The RUNdown - 13 October 2026
Autumn is here with a very busy weekend of fabulous running
WOW! What a weekend of racing! I don't think I've ever seen so many PBs on a RUNdown. Fabulous lifetime efforts from so many of our amazing Barrow Runners.
Marathons up first, and we had runners taking on the 26.2 miles in Chester, Lisbon and Chicago. Some of our ten marathon runners had to contend with warmer weather than expected this weekend - Millie endured 27 degree heat in Portugal and the Chicago runners had to deal with humidity, while the Chester 6 had textbook perfect weather for marathon running. This showed with half of them getting marathon PBs - Ian Hawley sprinted home well under his target time of 3 hours, Reuben got a massive PB and Winxy continued to be epic despite being unwell in the lead up to the race.
Hollie Elliott finished the Chicago marathon 5 seconds under 4 hours and Nige kept a lovely pattern going by finishing the same race 6 seconds under 5 hours. Sadly, our third Barrow Runner that took the trip across the pond, Bomber, was far too fast to carry on this beautiful number pattern.
Millie Crane was cheered on to a brilliant PB in Lisbon marathon by Laura Shepherd and Katie Morfitt, although it's unclear whether this was because of their encouragement, or because she was running fast to get away from their horn-blowing. Regardless, this trio had a blast in the Portuguese capital, and Millie got the chance to blow some horns at Laura and Katie when they took on the Lisbon Half the next day. Again, the horn-blowing helped with faster running, with Katie getting a marvellous PB and Laura running her fastest half for 10 years!
Talking of half marathons, Barrow Runners featured in three more of them this weekend, a little closer to home - London Royal Parks, the Great Eastern run and Leicester. Kev got himself a PB in London and Laura Spencer ran her first ever half marathon in Peterborough alongside Bridie and Martin who also ran that distance faster than they ever had before.
We had 27 runners enjoying wonderful Autumn sunshine in Leicester on Sunday, a delight after the rain the day before. And the perfect conditions resulted in no fewer than TEN PBs across both the half marathon and 10km races. Well done to all our runners and those Barrow Runners that stepped out to support this brilliant local event.
If that weren't enough fun in one weekend, the juniors had their final club championship race at Rushcliffe junior parkrun where six runners from the club took part. Well done kids.
Oh, and a few people did a few parkruns as usual.
Well done all! Phew. I'm tired just writing about it all.
Leicester Half Marathon
- Aaron Faulkner 01:20:51 PB! 🏅
- Mike Gunson 01:21:07 PB! 🏅
- Jamie Greaves 01:24:51 PB! 🏅
- Jake Frew 01:29:00 PB! 🏅
- Lee Godrich 01:32:54 PB! 🏅
- Andy Gatward 01:34:35
- Steven Baguley 01:38:12
- Tony Armitage 01:38:28
- Liam Harvey 01:44:59
- Jonathan Dent 01:48:31
- Chris Trzcinski 01:51:36
- Paul Leaney 01:56:00
- Josh Ritchie 01:58:35
- Joe Darling 02:10:59 PB! 🏅
- Caroline Richardson 02:17:17
- Joanne Garfoot-White 02:17:17 PB! 🏅
- Mark Braithwaite 02:40:40
- Sophie Noctor 02:45:00
- Melanie Davenport 02:57:55
Leicester 10km
- Adam Law 00:38:53 PB! 🏅
- Tom Piggin 00:42:08
- Henry Carr 00:48:55 PB! 🏅
- Steve Nash 00:48:48
- Ted Eglinton 00:56:29
- Caroline Abrahams 01:11:33 PB! 🏅
- Bo Davis 01:14:29
- Will Davis 01:14:30
Chester Marathon
- Ian Hawley 02:55:07 PB! 🏅
- Reuben Sneller 03:11:17 PB! 🏅
- Angela McWilliam 03:15:02
- Jamie Moseley-Sarsfield 03:25:08
- Andrea Winxy Winkless 03:31:28 PB! 🏅
- Neil Cobley 03:52:03
Great Eastern Run
- Bridie Darcy 01:36:25 PB! 🏅
- Ben Spencer 01:38:29
- Martin Mee 01:39:02 PB! 🏅
- Laura Spencer 02:19:00 PB! 🏅
London Royal Parks Half Marathon
- Phil Clarke 01:45:08
- Kevin Gamble 01:55:46 PB! 🏅
Chicago Marathon
- Hollie Elliott 03:59:55
- Nigel Hillier 04:59:54
- Malcolm Bomber Harris 05:24:33
Lisbon Marathon
- Millie Crane 03:50:51 PB! 🏅
Lisbon Half Marathon
- Katie Morfitt 01:40:20 PB! 🏅
- Laura Shepherd 01:57:41
parkrun
Abbey Park parkrun
- Liam Harvey 00:18:23 3rd overall! 🥉 3rd in gender! 🥉
Beacon Hill Country Park parkrun
- Rob Phillips 00:20:43 3rd overall! 🥉 3rd in gender! 🥉
- Mark Platt 00:22:28
- Rachel Bentley 00:22:54 1st in gender! 🥇
- Mats Vermeeren 00:25:20
- Roger Griffiths 00:27:40
- Jonathan Reynolds 00:27:55
- Justine Albert 00:36:53
Belton House parkrun
- Rebecca Brooks 00:34:50
Brocks Hill Country Park parkrun
- Rebecca Chandler 00:24:48
- Dawn Storer 00:25:51
- Paul Bentley 00:30:15
Conkers parkrun
- Alex Toll 00:20:15
Dishley parkrun, Loughborough
- Mark Sadler 00:27:15
- Amanda Rashleigh 00:33:00
Forest Rec parkrun
- Lorna Goodacre 00:26:20
Holywell King George V Playing Fields parkrun
- Katy Young 00:30:05
Melton Mowbray parkrun
- Chris Bowles 00:24:14
North Farm parkrun
- Ronald Muhumuza 00:27:31
Perth parkrun
- Louise Dunn 00:25:45
Rushcliffe parkrun
- Matthew Wolloch 00:25:31
- Julie Felstead 00:40:13
Victoria Embankment parkrun, Nottingham
- Grace Dunkley 00:25:35
- Heather Dunkley 00:26:30
Watermead Country Park parkrun
- Amber Lester 00:19:53 1st in gender! 🥇
- Vicky Elston 00:23:51
- Becky Hewitt 00:24:05
- Rachael Budd 00:26:30
- Dina Vagani 00:28:55
- Xander King 00:29:47
- Liam King 00:29:48
- Carl Hughes 00:34:07
Rushcliffe junior parkrun - Club Champs race!
- Theo Plasser 00:09:47
- Rufus Bowles 00:09:53
- Tilly Bowles 00:10:57
- Kaylan Vagani 00:11:07
- Hannah Dunkley 00:11:33
- Niamh Kelly 00:11:35