Belvoir Half Marathon

Wendy set a PB of 2:32:28

 On the 10th April, Wendy Smith took part in the Belvoir Half Marathon, her second half marathon since joining Grantham Running Club. There are normally about 700 runners for the event though for some reason which the organisers could not understand, there were only 400 entries this year.

On the day the sun was shining, and the course began at the village of Hose, taking on a scenic route through villages in the Vale of Belvoir, which included Harby, Langar, Colston Bassett, Long Clawson and then back Hose.

The course was relatively flat with a couple of inclines, making it ideal for a PB.Wendy ran on behalf of the British Heart Foundation in memory of her Dad who passed away a year ago. Wendy achieved a PB, shaving off over seven minutes from her previous half marathnShe’s now planning her next half!

Millennium Way Ultra Marathon

Chris Limmer lined up at the start line of the 41mile Millennium way ultra marathon just a week after running the Manchester marathon dressed as Tinkerbell. The two events could not be more different with just 99 starters standing in the bus station of the town of Newport near Telford on the Shropshire/Staffordshire border. The race itself took runners along disused railways, various waterways as well as farmland before arriving in Burton on Trent just under 41 miles later. The lack of course markers meant that Chris and the other runners had to rely on looking for the red and white national trail markers and carefully reading the pre-event course information.

The first part of Chris’ race was largely uneventful as he passed through Stafford town centre and along the river Sow before getting to the second check point just after Rugeley. At this point halfway through the race Chris was around 20^th place and was feeling comfortable despite the fatigue from the previous weekend. It was soon after this check point the course diverted off the Trent and Mersey canal and across farmland. With no markers Chris ran with a couple of other competitors who had either run the course before or were able to use the maps on their phone. The teamwork meant that they reached the final checkpoint in good spirits and relieved to have just 10 miles to go with the main navigational challenges out of the way. Soon after this final checkpoint the course re-joined the Trent and Mersey canal for the final 5.5 miles to Burton. At this point Chris upped the pace using his experience of a similar tactic in other ultras. This largely worked and Chris left the canal one final time then sprinted towards the leisure centre that marked the finish. With full results yet to be confirmed Chris provisionally finished 11^th place and little over 6hrs and 40minutes.

 

Queens Platinum Jubilee 10k RAF Waddington

Thursday 7th April provided an unusual mid week lunchtime start for almost 100 runners taking part in the race to raise funds for the RAF Benevolent Fund. The event was split into 5k and 10k categories, with a well marshalled course starting from the playing field and passing a Vulcan XM607 before heading out onto the roads around the RAF Station.

Daniel Pearce was running for the first time in the green and black of Grantham Running Club, and ran 2 laps to complete the 10k distance in a time of 42:32. This led to a top 5 finish and took 1 minute 16 off his previous best set during a very wet Lincoln 10k last October.

Having been a non-runner prior to the lockdown in March 2020, it has been a couple of years of rapid improvement, and despite having to personally put the hard work in to earn the reward, it has only been possible with wonderful support from fellow runners and GRC members, proving to be a very welcoming community.

A massive thanks goes to Stefan Latter for being so encouraging and helpful. Hopefully the efforts in this run did the GRC proud.

 

London Landmark Half Marathon

Two members of Grantham Running Club took a trip to the Big Smoke to take part in the London Landmark half marathon on Sunday 3rd April. Organised by the baby charity Tommy's, as the name suggests, it was all about the views of the city landmarks while runners got to explore the capital.  It is also the only half marathon to go through both the City of London and the City of Westminster,

Starting at Pall Mall, the route took runners across the city, passing iconic landmarks including St Paul’s Cathedral, The Tower of London, Bank of England, Tower Bridge, Shard and the London Eye.  The finish line was on Downing Street .

The event had a party atmosphere with the route adorned with musical performances, DJs, dancers, charity cheer stations and so much more!

GRC members Suzanne Angeloni and Vicki Geeson ran for Tommy’s charity - raising over £800. It was a fantastic day with an incredible atmosphere, super well organised with 17,177 finishers.  Though they didn't grab a PB on the day, they crossed the finish line together at 2.49.06 and had a truly memorable race.

 

Manchester Marathon

Grantham Running Club had 14 members join the 24,000 strong field for this year's Manchester Marathon which doubled up as the English Commonwealth Games trials. Starting and finishing at the Old Trafford Cricket stadium, the race began in cold, near freezing temperatures. Setting off in waved starts, the growing piles of discarded clothing that runners were ditching as they ran through the start was evidence of the unusually cold temperatures on the day. However, as the race got going runners had the full benefit of ideal racing conditions with no wind to hamper their progress. Heading into the city centre for the early miles, runners then ran southwest towards Sale and Altrincham, before turning around to head northeast towards the finish at the famous cricket ground. 

The fastest on the day was the ever-improving Joe Diggins. After finishing last year's race an agonising 8s beyond the magical 3hr mark, he put this year's race in no doubt. Being less cautious, he attacked the race from the off and just ran as he felt. Blasting through halfway, well ahead of target, he ran a brilliant 2nd half to secure an outstanding PB time of 2:56:49. This placed him 3rd on the all-time GRC list. 

Next was an outstanding debut run from the talented Russel Whittaker. On his birthday of all days, a confident sub 3hr run was never in any doubt. Russel finished with 2:58:13 and will certainly go faster in races to come.

Next up in arguably the story of the day was Sam Jepson in what was supposed to be a taster marathon where he dropped out at halfway. Passing his planned dropout point, the untrained and underprepared Sam just kept going to see how he felt. Claiming the 2nd half of the race to be a complete blur, he just kept running and running. Knowing an unimaginable sub 3hr race was on the cards, he sprinted the finish straight to make it certain, eventually crossing the line with 2:59:50. Food for thought for Sam who’s never seriously considered marathons before. 

Then came seasoned marathon runner Andrew Pask, who loves the longer distances. Hoping to go close to the 3hr mark he struggled from 30k and had to grind out the remaining distance to clock 3:06:42, his 2nd fastest marathon. 

Richard Brewer was next with an outstanding 12min PB time of 3:11:32 in only his 2nd marathon. Darren Harley followed in his first marathon in at least 15 years. Darren, who isn’t a frequent racer, used his years of experience to pace a race well, clocking 3:16:25.

Impressive marathon debuts were made by; Peter Bonner – 3:19:17, Rick Dobbs – 4:20:44 and Phil Crowcroft – 4:33:39.

Veteran marathon and ulta runner Chris Limmer decided to race this event for Bliss, a charity that raises money for research into still born and premature babies. Dressed as Tinkerbell, Chris was frozen to the core at the start but soon warmed-up as the race got underway. Not totally marathon fit, Chris enjoyed his race and clocked 3:19:41, raising well over £600 for his chosen charity. 

Sam Dodwell, a man who’s clearly enjoying his running, clocked an impressive 3:26:09. This was nearly a 15min PB. Sam’s solid training block clearly paying off. 

The first GRC lady was the talented Hannah San Jose. In her 3rd marathon, Hannah’s experience over the distance is clearly starting to show. Pacing a brilliant race, Hannah clocked a brilliant 3:47:19, which is a 9 min PB. 

In the performance of the day, Sarah High smashed the London Marathon Good for Age qualifying time and would have done for someone 10 years younger. Her eye-watering 3:55:27 was the highest age graded score of the day with 78:46% which is near national standard. Sarah is showing no signs of slowing up, running her fastest marathon for 5 years. 

Richard Payne was glad to be back racing again after a 3-year break. His 3:56:02 was testament to the long hours he’s been enjoying on the road.  

Sylv Hull completed a successful day for GRC with a whopping 15min PB, clocking 4:34:33 in only her 2nd marathon. Learning with every race, Sylv enjoyed the conditions and the support from the GRC supporters crew who were stationed at various points around the course.