Worksop Half Marathon

After a disappointing outing at the Workshop Half Marathon where he was overtaken by the classy Paul Rushworth with two miles to go Stuart Sinclair booked a week of physiotherapy and a late entry for the Stevenage half marathon where he successfully joined Grantham Athletic Club's elite in completing the distance in under 90 minutes. The Worksop race has one of the toughest starts of any endurance race in the calendar with a hard climb for a full mile. Paul Rushworth completed the 13.1 miles course in 1:29:59 just dipping below his target time with a sprint finish that left Stuart struggling behind him in 1:30:42. GAC new boy Ged Cowley clocked 2:11:53.

Seven days later at the 25th Stevenage Half Marathon Stuart bagged a top 50 finish in a field of 1,000 runners and was pleased with his 1:29:52 over a surprisingly difficult course hampered by a strong northerly wind and a heavy leafall making the forest sections very slippy. Robert McArdle managed 1:38:36 in this race with Catherine Payne fading to 1:42:44 after a promising first ten miles.

Grimsthorpe Castle Half Marathon

Grimsthorpe Castle Half Marathon 

Grantham Running Club had two members competing in this year's Grimsthorpe Castle Half Marathon, recent heavy rain meant there were a few late modifications to the course due to flooding. The revised course covered the picturesque landscapes surrounding the Grimsthorpe Castle near Bourne and was a mixture of undulating hard limestone trail, tarmac and field trails. This mixture of surfaces provided a tough challenge especially when the one muddy section was covered twice. Despite it not being a fast course Lucy Roberts recorded a PB and Gordon Geach finished in a time he would have been happy with on a flat tarmac race.

Gordon Geach 1:43:33

Lucy Roberts    1:56:23

Podium finish in Southwell Olympic Marathon Event

Podium finish in Southwell Olympic Marathon Event

Grantham Running Club marathon men Ben Mason and Ben Hatherley were in action Sunday 12^th August, competing at the distance for the second time this year, in the inaugural Morton Olympic Marathon Event. The event, a flat rural 9 lap marathon distance race both on and off road, starting and finishing at The Full Moon pub in Morton Nr Southwell, held on the same day as The Men’s Olympic Marathon, competing were teams of 2 , 3 or 4 and individuals

On a hot summers day the duo had to breach 4 stiles each lap along the route, spurred on by the large and lively crowd gathered outside the pub. The Bens, fresh from a recent endurance event in Derbyshire, ran shoulder to shoulder for 6 laps showing a good pace despite the heat and nature of the course.

With Ben Mason tiring around the 19^th mile, Ben Hatherley stepped up the pace for the last 7 miles sensing a sub 4 hour finish time. With the finish line in sight Ben Hatherley moved up to claim 2^nd place overall in a time of 3hrs 50mins, trailing the winner by 10mins. Ben Mason came home in 5^th spot in a time of 4hrs 12mins. An excellent achievement by both Grantham runners considering they had only entered Wednesday before the event.

Ben Hatherley said “ I thoroughly enjoyed race excellent support from the friendly crowd and very well organised, one for the 2013 calendar!”

Long Tour of Bradwell Fell Race

GRC's Paul Rushworth  returned to the type of race he is more comfortable with completing the Long Tour of Bradwell in 7 hours 10 minutes and 11 seconds. He was especially pleased to finish 35th in this run which included 6,300' of ascent in its 33 miles as he was taken to hospital after the finish with a gash in his head following a collision with a tree.

Thorney 5 Mile Race

Grantham Athletic Club's John Bainbridge was the only local entrant in this out and back course through the countryside near Peterborough completing the run in a time of 40:29 despite the heat

Regards

Robert McArdle
0788 7796 991

Adidas Thunder Run 24 Hours

"Grantham sent two teams to represent the town at the Thunder Run 24 hour endurance event at Catton Park, Derbyshire. The tough event requires each runner to complete a 10 kilometre course before handing on to the next team member. The relay continues through the night with some Grantham athletes completing five laps at race speed and totalling more than 30 miles during the 24 hours. In addition to the high mileage, competitors had to cope with sleep deprivation and manage food intake to ensure their energy levels continued. The route ran across mixed, undulating terrain including forests and competitors wore head torches to light the way during the night sections. This year over two thousand eight hundred runners took part in the event with 187 teams competing in the mixed class. Grantham’s two mixed team’s placed well in 7^th and 34^th place in an event which attracted bigger clubs from across the country. Club Chairman Helen Brown said “This was a real team effort, we really punched above our weight, our athletes revelled in the good natured spirit of the event and we are now inspired to do even better next year”.

      

Team A members: Stuart Sinclair (Captain), Paul Rushworth, Ben Hatherley, Arthur Short, Scott Jones, Catherine Payne, Ben Mason, Mark Hillson. Team B members: Helen Brown (Captain), Robert McArdle, Phil Hall, Gordon Geach, John Ellerby, Lucy Roberts, John Bainbridge, Sarah High. "   

Woody's Toonie Trot: Ancaster

There was once again a tremendous turnout of Grantham Runners for this local cross country race. Recent heavy road made the climbs even more challenging as the runners made their way, mostly off road in a circular six and a half mile route up and round the radio mast before returning to the campsite. First local man home was Stu Sinclair in forth position with Ben Hatherley just behind in fifth. The ladies race was won comfortably by Catherine Payne with Helen Brown managing to hold on to third place in a tight finish. Many of the Monday night jog group chose this as their "Graduation" race and enjoyed a very tough baptism that left them yearning for a flat road race that would be an awful lot easier;

Local Club Results;

Position	Time	Name	Surname
4	43:31	Stuart	Sinclair
5	44:40	Ben	Hatherley
9	46:11	Paul	Davidson
10	46:56	Paul	Rushworth
12	47:43	Mark	Toms
14	47:44	Ben	Mason
16	47:51	Andrew	Pask
18	48:15	Stuart	Sibcy
22	48:55	Smith	David
21	48:55	Scott	Jones
24	49:30	Robert	McArdle
26	49:53	Catherine	Payne
31	50:39	John	Ellerby
38	51:26	Helen	Brown
42	51:43	David	Gregory
51	52:53	Gordon	Geach
52	52:58	Steven	Perks
65	53:51	Julie	Stewart
72	55:52	Lucy	Roberts
73	56:28	Keith	Measures
74	56:35	Finn	Hogan
83	57:14	Trudy	Brookes
98	59:05	Anna	Littlecott
100	59:43	Amy	Cropper
105	1:00:30	Ruth	Dunstan
113	1:00:54	Lucy	Worthington
115	1:01:09	Vicky	Clarke
118	1:04:29	Bill	Lord
119	1:04:29	John	Bainbridge
122	1:05:24	Grace	Plant
128	1:06:33	Graham	Livermore
130	1:06:47	Lisa	Burn
135	1:07:12	Jo	Cropper
137	1:09:06	Nikola	Marshall
139	1:15:27	Yvonne	Taylor
141	1:21:34	Lisa	Harmon
142	1:28:39	Rachel	Chapman

Deeping 10k Road Run

Helen Brown picked up her first prize as a veteran competitor finishing as third in her category in the Deeping St James 10k last Sunday, there were also good performances from Ben Mason and Scott Jones both of whom picked up Personal Bests

Full local Result

39.06		Arthur Short
42.36 PB		Ben Mason
43.54 PB		Scott Jones
45.07		Helen Brown
45.11		Philip Hall
45.24		Robert McArdle

Langtoft 10k

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This was the first outing for Grantham Running Club's new green and black vest which the guys are photographed wearing as they cross the finish line.

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Langtoft 10k

In her first ever Road Race Grantham Running Club's Nikola Marshall recorded an impressive 60 minutes and two seconds for the 10 kilometre course, although Nicky won't be challenging the Team GB selectors for a place in London 2012 her performance will give as much pleasure to everyone at GRC as if she had won a trophy.

The reason for this is that the "Rev" , as she is called, typifies the new type of runner from a new type of running club where the emphasis is on helping both first time runners and returning joggers to set their own realistic goals and to achieve them both injury free and in an enjoyable way! Although the club's membership ranges in age from 19 to 70 most of the members are firmly in the veteran category. It has taken Nicky six months of gentle but determined training to progress from her first beginners session on a Monday evening to being able to compete in a race. Her fear before hand was that she would be last and everyone would have to wait for her but 20% of the other runners actually finished behind her and some by up to 20 minutes! Nicky's next challenge is a 10 mile race in Nottingham.

At the front of the field in this race the other Grantham ladies were giving a good account of themselves with Catherine Payne setting a PB in third place followed by Helen Brown in fourth with Lucy Roberts, who has been running for less than 18 months, also setting a personal best coming home as 10th lady in 49:18. Catherine also picked up the trophy as the first veteran. Elsewhere there was a PB for Scott Jones in 43:55 and superb times for both Keith Measures and Phil Hall who was able to deliver his 5k pace in this longer race.

Full local results are as follows;

	Time	Name
	00:43:42	Catherine Payne
	00:43:55	Scott Jones
	00:45:20	Phil Hall
	00:45:58	Helen Brown
	00:47:06	Chris Armstrong
	00:48:25	Keith Measure
	00:49:18	Lucy Roberts
	01:00:02	Nikola Marshall

Grantham Cup 2012

Grantham Cup 2012

The Grantham Cup 10k trail race takes place on the Sunday of the Belton Horse Trials, organised by Grantham Running Club the race attracts athletes from all corners of the county and beyond, one or two arriving with the misapprehension that Lincolnshire is flat. Starting in the beautiful grounds of Belton House it follows a route though the deer park before climbing round the "Folly" and woods eventually returning to the arena. Eleven local club members took part with Arthur Short quickest on the day picking up the prize as fastest male veteran, seconds behind him was teammate Stu Sinclair finished in tenth position with Paul Davidson claiming 14th place.

In the ladies race Grantham Athletic Club's Catherine Payne finished not only as runner up but as fastest ladies veteran. Full local results;

Position			Cat		Time
7	ARTHUR	SHORT	MV	GRANTHAM AC	00:40:40
10	STUART	SINCLAIR	M	GRANTHAM AC	00:41:35
14	PAUL	DAVIDSON	MV	GRANTHAM AC	00:43:20
23	CATHERINE	PAYNE	FV	GRANTHAM AC	00:46:16
25	STEVE	PERKS	M	GRANTHAM RUNNING CLUB	00:46:46
32	JOHN	ELLERBY	MV	GRANTHAM AC	00:48:00
38	PHIL	HALL	MV	GRANTHAM AC	00:49:04
51	DAVID	GREGORY	M	GRANTHAM RUNNING CLUB	00:50:30
54	JOHN	BLAIR	MV	GRANTHAM RUNNING CLUB	00:51:08
81	DEBORAH	HOROBIN	F	GRANTHAM RUNNING CLUB	00:57:59
101	NICKY	MARSHALL	FV	GRANTHAM RUNNING CLUB	01:09:29

Stanley Marathon 2012

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Stanley Marathon 2012

Andrew Pask of Grantham Running Club, who is currently with the RAF in the Falklands, took part in the 8th annual Standard Chartered Bank Stanley marathon which took place on Sunday, 18 March 2012 in increasingly windy conditions.  Though the race began in bright sunshine and warm near gale force breezes the weather deteriorated and it ended with horizontal rain and the finish-line blowing away. In this, the world's most southerly certified marathon, Andrew finished with a time of 3:47:16 which was superb given the course and the conditions on the day. Here is a photo of Andrew wearing his Grantham tee shirt and finishers medal after the race.

Sandy 10 mile Race

The 29th Sandy 10 Road Race took place in ideal running conditions despite the organisers fears it would be too hot, the additional water stations were not required as the 500+ runners started with the temperature just four degrees above freezing. As this race was not only part of the prestigious A1 series but was the official Bedfordshire AAA County Championship the field had quality in depth. Despite achieving a personal best of 64:40 Stuart Sinclair narrowly missed out breaking into the top 50 finishers. Catherine Payne also set a personal best finishing in 72:50 with Robert McArdle off the pace in 76:22.

Kinetica Spring Ballbuster Duathlon

Last weekend Gerry Hyde, a GRC runner as well as a Witham Wheeler, was in action with over 320 multi-sport athletes at the Kinetica Spring Ballbuster Duathlon, Box Hill, Surrey. Over a tough five lap course comprising an 8 mile run, 24 mile bike, and second 8 mile run the competitors climbed an accumulative 3000 feet. The route forms part of the Olympic road cycling course and was a good test of stamina. Despite a lingering calf injury which put participation in to doubt in the week before the race, Gerry was pleased to run the 2nd 8 mile lap over a minute quicker that his first and finish in 18th place in his age group and 124th overall in a time of 3:35:06.