It was a busy old weekend for the Peel Road Runners.
On Friday evening, Peel Road Runners held their annual presentation awards, where the club gets together to celebrate the club and individual achievements across various categories over the last 12 months, with the award winners being voted for by the club members. Club award winners were: Best Male: Wayne King, and Best Female: Emma Pick, both for their continued and consistent race results. Best MV40: Danny Beardmore, recognised for his current good form and London Marathon time, where he represented the Peelers with this year’s club place. Best Female V35: Samie Futrill, for her achievements since returning from injury last year, including completing the London Marathon, which had been on her bucket list for quite a few years. Best MV50: Roger Lloyd, again, for his current good form and for his consistent finishing times and improving all the time. Best Female V45 went to Tracy Ford, who has been hitting PB’s across various race distances. Best potential male: Matt Salisbury, who has been going from strength to strength with good performances over road and cross-country races. Best potential female: Katie Stretton, who, similar to Matt, has shown great strength, setting quicker and quicker finishing times. Most improved male went to Ian Orton, who has been hitting PB’s in every race distance. Most improved female was awarded to Sophie Galloway, who has been setting quicker race times, hitting PB’s and set a great time at the Boston (UK) marathon in tough weather conditions. The Club marathon award went to Sam Cart, who, on only her second marathon, set an amazing time of 04:05:31 in tough weather conditions. If the weather had been better, this time would easily have been under 4 hours. Club male: Mark Boffey and Club female: Lisa Barnes, for their consistent contributions to the club. The President’s award is given to someone who has shown great commitment to the club, committed selfless acts or overcome setbacks, etc., with the recipient being chosen by club president Raymond Rogers. This year, the award went to Sam Cart. Also, Sophie Galloway, Sarah Boffey, Mark Boffey, Simon Gordon, Wayne King and Matt Salisbury won awards for competing in all the previous 2025-2026 cross-country season races. Congratulations to all the award winners, all well deserved.
Saturdays, most people test themselves at Parkrun over 5k. Lorna Al-Ani likes to push the boundaries a bit further. This Saturday, Lorna took part in the Ultra Wales 50 miles (although Lorna said the distance was closer to 54 miles) described as a beautiful mountain and trail race with around 10000ft elevation, taking in Cadair Idris, Rhinog Fach, Dolgellau, the Barmouth Estuary and Wales’ greatest forest, Coed-y-Brenin. Lorna completed the race in an impressive 14 hours and 28 minutes.
On Sunday, Peel Road Runners hosted the annual Gate Gallop race as part of the BDSL race series. Starting and finishing at Anker Valley playing fields, the course takes in a lap of the playing fields before heading out over the local moorlands and farmlands, before heading back into the playing fields. Plus, it wouldn’t be a true Gate Gallop race without some gorgeous hot summer weather, making the local moorlands even more scenic. The Gate Gallop offers a children’s fun run, 5k and 10k options. In the 5K, Ian Orton was the sole Peel representative, but he continued his current good form by winning the race in a fantastic time of 21:51.
In the 10k race Peelers had ten runners. First back for the club was Wayne King in 39:42. Followed by Dan Bird (45:19), Katherine Bradley (49:08), Katie Stretton (50:31), Phil Neale (51:21), Billy King (52:10), Wayne Richardson (54:29), Phoebe Wade (56:06), Stephen Andrews, who completed his Bridge to 10k course with this race, (01:17:22) and Dave Fern (01:17:50). Hats off to everyone who raced in tough conditions. Also a big shout out to all the Peelers who marshalled the event and for all the organisation by Martin Hollamby, Mike Shelton and Mark Boffey to ensure the event ran smoothly.
On Parkrunday, Peelers travelled to various locations to get there weekly 5k fix. As usual, the two home events, Kingsbury Water Park and Tamworth Castle Grounds, were both well attended.
At Kingsbury Water Park, club chairman Mike Shelton was first back in 22:20. Closely followed by Ben Dorkins (25:13), Katie Stretton (26:37), Lisa Stretton (26:40), Darren O’Leary (28:15), Emma Whorwood (34:40), Claire Guffick (34:40), Lee Guffick (35:38), Wendy Bowyer (37:29) and Nicola Bannister (41:08).
At Tamworth Castle Grounds, first back was Allen King in 23:24. Putting the pressure on Allen was Chris Bennett in 23:25. Hot on their heels was Sophie Galloway (24:24), Roger Lloyd (27:03), Cheryl Flint (27:51), Graham Lane (28:56), Jo Insley (33:49), Dave Fern (33:50) and Sarah Boffey (36:54).
In parkrun tourism news, Peelers represented the club at a few locations. Jon Allen travelled to Banbury and finished in 29:28. Garth Cox was at Beacon Park, finishing in a time of 55:18. Ian Orton finished East Park in 21:54. Jackie Tierney went to Macclesfield, finishing in 38:31. At Millhouses parkrun, Tim Mudd finished in 26:45. Steph Attenborough attended Preston parkrun, finishing in 59:28. At Rosliston, Wayne Richardson finished in 25:17, closely followed by Jo Bovington in 27:49. Finally, Emma Pick ran at Sence Valley Forest park and finished in 20:49.
Peel Road Runners meet every Tuesday and Thursday at the Castle Grounds Skate Park car park at 6.45 pm for a 7.00 pm start. We also have our walking group meeting on Tuesdays, at the same time and in the same meeting place. New members are always welcome. Please check out our website (Peelroadrunners.co.uk) or our public Facebook page for more information.