Month: December 2024

After a quiet weekend of racing last week due to bad weather, this week saw Peel Road Runners back out setting PB’s and course records.

The Telford 10k is a flat 2 lap course known as the fastest 10k in the UK. Two Peelers attended and did not disappoint on the results table. Lee Rickards claimed a new PB with a fast time of 37:29. Not to be outdone Emma Pick also ran an extremely fast time of 35:38 claiming a new 10k PB and a new Peel Road Runners club record.

Nottingham Holme Santa Run has three races of different distances, 5k, 10K and half marathon. Allen King and Chris Bennett both took part in the 10K race which consists of 2 flat laps. Allen King completed the race in 47:31 and Chris Bennett finished in 52:16.

Three Peelers took on the Chasewater Christmas Pudding Dash 10k. Claire Guffick was first back with 01:07:24, followed by Lee Guffick and Roger Eastaff both finishing in 01:21:28.

In the Castle Grounds Simon’s Heroes held their 5k Abbott Antler Run which Mark and Sarah Boffey attended.

The weekend races wouldn’t be complete without Steph Attenborough and Jo Sharman continuing their impressive tally of marathon’s. The race in question was the Maratona Di Pisa in Italy. The course is described as a flat single loop which starts at Miracles Square in the centre of Pisa and finishing next to the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Both Steph and Jo completed the race in 05:54:04.

With Parkrun’s back on this week Peel Road Runners were back out in force at various venues.

This weeks international tourism goes to Steph Attenborough and Jo Sharman who attended the Mura di Lucca parkrun in Itlay ahead of their marathon on Sunday. Jo finished in 29:02 and Steph finished in 29:24. This was also Jo’s 250th parkun.

Other Parkrun tourism included Mike Shelton at Beacon (22:12), Mike Hughes at Clumber Park (49:17), Ben Dorkins at Forest Rec (23:27), Emma Pick at Rosliston (24:06) and Ian Orton at Rutland Water (24:00).

At the ‘home’ Parkruns both Kingsbury Water Park and Tamworth Castle grounds drew some a number of Peelers.

At Kingsbury Water Park Tim Mudd was first back for the club in 29:29, also completing his 250th parkrun. Tim was followed by Jackie Tierney (32:15), Alson Upton (37:25), Sarah Boffey (39:04) and Stephen Andrews (43:01).

At Tamworth Castle Grounds Jamie Abbiss was first back in another fast time of 19:01. Next up for the club was Allen King (23:56), Chris Bennett (24:53) and Garth Cox (25:05).

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.

While storm Darragh battered parts of the UK this weekend with high winds and lots of rain mercifully the race calendar was fairly empty !

Local Park runs were cancelled but we still saw some Peelers take part in events –

Conkers saw Emma Pick complete the course in 20:19 and picked up 1st in Gender position and 10th overall -Amazing effort

Michael Stevenson took part in Northallerton in 37:13

Mark and Sarah Boffey both visited Glasgow for Queens Park run course in 25:43 and 44:27

With the calendar year drawing to a close the last pre Christmas Social session will be Tuesday 17th December and The 19th December will see the last structured session – both meeting at 6.45pm at the Skate park and both encourage Christmas fancy dress

Please note there will be no club runs Tues 24th or Thursday 26th December.

If you haven’t joined us this year and would like to trial a session or 2 before considering joining , the next session after Christmas will be a structured session on Thursday 2nd January

Enjoy the Festive sea

Stuck for something to do on an overcast and damp Sunday morning? Why not run 5.5 miles around a shoe-sucking muddy cross country course complete with log jumps and water hazards!!  This is exactly the challenge that an enthusiastic group of Peel Road Runners took on at the Poplars Farm Equestrian Cross Country course near Burton Upon Trent in the second race of this winter’s Burton & Derby Cross Country League.  First home for the club in fourth place overall was Wayne King, closely followed by Martin Hollamby in 11^th place, Lee Rickards in 12^th place, Chris Samson in 16^th place, Luke Collins in 21^st place, Mark Boffey in 89^th place, Simon Gordon in 97^th place and Lee Guffick in 128^th place.  In the ladies’ race, Sam Cart (in her first cross country race) was first home for the club in 58^th place, followed by Gemma Pritchard in 59^th place, Claire Guffick in 68^th place, Val Lawson in 74^th place, Emma Petricca (also running her first cross country race) in 75^th place and Sara Boffey in 89^th place.  Supporting the club by covering essential volunteering roles were Lisa Fletcher, Chris Bennett, Tracy Ford, Elizabeth Young and Sandra Ingram.  The next cross country race will be held at Sinai Park, Burton Upon Trent in January.

In their quest to run as many marathons in as many different locations as possible, Steph Attenborough and Joanne Sharman completed the world’s first marathon run completely underground!  This required runners to complete 91 laps of a cold, twisty and surprisingly wet course wearing head protection and head torches at the UCAP Bunker in Portsmouth (a former underground headquarters for the Royal Navy to plot the progress of the allied troops during the invasion of Normandy on D-Day).  Steph and Jo completed the course in 6:17:00.

Running in the canicross event at Trail Betws in Eryri, north Wales Helen Dempsey (running with Sydney) and Neal Dempsey (running with Banana and Elvis) completed the 10k course in a time of 1:20:15.

At the weekend’s parkruns, Emma Pick broke her own club record by running a time of 17:48 over 5k at Long Eaton parkrun!  Other Peel parkrunners this weekend included:  Michael Hughes running at Upton Country Park in Dorset in a time of 49:10 whilst at Kingsbury water park, Darren Truman finished in a time of 28:48 followed by Ann Hill (49:44), Sarah French (52:29) and Stephen Andrews (60:25).  Running at Fountains Abbey in North Yorkshire, Mick Stevenson finished in 37:38; at Melton Mowbray Ian Orton finished in 24:42 and at Babb’s Mill, Garth Cox finished in 25:57.  Running closer to home at Tamworth Castle parkrun, Luke Collins and Jamie Abbiss were first back for the club in a time of 22:46, followed by Roger Lloyd (25:19); Chris Bennett (25:43); Simon Gordon (26:51); Tim Clark (28:30); Joanne Harvey (28:50); Stuart Hatton (28:53); Dave Fern (30:20); Jacqui Tierney (33:38) and Sarah Boffey (48:20).

A happy group of Peelers and their families also supported Santa on his Round Table charity sleigh run through Wilnecote and Hockley on Sunday evening. 

The arrival of Storm Bert on Saturday did nothing to dampen the celebrations at Kingsbury Waterpark parkrun as the location achieved its 500^th milestone. Twelve Peelers were there to join the merriment and  recognise the hard working volunteers without whom parkruns wouldn’t be possible. Phil Neale led the pack, celebrating his own 100^th parkrun with a time of 22:27. Coming in next were Mike Shelton (24:24), Allen King (24:28), Ben Dorkins (24:44), Billy King (24:46) and Garth Cox (26:14). Mother and daughter duo Lisa and Katie Stretton finished in 27:45 followed by Claire Guffick (33:44), Chris Taylor (33:51), Dave Fern (34:07) and Lee Guffick (38:47).

Mark and Sarah Boffey travelled to Oxford to take part there, completing the course in 23:54 and 36:15, Aylesbury hosted Michael Hughes (45:30), Jamie Abbiss ventured south to Panshanger, Hertford (41:06) whilst Jackie Tierney travelled north to Bury finishing in 33:04.

Local parkruns hosted Emma Pick at Rosliston (20:20) and Luke Collins (20:13), Sophie Galloway (25:35), Chris Bennett (26:22) at Tamworth.

Selecting to visit our European neighbours Ian Orton journeyed to Zielony Jar in Krakow, Poland and achieved a time of 24:57. At the same time Joanne Sharman and Steph Attenborough were taking in the sights at Judarskogen, Sweden finishing in 35:54 and 35:56.

Ever the hardy bunch, as Bert continued to linger into Sunday, 13 members showed true Peeler grit travelling 60 miles to the start line of the much-loved Clowne Half Marathon. An undulating course involving 656ft of ascent, the route starts and finishes in the centre of Clowne town taking in the surrounding villages of Whaley, Elmton, Creswell and Whitwell. Facing into the less than ideal conditions Phil Busby brought a wet and windswept team Peel home in 1:45:03, followed by Phil Neale (1:45:14), Allen King (1:50:29), Lorna Carlin (1:53:49), Simon Gordon (1:55:45), Mark Boffey (1:59:00), Sarah Boffey (1:59:01), Billy King (1:59:46), Ian Orton (1:59:50), Richard Satchwell (2:03:50), Tony Bryan (2:03:53), Helen Chyla (2:04:22) and Michael Hughes (2:13:19). A fantastic turn out to represent the club, well done to everyone who took part.