Tight schedules meant a fixture clash that left race regulars in a dilemma this weekend: whether to run the final Leicestershire Road Running League race at Rotherby or the penultimate Barrow Runners Club Championship race at Stilton? Loyalties were understandably divided! The bigger question was which race would ever-present club captain Mark Sadler choose to drop? Read on to find out...
14 Barrow Runners made the trip over to Nottinghamshire (and the cheese-making village of Cropwell Bishop) for the Stilton Stumble, the penultimate race in our Summer Club Championship. Our 'big guns' were out in force with Michael Cheverton and Jake Blythe finishing the 10k course in rapid sub-37 minute times, crossing the line in 6th and 7th place overall respectively. Lorna Goodacre and Nell Steel picked up PBs which is testament to the hard work they've both put in this year.
Those runners who chose the LRRL option found the notoriously difficult (read 'hilly') Rotherby 8 even more tricky than usual, shrouded in freezing fog throughout. Conditions didn't stop 12 of our runners braving the course, with the evergreen Alex Toll coming home first for the club in another diamond standard time and superwoman Andrea Winkless picking up a third place position in her age category in what was a busy weekend - even for her! Ever-present club captain Mark Sadler missed the race (choosing the Stilton Stumble instead) as even he can't be in two places at once. Unless we somehow clone him.
Over in Hungary, one of this year's superstars, (Dr) Adam Law looked to consolidate his amazing season with a marathon PB in Budapest - achieving his goal by a whopping 30 minutes, finishing in a superb time of 3:23:03. Adam would like it known that he would have been even quicker were it not for two unplanned toilet stops! Can he complete a clean sweep of PBs this year at the Leicester Half? We will find out in two weeks!
Closer to home, Ben Spencer and Fiona Mee competed in the Great Eastern Run in Peterborough with Fiona picking up another PB over the half marathon distance. We're not sure where this leaves The Battle of the Mees, but the pressure is on husband Martin next week in Amsterdam...
There were also some amazing achievements in parkruns this week. A special prize goes to Rob Phillips and Justine Albert for going all the way to Lithuania to run 3.106 miles. The event also happened to be Rob's 100th parkrun location and Justine picked up her (now) customary podium finish. Lithuania wasn't our most distant parkrun location this week though - that prize went to Caroline Richardson who ran at North Wollongong in New South Wales. Laura Browne also achieved a big milestone this week - her 200th parkrun. Extra kudos to her for choosing to run the landmark run as volunteer pacer at Braunstone. Best parkrun debut must go to rising star Jamie Greaves who ran a fantastic 19:25 at Watermead. Another newish runner to the club, Rachel Vatter, had a great race at Pomphrey Hill, crossing the line as first woman. Sam Minion came very close to going under 18 minutes at Alvaston and picked up a podium finish. Finally, one of our brilliant juniors, James Armitage, smashed his PB at Watermead by two minutes and is closing in on Armitage snr's best time. Good excuse to buy some new race shoes, Tony?
Well done, all!
Budapest Marathon
(Dr) Adam Law 3:23:03
Great Eastern Run (Half Marathon)
Fiona Mee 1:37:58 PB
Ben Spencer 1:38:40
Rotherby 8 (LRRL Race #11)
Alex Toll 0:52:21
Andy Gatward 0:53:39
Adam Vignali-Clarke 0:55:04
Phillip Rooney 0:55:39
Andrea Winkless 0:58:47 3rd VF55
Rebecca Chandler 0:59:12
Liam King 1:01:19
Danny Hall 1:02:20
Lee Godrich 1:03:40
Chris Trzcinski 1:05:29
Roger Griffiths 1:12:35
Mark Braithwaite 1:26:13
Shelton Striders 10k
Mat Richardson 00:44:36
Kathy Robinson 00:49:44
Stilton Stumble 10k (Barrow Runners Club Championship Race #11)
Michael Cheverton 00:36:25
Jake Blythe 00:36:27
Matthew Wolloch 00:42:44
Daniel Bowles 00:45:15
Chris Bowles 00:45:32
James Woodford 00:45:46
Andrew Unitt 00:45:41
Nell Steel 00:48:52 PB
David Robson 00:49:19
Paul Leaney 00:49:27
Mark Sadler 00:50:04
Lorna Goodacre 00:50:30 PB
Monique Raaijmakers 00:51:40
Susan Wilson 01:11:19
Parkruns
Abbey Park parkrun
Ben Dunkley 00:24:17
Grace Dunkley 00:26:18
Heather Dunkley 00:26:21
Alvaston parkrun
Sam Minion 00:18:15 2nd VM30-34 🥈3rd male overall 🥉
Beacon Hill Country Park parkrun
Liam King 00:24:06 2ndVM40-44
Mark Sadler 00:26:34 1stVM65-70🥇
Rebecca Edmonds 00:32:22
Braunstone parkrun
Laura Browne 00:28:47
Conkers parkrun
Andrea Winkless 00:27:25 1st VW55-60🥇
Collette Porter 00:38:43
Dishley parkrun, Loughborough
Jonathan Rashleigh 00:23:47 1st VM50-54🥇
Jack Peasgood 00:23:55 3rd VM35-39 🥉
Amanda Rashleigh 00:32:52
Heidi Clarke 00:35:52
Gedling parkrun
Andrew Price 00:51:33
Simone Clarke 00:51:33
Market Bosworth Country Park parkrun
Rebecca Brooks 00:35:45
North Wollongong parkrun
Caroline Richardson 00:30:04
Pomphrey Hill parkrun
Rachael Vatter 00:21:14 FIRST FEMALE OVERALL!🥇
Princes parkrun, Liverpool
Carl Hughes 00:34:12
Rushcliffe parkrun
Matthew Wolloch 00:24:06
Paul Leaney 00:27:17 1st VM70-74🥇
Julie Felstead 00:39:11
Severn Valley Country parkrun
Dawn Storer 00:25:36 1stVW60-64 🥇
Vingis
Justine Albert 00:22:58
Rob Phillips 00:27:03
Watermead Country Park parkrun
Jamie Greaves 00:19:25 PB 3rd VM30-34🥉
Aidan Kelly 00:20:46 3rd VM50-54🥉
Ian Paramore 00:20:58 2nd VM60-64🥈
Tony Armitage 00:22:27
James Armitage 00:24:26 PB
Paul Bentley 00:26:31
Andrew Leates 00:27:37
Gill Elliott 00:30:41
Angie Sibley-white 00:31:14
Ali Walker 00:40:33
Prepared by George Burdett