Author: PeelRR

After a quiet period for the Peel Road Runners over the Christmas period, this Sunday saw the return of cross country racing at Derby. The Peelers put out a strong team to take on the two-lap course at Allestree Park in Derby, the third race in the Derby Runner Staffs & Derby Cross Country League. Running for the men’s team second claim athlete, Rob Dyjak, was first home for the club followed by James Stretton, Scott Chapman, Ben Dorkins, Mike Shelton, Darren Truman, Chris Bennett, Mark Boffey, Simon Gordon, Mike Hughes, Billy King (first cross country race!) and Lee Guffick. For the women, Emma Pick was first back for the club and 5^th lady overall, followed by Lisa Stretton, Lorna Carlin, Catherine Tieley, Donna Lancaster, Sarah Boffey, Jackie Tierney, Sandra Ingram and Stella Taylor. Overall results were not available at the time of going to press.

At Saturday’s parkruns, poor weather saw a lower turnout than usual for the club at Kingsbury Water Park, but Tim Clark was the first home in a time of 23:42, followed by Darren O’Leary in 27:03; Helen Dempsey (36:25); Neal Dempsey (36:25) and Lee Guffick (41:43). At Conkers parkrun, Tim Mudd finished in 25:50 and Marcus Fairburn in 29:31. At Babb’s Mill, Ian Orton finished in 25:09, whilst at Warwick Racecourse Michael Stevenson trotted over the line in 34:17. At Beacon Park, Allen King stopped the clock at 22:23 with Chris Bennett (23:53) and Darren Truman (25:16) following. At the 50^thrunning of the Belvoir Castle parkrun, Mark Boffey finished in 24:37 followed by Jackie Tierney (30:33) and Michael Hughes (43:17).

Peel Road Runners welcome new members of all abilities. 

With very cold, icy weather limiting training opportunities and a quiet period in the road racing calendar, Peel Road Runners were restricted to a trail 10k race and the few parkruns that hadn’t been cancelled this weekend.

Chris Bennett and Allen King took on the surprisingly undulating course at the RunThrough Draycote Water 10k. Finishing in 21st place overall and 4th in the V35 age category, Allen King ran a personal best time of 45:12 knocking 0:02:25 off his previous best time at the distance. Chris Bennett crossed the line in 52:24, also 4th in his age category (V40).

At Saturday’s parkruns, Kingsbury drew the largest contingent of Peelers with Ben Dorkins first to cross the finish line in a time of 22:01 followed by Tim Clark (24:26); Darren O’Leary (27:44); Mike Shelton (27:45); Jackie Tierney (28:50); Joy Sykes (31:39); Alison Perry (36:11); Roger Eastaff (36:13); Claire Guffick (37:01); Lee Guffick (41:15) and Wendy Bowyer (53:56). 

Parkrun tourists included: Tim Mudd at Rosliston (26:04); Sarah and Mark Boffey at Gedling, Nottingham running together and finishing in 29:07; Steph Attenborough at Black Combe, Haverigg Open Prison (30:57) (the only parkrun to be held within the walls of a prison, Haverigg reputably being the inspiration for the ‘Porridge’ series on tv!); Michael Hughes at Clifton, Nottingham (43:03) and Emma Pick at Market Bosworth Country Park (23:30).

Peel Road Runners always welcome new members, so if your New Year resolutions include getting more exercise then check out our website www.peelroadrunners.co.uk to see what we do!

Peel Road Runners were back in action at the Derby/Staffs Cross Country League at Allestree Park in Derby on Sunday. Despite a damp and chilly morning, running conditions were favourable and there was a good turnout from the club. First home for the Peelers in the Men’s race was Robert Dyjak (3rd overall, second claim runner) with Wayne King in 14th place followed by Luke Collins (47th); Scott Chapman (69th); Mark Boffey (102nd); Allen King (111th); Christ Bennett (123rd); Simon Gordon (133rd); Michael Hughes (138th) and Lee Guffick (153rd).

In the Ladies’ race, Emma Pick was first home in 22nd place overall, followed by Lorna D’Silva (35th); Donna Lancaster (38th); Sarah Boffey (55th); Gemma Pritchard (56th); Jackie Tierney (69th); Sandra Ingram (72nd); Steph Attenborough (74th) and Claire Guffick (88th).

At Saturday’s parkrun at Kingsbury, Tim Clark finished in 23:29 followed by Jackie Tierney (28:00); Roger Eastaff (34:14); Sarah French (56:30); Wendy Bowyer (61:02) and Alison Perry (61:07). Wendy Bowyer, Alison Dolphin, Sarah French, Claire Guffick and Alison Perry also volunteered. Parkrun tourists included: Mark Boffey (23:49) and Sarah Boffey (27:37) at Forest of Dean; Michael Hughes (28:02) at York; Ian Cooper (27:56) at Rosliston; Tim Mudd (26:05) at Leicester, Victoria and Garth Cox (26:43) at Sutton Park.

Neal and Helen Dempsey ran the Betws trail 10k canicross event at the weekend running with Banana and Sydney on a very muddy and technical course. They all ran well, despite the testing ground conditions.

At the Lancashire Day trail half marathon consisting of 10k laps, Steph Attenborough crossed the line in 3:06:24 after a very hard run in muddy and slippery conditions. 

Meanwhile at the Great Dalby Dollop (another muddy, hilly cross country event!) near Melton, Rob Mace finished 2^nd non-canicross runner in 29:43 and 3^rd overall.

With Kingsbury parkrun cancelled due to flooding, ‘touristing’ was the order of the day. Mike Shelton (22:16) at Coventry; Mark Boffey (25:18) and Michael Hughes (26:47) at Shipley, nr Derby; Jackie Tierney (28:01) at Brueton, Solihull; Mick Stevenson (34:09) at Northallerton; Steph Attenborough (33:50) at Gedling, Nottingham; Garth Cox (26:51) at Sutton Park; Tim Mudd (26:33) at Wollaton Hall, Nottingham and Joy Sykes (30:29) at Beacon Park, Lichfield.

Peel Road Runners sent a strong team to North Derbyshire to take on the Clowne Road Runners half marathon on Sunday. The race is a classic autumn half marathon, extremely well organised by a running club over an undulating and quite challenging course. Racing home to get his mint coloured sweatshirt first for the club was Phil Neale, who finished in a time of 1:40:53 and 9^th out of 58 M55 runners. Luke Collins was close on his heels in 1:41:16, with Allen King the next Peeler to cross the finish line in 1:46:21. Craig Smith ran well to finish in 1:50:29, with Darren Truman also clocking in at 1:50:29. In form Mark Boffey continued his good run of form to finish in 1:51:17, with Richard Satchwell finishing in 1:53:42. Lorna D’Silva was first lady home for the Club in a time of 1:53:44 and 9^th out of 44 F35 runners. Natalie Walker was second lady Peeler home in 1:55:10, with Michael Hughes 1:56:35; Simon Gordon 1:56:40; Ian Orton 2:00:18; Stuart Hatton 2:03:55; Gemma Pritchard 2:04:04; Sophie Galloway 2:07:33; Jason Church 2:07:13; Chris Bennett 2:11:39; Sarah Boffey 2:12:32 and Emma Whorwood 2:21:28. Sarah Boffey’s race result was probably the ‘standout’ for the team, as she knocked over 13 minutes of her previous half marathon best from 2014, but it was a day of personal best times with Darren Truman, Allen King and Gemma Pritchard all knocking minutes off their previous best times.

As if running one marathon in a weekend wasn’t enough, Steph Attenborough ran two last weekend! On Saturday, Steph took part in the Saturn Running Save the Rhino charity run at Lee Valley White Water Centre at Waltham Abbey running 4.37 mile laps on the flat trail course. She completed 6 laps to cover the marathon distance in 5:36:59. Following on from this, on Sunday she ran the Zig Zag Running ‘Easier Said than Run’ trail marathon at Hinchingbrooke Country Park at Huntingdon. This was a trail run over a mixture of muddy paths and light trails around the lakes and woodland, which Steph completed in 6:34:41.

At the third round of the Dark & White Events Autumn trail race at Grindleford, Val Lawson took on the 9.1 mile course with 1168 ft of ascent, finishing in a time of 2:11:22 and 3rd out 7 FV60 runners. Following the recent heavy rain, ground conditions were very muddy and slippery but the sun was shining and the views were far-reaching making for a memorable run. She also finished 4^th out of 8 FV60 in the Series results.

Meanwhile at the Canicross Midlands event at Locko Park, Spondon Neal Dempsey ran in the long and short course events, coming third in the two dog long course running with Banana and Paddington and Minstrel (short course). Helen Dempsey also ran in the long and short course events, running with Hugo, Pickle and Pine. 

Despite so many Peelers racing this weekend, there was still a good turnout at the local parkruns. At Kingsbury, Mike Shelton was first home for the club in 22:58 with Jackie Tierney (28:30); Ann Hill (33:41); Joy Sykes (35:14); Claire Guffick (41:06) and Lee Guffick (41:12) also running. Parkrun tourists included Michael Hughes at Dudley (40:42); Garth Cox (23:15) at Walsall; Tim Mudd (26:26) at Rushcliffe, Nottingham; Emma Barley (32:03) at Chasewater; Mark Boffey (25:27) and Sarah Boffey (29:10) at Severn Valley Country Park, Bridgnorth and Mick Stevenson at Warwick Racecourse (31:32).

With the weekend being a time to remember those who have paid the ultimate sacrifice so that we can live with freedom to run and race, it was fitting that some Peelers took part in the Royal British Legion’s Poppy Run at Sutton Park on Saturday. Sarah French, Alison Dolphin, Claire Guffick, Joy Sykes, Lee Guffick, Ann Hill, Stephen Andrews and Roger Eastaff ran round the untimed course together so that they could reflect on the occasion.

Meanwhile new Peeler, Steph Attenborough, ran the Phoenix Running ‘Lest we Forget’ marathon on Thursday 11^th November at Walton on Thames. The marathon consisted of 3.28 mile laps with athletes choosing how many or how few laps they wished to run on the out and back trail course. Steph completed the marathon distance in a time of 6:54:11.

The Peelers travelled far and wide at the weekend’s parkruns. At Kingsbury, Tim Clark was first home in a time of 23:41 followed by Darren O’Leary in 24:15; Tim Mudd (26:20); Neal Dempsey (28:16); Jackie Tierney (28:15) and Helen Dempsey (32:57) whilst Phil Neale volunteered. Meanwhile Allen King was first over the line for the club at Walsall Arboretum in 22:10 with Chris Bennett (22:19) close behind and Garth Cox (23:15) and Darren Truman (23:38) making up the Peel contingent. At Windy Nook parkrun in High Heworth, Newcastle Ben Dorkins finished 7^th overall in a time of 23:22, whilst at Dishley, Loughborough Mark Boffey ran the 5k course in 26:18 with Michael Hughes hot on his heels in 26:32. At Babb’s Mill, Solihull Ian Orton finished in a time of 25:45 and at Sutton Park, warming up before their Poppy Run, Claire Guffick finished first for the Peelers in 30:27, followed by Joy Sykes (32:38); Roger Eastaff (40:24); Ann Hill (40:24); Stephen Andrews (40:37); Sarah French (41:08); Alison Dolphin (41:09) and Lee Guffick (41:10). Finally at Warwick Racecourse, Mick Stevenson galloped home in 32:53.

With the autumn marathon season well under way, Peel Road Runner George Hope flew over the Atlantic to take on the challenge of the New York marathon this weekend. This race was the first in his ‘Marathon Majors’ challenge (the other future races being Berlin, Boston, Chicago, Tokyo and London). With preparations for New York being derailed by the Covid epidemic, it has been a long build up for George to this race requiring strong nerves and devotion to training. George crossed the finish line in a creditable 4:44:51 on a course that is renowned to be difficult and in unseasonably warm weather conditions (24 degrees). 

Training during the winter months can be challenging, so it’s good to try out something new which is exactly what Claire Guffick, Lee Guffick, Alison Dolphin and Sarah French did when they took on the Bluetits Nipper Dipper at Lake 32 near Cirencester at the weekend. They completed the 100m swim, then took part in the inflatable race with ‘Mr Dolphin’ and came 5^th out of 6 teams. A great way to build up core strength for running!

Meanwhile, running the 4^th leg of the Peak Running Starlight Relays at Markeaton Park in Derby (a 2 mile trail relay race held in the dark), Val Lawson brought her team home in a lap time of 20:25. 

At the weekend’s parkruns, the cool and damp weather did not deter Peelers from their weekly fix. At Kingsbury Martin Hollamby was first home for the club in 21:00, closely followed by Ben Dorkins in 21:52. Next over the line was Garth Cox (24:46); Neal Dempsey (26:56); Darren O’Leary (27:30); Tim Mudd (27:42); Stella Taylor (28:00); Jackie Tierney (29:33); Joy Sykes (31:21); Ann Hill (33:57); Helen Dempsey (33:59); Roger Eastaff (34:01); Wendy Bowyer (59:19) and Chris Norris (59: 23).

Parkrun tourists included: Michael Hughes at Braunstone (25:23); Mark and Sarah Boffey at Forest Rec, Nottingham (24:56 and 28:06 respectively); Allen King (22:23); Chris Bennett (23:08) and Ian Orton (23:41) at Babbs Mill, Solihull and Mike Shelton at Beacon Park, Lichfield (20:07).

After a week of wet days and the prospect of a soggy cross country course, Peel Road Runners were relieved to have a mild and dry start to the cross country season at Anslow near Burton Upon Trent on Sunday. The race was the first in the Derby Runner Derby & Staffs Cross Country League with runners taking on a 5.5 mile course around an equestrian cross country course complete with a jump and water splash! First Peeler to gallop across the finish line was second claim athlete, Robert Dyjak, in a time of 32:27 and 6^th place overall. Next to finish was Luke Collins in 32^nd place; Rob Mace in 39^th place; Scott Chapman in 48^th place; Mark Boffey in 76^th place; Ben Dorkins in 78^th place; Phil Neale in 81^st place; Darren Truman in 84^thplace; Tim Clark in 95^th place; Ian Orton in 117^th place (having run the Snowdonia marathon the day before!); Michael Hughes in 123^rd place; Simon Gordon in 125^th place and Lee Guffick bringing the men’s team home. Running for the ladies’ team, Emma Pick was first home in a time of 39:33 and 9^th place overall, with Lisa Stretton next to finish in 23^rd place; Sarah Boffey in 49^th place; Stella Taylor in 60^th place; Claire Guffick in 79^th place and Jackie Tierney in 80^th place. Some great results from both first timers to cross country and seasoned veterans!

Peelers Sandra Ingram and Ian Orton took on the Snowdonia marathon on Saturday. Advertised as one of the hardest road marathons in Britain, the race started in Llanberis before taking in the Llanberis Pass to Pen-y-Pass, passing through Beddgelert at around the 13 mile mark and running up to Rhydd Ddu and Waunfawr. The final three miles of the race begin with a cruel slog over the Bwlch-y-groes pass, then a hair-raising rough trail descent back into Llanberis. Only three weeks after running the London marathon, Orton crossed the line in a time of 5:41:40 with Ingram not far behind in 5:46:39.

Meanwhile across the Irish Sea, Mike Shelton ran the Dublin marathon on Sunday finishing in a time of 3:41:07, an impressive 20 minutes faster than his previous run at Dublin in 2019!

Saturday morning parkruns were as popular as ever with the Peelers this week. At Kingsbury Allen King was first to finish for the club in a time of 22:40 followed by Ben Dorkins (23:24); Neal Dempsey (27:58); Sarah Boffey (29:06); Mark Boffey (29:19); Helen Dempsey (33:51); Kelly Porter (43:21); Wendy Bowyer (43:54); Alison Perry (51:08); Chris Norris (51:39); Alison Dolphin (55:57) and Sarah French (55:58). Sarah French and Ann Hill acted as Tail Walkers at Kingsbury; Alison Dolphin as Park Walker (a role designed to encourage walkers to join in at parkrun without feeling the need to run) and Wendy Bowyer helped with Communications before the run.

Parkrun tourists included: Tim Mudd (27:36) at Brueton; Roger Lloyd (25:47) at Walsall Arboretum; Tony Bryan at Conkers (25:31); Rob Mace at Sandwell Valley (1^st finisher and 25^th time finishing first in a parkrun!); Chris Bennett (24:58) at Henley Wood, Oswestry; Joy Sykes (30:04) at Tyne Green, Hexham; Mick Stevenson (32:17) at Warwick Racecourse; Michael Hughes (26:41) at East Park, Wolverhampton and Jackie Tierney (29:13) at Beacon Park, Lichfield (Jackie also volunteered before the run).

The Abingdon marathon is renowned for its fast and flat course, so is a draw for many runners seeking a personal best for a marathon and for Peel Road Runner, Wayne King, this would be his first attempt at the distance after a period of promising and very consistent training. Unfortunately the weather was against the runners on Sunday with heavy rain and wet roads hampering their efforts. However, despite this, Wayne had an outstanding run crossing the finish line just 23 seconds over the magic “3 hours” in a truly impressive time of 3:00:23. On a different day with better weather conditions, it’s not difficult to imagine that this time will be well and truly broken!

Unfortunately, the weather proved too much for the Droitwich half marathon, which was cancelled due to a flooded course. Having trained for the race, several Peelers decided to test themselves against the Peel RR half marathon course which was designed to be run as a virtual race during the Covid Lockdown period. Despite not ‘racing’ the route, the 13.1 mile course (based on the north side of Tamworth) gave them a good indication of how their training was progressing for their key half marathon race next month at Clowne near Chesterfield.

At the weekend’s parkruns, Kingsbury was again the most popular with the Peelers. Club member Mike Shelton had the double celebration of being able to claim his award for volunteering for the 100^th time at Kingsbury (that’s a lot of Saturday mornings given over to helping others!) and also for knocking out his fastest time in 2022, crossing the line in 20:16.

First over the finish line for the club was James Stretton, who stopped the clock at 19:44, closely followed by Mike Shelton (20:16); Ben Dorkins (personal best time of 21:28); Tim Clark (22:12); Lisa Stretton (25:37); Stella Taylor (27:02); Joy Sykes (30:48); Helen Dempsey (33:11); Alison Perry (33:33); Wendy Bowyer (41:38); Alison Dolphin (41:40) and Chris Norris (49:02). Sarah French and Roger Eastaff volunteered as finish scanners, whilst Wendy Bowyer helped with communications at Kingsbury.

Parkrun tourists included: Mick Stevenson at Northallerton (33:20); Tony Bryan at Walmer and Deal Seafront (25:38); Emma Barley at Chasewater (38:36); Ian Orton at Babb’s Mill, Solihull (23:10); Tim Mudd at Beacon, Lichfield (26:45); Jackie Tierney at Watermead Country Park, Leicester (28:58) and Michael Hughes at Bramshall Road, Uttoxeter (27:50).