Daventry Mark Boffey ran 24:49 followed by Darren Truman 27:45 and Sarah Boffey 32:15. Ian Orton ran at Delamere in 25:29. Ben Dorkins travelled to the Eden project and ran the parkrun in 22:52. At Great Lines parkrun Joanne Sharman ran 34:53 and Steph Attenborough ran 34:59. Mike Hughes ran at Mersea Island parkrun and finished in 01:03:30. Michael Stevenson ran Warwick racecourse in 36:49 whilst Simon Gordon continued his tourism streak at Woodhouse Moor and finished in 24:43.

Emma Pick also ran on Saturday at Walsall Arboretum parkrun and achieved a new parkrun PB in a spectacular time of 18:02.

Peel Road Runners meet every Tuesday and Thursday at the Castle Grounds Skate Park car park at 6.45pm for a 7.00pm start. New members always welcome so pop down if your interested.

Running at the hot and humid Solihull half marathon on Sunday, Georgie Mead absolutely smashed her previous half marathon personal best time by knocking 14 minutes off that time to finish in 1:41:12 and said that “although she had found it very hard, she had loved every minute of it!” She was closely followed by Shane Lewis, who crossed the line in 1:42:05.

Sunday’s Burton 10k, the 7th race in the Burton & District Summer League, is a road race starting near Burton hospital before following quiet, but testing uphill country lanes to Anslow village followed by a rewarding swift downhill section culminating with a lap of the running track at Burton Athletics Club.  As is traditional at this race, the hosts Hatton Darts, arranged for very hot and humid running conditions which would inevitably be felt by the competitors!  Wayne King finished first for the club in a time of 37:17 and 3rd in the M40 age category running a course personal best time.  Second home for the club was Michael Shelton in a time of 44:21 followed by Phil Neale (45:47); Thomas King (48:12); Mark Boffey (48:19); Chris Bennett (52:37); Ian Orton(52:47); Roger Lloyd (54:11); Billy King (56:32); Jackie Tierney (1:01:22) and Sarah Boffey (1:09:25).

On Saturday a group of intrepid Peelers supported Ian Orton as he achieved his aim of running 100 parkruns at 100 different locations, choosing Y Promenâd parkrun in Abermawr for his century and swiping his barcode in 23:51.  He can now say that he is a member of the Cowell club, an unofficial parkrun club for people who have run at over 100 different locations! Supporting Ian were Mark Boffey who finished in 23:46; Darren Truman (26:36); Jackie Tierney (27:43); Sarah Boffey (31:51) and Michael Hughes (1:00:36).

Travelling the furthest for his weekly 5k hit was Tim Mudd who ran at the Northside Beltline parkrun in Atlanta, Georgia finishing in 26:37.  Somewhat closer to  home, Tamworth Castle Grounds was the venue for Jamie Abbiss (19:21); Chris Bennett (24:20); Tony Bryan (24:42) and George Hope (30:16).  Running at Walsall Arboretum, Garth Cox finished in 23:17, whilst at Upton Court, Slough Joanne Sharman and Steph Attenborough crossed the finish line together in a time of 36:10.  At Kingsbury parkrun, Simon Gordon finished in 25:11 followed by Darren O’Leary (29:31); Roger Eastaff (32:21); Emma Whorwood (33:51); Martyn Candy (38:48); Wendy Bowyer (38:48); Stephen Andrews (45:06); Chris Norris (1:06:30) and Alison Perry (1:06:30).  Ben Dorkins ran at Lowestoft parkrun in a time of 22:09, whilst Mick Stevenson ran at his home parkrun at Warwick Racecourse in 36:00.

We start this week’s round up with some very exciting news, Peel Road Runners have been shortlisted by England Athletics for a Regional Club of the Year Award. The Club has gone from strength to strength over the years, working hard to ensure compliance with Club Standards, creating a welcoming environment for new members and supporting the local community in numerous ways; Park Run volunteering, supporting the Tamworth Rotary Santa Sleigh, continuing to host the Gate Gallop in support of St Giles and fundraising for a defibrillator which is now located at The Wigginton Pub, to name a few. To be nominated is a tremendous accolade and testament to our wonderful members (past and present), volunteers and committee members all of whom invest time and energy to make it the successful club it is.

It would be great to win the award and really get Tamworth and the club on the map so we’d like to urge all members and the people of Tamworth to get behind the club and cast a vote for us through the link: https://www.englandathletics.org/about-us/volunteer-awards/regional-volunteer-awards-2024/club-of-the-year-2024/

Alternatively, simply type into Google England Athletics regional club of the year vote. Select the top web page it returns, scroll down to the voting section, select Club of the Year, West Midlands and Peel Road Runners.

Back to running news. With the summer holidays in full swing and the summer allegedly upon us, the racing calendar has slowed and so Park Run events saw the majority of the Peeler action. Starting in our hometown Jamie Abiss was 14^th home at Tamworth (21:14), followed by Allen King (22:38), Chris Bennett (24:43) and Sophie Galloway (30:21). In Kingsbury Mike Shelton finished in 21:28, Alison Dolphin 59:24 and Wendy Bowyer 59:30. Park run tourists included Mark Boffey (24:56), Jackie Tierney (28:18) Sarah Boffey (31:25) at Kettering, Michael Hughes (37:38) and Ian Orton (1:04:41) at Belton House, Ben Dorkins (22:18) at University Parks and Garth Cox (25:57) at Sence Valley Forest. Meanwhile Joanne Sharman (51:59) pipped Steph Attenborough (52:00) to the post to finish in 132^nd place at Dishley Park and Simon Gordon topped up his tan at Weymouth park run in a time of (26:49).

On Sunday Steph Attenborough achieved her 100th Park Run Volunteering Location at Uppermill Junior Park Run having supported 28 junior and 72 adult venues in over 10 countries!

In other sporting events club member Val Lawson undertook the Dovedale Dipper, an optional run / walk event taking in 27 miles and 3500ft of climbing around the panoramic Peak District. Hosted by Peak Running, the route starts in Hartington and runs through the hills and villages of the Dove and Manifold Valleys in an anti-clockwise direction before returning to Hartington. Conditions were favourable and Val crossed the line in 8:55:12.

From foot to fin, on Sunday Sarah French completed another epic swim this time at Rutland Water. With a choice of 2k, 4km and 8km available, Sarah of course chose the 8km event requiring an early alarm call of 4am. With a tropical water temperature of 20 degrees Sarah finished the two lap swim in 3:20:00.

Next Sunday sees the next race in the Burton and District Summer League with a number of Peelers undertaking the Burton 10k. Good luck to everyone running.

This week not only brought the sunshine back, but also the return on Sunday of the annual Peel Road Runners event, the ‘Gate Gallop’.  The event helps raise much needed funds for the local St Giles Hospice and this year was also supported by the fantastic ‘Simon’s Heroes’ charity and all their amazing volunteers, due to their own event unfortunately being cancelled.  The ‘Gate Gallop’ has been running for over 25 years and over that period has raised an amazing £100,000. 

Over 240 runners took part in the 10k race on Sunday, alongside a children’s race and a 5k fun run.  The race starts and finishes at Anker Valley Sports Complex in Tamworth and takes runners onto the fields and footpaths around the beautiful River Anker and the Warwickshire Moor.  The route consists of both track, grass fields and concrete paths to give runners a bit of everything.  The runners were also welcomed back to Anker Valley to the sound of live music and there were many stalls set up, with the cake stand being a firm favourite. 

Lee Rickards was the first Peeler home in (40:05) followed by Tom King (47:31), Allen King (50:43), Mark Boffey (53:49), Lisa Stretton (55:30), Katie Stretton (56:36), Sarah Boffey (1:09:34), Dave Fern (1:12:25), Sandra Ingram (1:14:32), Stephanie Attenborough (1:17:59) and Joanne Sharman (1:17:59).

5 runners also took part having recently completed the Peel Road Runners recent Bridge to 10k course.  Many congratulations to Amy, Hannah and Richard for completing the 10k race and Alison and Emma for completing the 5k race, you were all amazing.    

Parkrun events

The Peelers also took full advantage of the lovely weather, attending many of the local Parkrun events too.  Many runners attended the local Tamworth Castle Grounds Parkrun.  Chris Bennett was the first Peeler back in an impressive (24:06) followed by Tony Bryan (24:30), Simon Gordon (25:22), George Hope (27:20), Darren Truman (27:22), Andrew Gilman (28:18) and Alison Dolphin (38:53).

There was also a strong attendance at Kingsbury Waterpark Parkrun too.  With Mike Shelton the first Peeler to cross the line in a fantastic (21:44); followed by Roger Lloyd (25:13), Tim Clark (25:25), Sarah Boffey (30:58), and Alison Perry (49:42). Many Peelers travelled further afield too with Ben Dorkins finishing in (23:10) at Rosliston, and at Worcester Michael Hughes came in at (58.38).  Michael Stevenson ventured to Thorp Perrow and finished in (37:51), Ian Cooper ventured to Babbs Mill and finished in (26:27).  Emma Pick attended Conkers and finished in an amazing (19:44).  Jacqueline Tierney attended South Oxhey and finished in (29:27) and Tim Mudd attended Third Creek Greenway and came in at (24:54).  Athena Mansell completed Cheltenham in (48:10), Garth Cox finished Beacon in (23:35) and visiting Y Promenad were Joanne Sharman in (29:53) and Stephanie Attenborough in (31:51).