Month: October 2024

Some great events and some great results this week from the best club in the Midlands!!

Several Peelers represented the club at the Eryri Marathon. It’s a demanding and breathtaking course taking in the stunning views of Snowdonia.

Ian Orton ran his course PB of 5:08.31 – smashing his previous course time by a whopping 33 minutes. What an incredible achievement. Joanne Sharman and Stephanie Attenborough both came in at an amazing 6:26.33.

Much more local to home, this weekend saw the return of the Tamworth 10K. Luke Collins (Pictured) came in 15^th place with an impressive time of 38:49 and this also secured him 1^st in his age category. Roger Lloyd smashed the course in 52:21 and Sophie Galloway was not far behind him coming in at an amazing 52:29.

It’s safe to say we’re a club that keeps our activities varied. This weekend marked the return of the Canicross season with the Canicross Midlands Alcester Race. Rob Mace took 2nd place with Drama and Glory and Neal Dempsey took 3rd place with Banana and Elvis on the longer course.  Neal was on a roll and also took 3rd place on the short course with Paddington and Minstrel. Helen Dempsey also took part on both the long course with Pine and Sydney and the short course with Hugo, Well done everyone.

9 Park runs were in attendance this weekend,

Beacon Park  Garth Cox 23:34

Cannock Chase Ben Dorkins 23:19

Chasewater Lee Guffick 36:54, Roger Eastaff 37:02, Claire Guffick 39:47, Stephen Andrews 53:52, Alison Dolphin 53:52, Sarah French 54:11, Chris Norris 1:06.14 ( A big congratulations to Chris who walked the course and came in 1^st in her age category )

Kingsbury Water Park

Emma Pick 19:53, Mike Shelton 21:42, Allen King 24:26, Phil Neale 24:27, Chris Bennett 57:03

Llanishen Park Chris Taylor 30:59

Marine Parade Mark Boffey 24:33, Sarah Boffey 40:52

Pavillion Gardens Micheal Hughes 41:48

Stratford upon Avon Simon Gordon 24:08

Tamworth Castle Grounds Matt Salisbury 21:26 , Marcus Fairburn 28:37, Jackie Tierney 30:42

The upcoming weekend will see the first Cross country race of the season with a team taking on the course in Shipley Country park Derby.

Dont forget we also now have a walking group every Tuesday evening, meeting at the skate park at 6.45pm for a 7pm start. The group will walk for approximately one hour. Feel free to pop along for a taster session. Hope to see you there.

Sunday mornings normally mean lie ins and lazy mornings, especially on mornings with terrible weather conditions of strong winds and rain. However, some Peel Road Runners were brave enough to venture out.

Wayne King represented the club at Abingdon Marathon, a race where he felt he had unfinished business. This year he ran an incredible race over the 26.2 miles to achieve a new marathon PB of 02:46:58. Getting ever closer to beating the current club marathon record of 02:45:54, unbroken since 1999.

More Peelers braved the weather to take part in the Cannock Chase 10k and Half marathon races, ran over a tough undulating trail course. In the 10K race Tim Clark finished in a time of 01:04:12. In the Half Marathon the club was represented by six runners. First back was Allen King in a great time over a tough course of 02:05:41. Closely followed by Natalie Walker 02:12:27, Lorna Carlin 02:12:28, Mike Shelton 02:12:29, Joanne Sharmen 03:12:52 and Steph Attenborough 03:12:53.

On Saturday, as usual, Peel Road Runners were well represented at various Parkrun’s, including some international tourism.

Wearing the Peel colours in Poland, 4 club members took part at the Zalew Wrzesiński parkrun, situated not far from Poznań. First back was Ian Orton in a fast time of 22:31. Followed by Mark Boffey 24:16, Chris Bennett 25:47 and Mike Hughes 35:14.

Within the Parkrun community, there are numerous challenges ranging from attending Parkrun’s to spell your name, achieving various time targets and hitting certain attendance numbers at a single parkrun to name a few. One of the challenges that takes quite a bit of commitment and travelling on Saturday mornings is completing the Alphabet (attending Parkrun’s that begin with each letter). Completing one alphabet is quite an achievement, but at Zalew Wrzesiński parkrun Ian Orton also completed his third alphabet.

In closer to home Parkrun news, a muddy wet Kingsbury Waterpark drew was the biggest attraction for club Peel. First back was Mike Shelton in a fast time of 22:31. Hot on his heels was Lisa Stretton 25:49, Katie Stretton 26:25, Darren O’Leary 28:30, Sarah Boffey 39:13, Roger Eastaff 39:31, Wendy Bowyer 39:40, Lee Guffick 39:54, Claire Guffick 41:29 and Alison Dolphin 47:48.

Peel Road Runners was also well represented at Tamworth Castle Grounds. Jamie Abbiss was first back in an incredible time of 19:26. Next up for the club was Roger Lloyd 25:44, Tim Clark 27:40 and Wendy Roe 32:43.

In home Parkrun tourism, Emma Pick attended Abbey Park and ran a fantastic time of 19:47. At Wolverhampton Parkrun, Garth Cox ran 23:59, Joanne Sharmen 53:38 and Steph Attenborough 53:40.

Peel Road Runners meet every Tuesday and Thursday at the Castle Grounds Skate Park car park at 6.45pm for a 7.00pm start. We also have our new walking group meeting on Tuesdays, same time and same meeting place. New members always welcome so pop down.

The nights are getting darker and so we leave our runs along the meadows and canals behind and take to the pavements.  During the summer months many of our members enjoy running with other members of the Burton and District Summer League.  The league was established in 2005 to encourage friendly rivalry between running clubs in the Burton Upon Trent area.  The league comprises nine clubs who race over a variety of distances and terrains.  The season ends with a Presentation Evening, celebrating both individuals and teams. The Peel Running Club is proud to report that Emma Pick who ran in all nine races, was the Overall and Age Group winner.  Emma received a trophy together with an engraved glass.  Emma has had another great year also winning the  Best Female Runner at the Peel Presentation Evening earlier in the year. 

Matt Salisbury enjoyed the autumn sunshine at the weekend and achieved a new pb.  He ran the Cannock Chase half-marathon in 1:45:38.  Participants navigate the picturesque trails,racing through the dappled sunlight filtering through the vibrant autumn leaves, free from any vehicle traffic.  Natural obstacles keep runners on their toes, like tree roots and slippery surfaces.  All runners received a bespoke medal. 

World Marathon Major No3 was completed by George Hope this weekend.  Running the Bank of America Chicago Marathon is the pinnacle of achievement for elite athletes and everyday runners alike.  On race day, runners set out to accomplish a personal dream by reaching the finish line in Grant Park.  This year’s race was a record-breaking event, with 50,000 people entering.  The route is flat and fast, with just one sneaky hill to ascend right before the finish line, and nicknamed “Mount Roosevelt”.  Overcoming the crest of the hill is your cue to give it everything you’ve got all the way to the finish line just a few hundred metres away.  Despite having a chesty cough, George completed the course in 4:32:31. 

Parkrun was once again a very popular choice for Peelers this weekend.  Ian Cooper completed the course in 26:21 at Babbs Mill; Garth Cox ran Brunswick Park in 25:25; Epworth Equestrian was the choice of Michael Hughes (27:28), Joanne Sharman and Stephanie Attenborough (64:26); Mark Boffey (24:57), Jacqueline Tierney (29:44) and Sarah Boffey (35:46) ran at Ferry Meadows.  Nine members chose Kingsbury Parkrun – Billy King (24:37), Allen King (24:42), Chris Benett (25:35), Katie Stretton (25:58), Claire Guffick (48:08), Lee Guffick (48:11), Alison Dolphin (51:11), Ann Hill (51:13) and Sarah French (51:14).  Emma Pick achieved 20:50 at Markeaton; Stella Taylor (30:05) at Sutton Park; Jamie Abbiss (20:21), Sophie Gsalloway (25:47), Roger Lloyd (26:02), Matt Salisbury (27:03), Lisa Vickery (29:45), Marcus Fairburn (29:50) and Lisa Barnes (31:39) all ran at Tamworth Castle Grounds.  Michael Stevenson (37:49) ran at Warwick Racecourse and finally Ian Orton achieved 23:31 at Wolverhampton. 

Finally, the club has introduced a walking group.  If you are interested we meet at the skatepark car-park in the Castle Grounds, Tuesday evening at 6:45 for a 7:00pm walk.  The walk will take approximately one hour.  More details can be found on our Facebook page – Peel Road Runners Public page or from our website. 

When not training for races or racing, if you asked the average Peeler what their favourite running event was, many would say parkrun and judging by the number of Peelers running parkrun every week at locations all across the country and beyond you would have to agree.  This week, as seen on the national news, was the 20^th anniversary of parkrun which began in Bushy Park, London on 2^nd October 2004 with only 13 runners.  This weekend worldwide there were 2047 parkruns plus 469 junior parkruns drawing in 336,000 parkrunners, 28,000 junior parkrunners and 46,000 volunteers.  Suffice to say that for a voluntary organisation, this is an incredible achievement!

Celebrating this auspicious milestone, 20 Peelers ran at parkruns at the weekend including Emma Pick (24:05) at Rosliston; Ben Dorkins (25:18) and Jackie Tierney (30:01) at Kingsbury Water Park; Ian Orton (24:00) at Kew Woods, Southport; Michael Woods (26:43) at Penistone, Sheffield; Mike Shelton (47:34), Lee Guffick (50:42) and Claire Guffick (50:44) at Beacon Park, Lichfield; Simon Gordon (26:40) at Roberts Park, Baildon; Joanne Sharman (50:55) and Steph Attenborough (50:55) at Zielony Jar, Slovakia and Matt Salisbury (20:48), Allen King (23:49), Chris Bennett (24:04), Lisa Stretton (24:53), Roger Lloyd (25:28), Katie Stretton (26:04), Sophie Galloway (26:34) and Lisa Fletcher (48:01) at Tamworth Castle Grounds.

Now that the dark nights are with us, the challenge of running a head torch trail race on Cannock Chase proved too much to resist for Allen King and Chris Bennett who took on the Petzl Night Runner 10k at Birches Valley on Tuesday evening.  King was first to finish the challenging and undulating course in a time of 54:50 with Bennett not too far behind crossing the line on 62:43.

Further afield, Steph Attenborough and Joanne Sharman ran the Kosice Peace Marathon in Slovakia on Sunday. This marathon is the oldest marathon in Europe and this year saw its 100^th anniversary, with Sharman finishing in 5:29:22 and Attenborough finishing in 5:29:25.

Closer to home, Neal Dempsey ran the Chester marathon in a time of 4:57:01, whilst Helen Dempsey completed the Chester Metric marathon (26.2 km/16.3 miles) in 3:21:59 to achieve the Chester Triple (10k, half and full marathon).  Also running the Chester Metric marathon was second claim Mark Harriott completing his first race since breaking a bone in his foot in May.  He crossed the line in an impressive 2:08:55 and second in M55 age category.

Peel Road Runners meet every Tuesday at 6.45 pm in the Skate Park car park in the Castle Grounds and welcome runners and walkers of all abilities.  See website www.peelroadrunners.co.uk for further information.

A quieter week this week on the running front but one which still saw some impressive achievements and adventures from the Peel members.

The weekend was the 50^th anniversary of the Berlin Marathon. The marathon is one of just 6 in the world that have the honour of inclusion in the Abbott World Marathon Majors, the others being Tokyo, Boston, London, Chicago and New York. Notoriously difficult to gain entry, achievement of all six marathons gives the athlete the opportunity to claim the greatest prize, the Six Star Medal.

Two members lucky enough to take part in Berlin this year, on their journey to attaining the six, were Jo Sharman and Steph Attenborough, Steph completing Berlin for the second time and already having 4 stars in the bag in Berlin, London, Tokyo and New York and Jo achieving star 2 with New York under her belt. In fine weather and enjoying the party atmosphere the pair achieved their fastest joint finishing time, 5:18:55 for Jo and Steph pipping her by the finest of margins in 5:18:54.

Back on home soil Martyn Hollamby embarked on the Salmon Run Ultra. The 50 mile event celebrates the epic journey of the migratory salmon as it struggles to reach its destination and survive in a changing climate. The route follows the River Ex from Exmoor to Tarr Steps on the edge of Exmoor. With a weather warning in place the athletes faced some very real struggles and the organisers took a late decision to reduce the distance to 40 miles. Martin completed the event in an impressive third place in just under 6 hrs 30 mins.

In nearby Nottingham Shane Lewis completed the 43rd Robin Hood half marathon, a hugely popular event with some 10,000 participants. Blessed with fair weather conditions Shane finished in 1:39:26.

Despite local cancellations at Kingsbury and Tamworth due to flooding, Park Run continued to attract runners both at home and away.

Conkers was the choice for Allen King (24:02), Sarah French (53:08) and Ann Hill (53:09) whilst Mike Shelton (20:48) and Simon Gordon (24:38) opted to run at Beacon Park Lichfield. Jackie Tierney headed over to Chasewater running a time of 29:00, Babbs Mill attracted Ben Dorkins (25:10) and Garth Cox (26:02) and Ian Orton (22:52) plumped for north Wales Nova Prestatyn.

Across the pond and successfully dodging Hurricane Helene, the sunny climes of Clermont Waterfront Florida was the choice of Mark and Sarah Boffey who completed the course in 25:59 and 35:34 respectively. In Milan, Italy, Michael Hughes ran Milano Nord in 28:42 and as a warm up to their marathon Steph and Jo took the opportunity whilst in Germany to run Allrepark, Wolfsburg, finishing in 33:21 and 33:22