Despite all the rain over the last week, on Sunday, a dedicated group of Peelers took on the cross-country race at Boothorpe (Conkers). Consisting of 2 Laps of the National Forest, runners completed approximately 5.5 miles, mostly on grassland with a small section of compacted paths.
In the women’s team, Sophie Galloway was the first Peeler to finish in a superb 28th place, followed by fantastic performances by Cheryl Flint in 43rd and Sandra Ingram in 48th. Jackie Tierney completed the scoring in a strong 49th place. Following closely behind was Claire Guffick in 52nd place, Emma La Planche in 58th and Val Lawson in 59th place. First Peeler to complete for the men’s team was Wayne King in a brilliant 8th place, closely followed by Lee Rickards, also finishing in a fantastic 16th place. Luke Collins was next Peeler home in 59th place, followed by Wayne Richardson in 89th, James Payne in 94th, Simon Gordon in 117th and completing the scoring Mark Boffey in 118th. Following were Graham Line in 127th and Lee Guffick in 137th.
With marathon training in full swing, Chris Bennett and Sammie Futrill decided that just running 17 miles wasn’t quite challenging enough they decided 15 of those miles should be the Cannock Chase 15-mile race. Chris and Sammie were bravely joined by Adrian Jelley, who also decided it was a good thing to do on a Sunday morning. With the weather fairies gracing us with rain every day of 2026 so far, an interesting (some would say awful) course was made even more challenging.
In true Peel fashion, they would not be discouraged and posted so more than respectable times. Adrian was first across the line in a time of 02:20:55; he was followed shortly after by Sammie with a time of 02:30:38, which was enough to secure Sammie the trophy for third female (well done). Rounding of the event for Peel was Chris in a time of 02:49:31. Well done to all three.
Taking place on the same tough muddy course, Gillian Jelley opted to take on the 10-mile distance and finished in a fantastic time of 01:59:54. Well done Gillian.
With many Parkruns cancelled last weekend due to flooding, Peelers travelled far and wide to find runs taking place.
At Beacon Park, the first Peeler back was Mark Shelton in (24:06), followed by Wayne Richardson (24:29), Sophie Galloway (24:37), Tracy Ford (25:44), and Amy Jones (28:20).
At Brueton Graham Lane finished in (27:41), at Brunswick Park Jonathan Allen finished in (27:14). At Conkers Marcus Fairburn finished in (29:37), followed by Stuart Hatton in (30:31).
Travelling to Coronation Park, Roger Lloyd finished in (24:23), with Ian Orton finishing in (21:48) at Coventry.
Jacqueline Terney ventured to Crewe, finishing in (30:07), Garth Cox travelled to Oaklands, finishing in (25:57), and Michael Hughes travelled to Peron Playing Fields and finished in (30:03).
At Rushcliff,e Mark Boffey finished in (27:44), followed by Sarah Boffey in (36:39), and at Sutton Park, Ashley Goodman finished in (24:14).
Finally, travelling the furthest to Ekebergsletta in Oslo, Joanne Sharman finished in (58:56), followed by Stephanie Attenborough in (58:57).
Peelers Couch to 5k, Peel Road Runners Couch to 5k also starts on Tuesday, 10th February, running for 9 weeks. The group meets at Tamworth Castle Grounds Skate Park at 6.15 pm. Come along and give it a try, details can be found at: www.peelroadrunners.co.uk