Turkey Trot Half Marathon

Although this Nottinghamshire based half marathon is the final big race of the year attracting well over a thousand entrants there wasn't an end of season feel to the event with the nine Grantham Running Club athletes all giving a good account of themselves on this hilly course as they all began the build up to their spring marathons in 2016. First home in GRC was Barcelona abound Gavin Meadows knocking an unbelievable 12 minutes off his time for this race 12 months previously and setting another new Personal Best in the process. He was closely followed by Andrew Pask also in 1:31 who has begun his preparations for the Rotterdam Marathon. Next home was Catherine Payne in 1:37 who finished third lady in her age category with Ultra runner Nick Payne a tantalising 9 seconds outside his all-time PB in 1:41. Robert McArdle folowed in a season's best of 1:42 with Lucy Roberts narrowly missing her 2014 mark by less than a minute in two hours dead. Gwenda Williams recorded her second fastest ever half marathon despite the hills and rain in 2:10. Completing the line-up was Brendon and Yvonne Buckley crossing the line together in 2:27 almost three and a half minutes inside their 2014 time on the same course.

Pictured Gavin Meadows

Lincolnshire Cross Country Gainsborough

Grantham Running Club put out 2 teams for the third match of the Lincolnshire x-country league which was held at Gainsborough Academy in rather chilly conditions. Rob Howbrook put in another strong performance to be the first man home for GRC, and 17th overall, in a time of 35.15. He was closely followed by Chris Armstrong in his first x country race for the club this season. Nev Chamberlain and Andrew MacAllister completed the team's performance. There was a large, strong field for the 6K ladies race where Ruth Dunstan was first home for the GRC ladies in a time of 25.08. She was followed by Sarah High and Nikki Carr. Great efforts were put in by everyone. The ladies and the men's teams are both currently 7th in their respective leagues with one more race to go.

Pictured (attached) Rob Howbrook.

Worksop Halloween Half Marathon, Worksop, Nottinghamshire

Six members of Grantham Running Club made the short journey north on Sunday 25^th October to join 2000 other competitors taking part in the ‘spooktacular’ Worksop Halloween Half Marathon.

The race, now in its 34^th year, begins in the heart of Worksop with a one and a half mile climb heading out of town and into the National Trust’s Clumber Park, which was looking resplendent in perfect autumnal conditions. There is barely a flat stretch of road on the 13.1 mile course, but runners are rewarded with a mile long downhill stretch to the finish line.

The race’s Halloween theme is embraced by many of the competitors and the enthusiastic marshals, which helps give the bona fide serious race (It incorporated the Nottinghamshire Half Marathon Championships) a feel good party atmosphere. The race represents excellent value with all roads closed to traffic, the most extravagantly lauded sponge station in the land - with signs stretched out over a mile of signs extolling its (dubious, given the cool conditions) value to the race - and a goody bag that featured both a suitably ghoulish technical t-shirt and finishers’ medal.

Matthew Kingston-Lee, who only finally decided to take part in the race on the morning of the event after recommencing running three days earlier following a calf strain sustained at the Chester Half Marathon, benefited from a cautious start to run a solid race, albeit tempered with some injury niggles, to finish 25^th overall in a chip time of 1:18:59.

Catherine Payne had another strong run to claim a prize for finishing second V45 and 26^th female in 1:36:30, less than half a minute slower than her recent performance at the Great Eastern Half Marathon. Holly Durham was delighted to finish her first half marathon following the birth of her son in 1:41:50 and Robert McArdle ran an impressive 1:43:30 given his injury problems of late. Nick Payne had a strong race to secure a best for 2015 of 1:45:33.

Ruth Dunstan and Louise Payne made a last minute (and totally unplanned!) decision to take part after missing a flight to Slovenia the day before. The hills of Worksop made scant consolation but both showed great determination in the face of disappointment to finish in 1:49:50 and 1:57:20 respectively. Nikki Carr successfully finished her second half marathon of the month, coming home in 2:18:54.

The race was won by Stuart Spencer of Notts AC in 1:09:31; the winning woman was Nicola Gleadall of Sheffield RC in 1:21:34.

(Photo left to right, Catherine Payne, Robert McArdle and Holly Durham after the race)

Robin Hood Marathon Race Report 2015

Robin Hood Marathon Race Report

Grantham Running Club's Gav Meadows completed his first marathon on Sunday - the Robin Hood Marathon in Nottingham. Gav, 34, only started competing in races in December last year. However, he has been running fairly consistently since he began training for his 4 year stint in the army at 18 years of age.

He has put in a lot of hard training since committing to this race in March, clocking up a total of 525 miles. This included several preparation races & events both locally & in the challenging hills of the Peak District. He also cross-trains by swimming once a week & lifting weights regularly at the gym.

He completed the 26.2 mile course in 3 hours 23 minutes 4 seconds finishing 139th in a field of 1238 competitors. Gav said 'Considering that this was my first marathon, I'm very happy with my performance overall! I wanted to finish quicker than 3:30 & managed to achieve that goal. However, this was definitely a learning experience! I made some mistakes & I will be making some changes for my next marathon.'

'For the first 18 miles I felt like I was running at a comfortable pace that I would be able to maintain for the whole race. I was averaging about 7:15 per mile. Then, at mile 19, fatigue hit me like a punch in the face! It was so unexpected! The last 8 miles were incredibly tough & my pace dropped right off. Although I did manage to pick it up again for the last mile! I need to learn to curb my racing instincts & pay more attention to my watch!'

'I will also be making some significant changes to my training next time around. My longest training run was 20 miles &, in hindsight, that's definitely not enough! In future I will be training up to 23 miles.'

On completing Sunday's race, Gav made the decision to commit to a spring marathon in 2016 & he also intends to complete one later in the year. He has already entered the Barcelona Marathon in March & plans to travel around Europe & the rest of the world incorporating marathons into his holidays. He said 'Now that I have this unquenchable thirst for competing in races & events I can't think of a better way to travel & see the world! After all, most major cities have a marathon so I can pick & choose my destinations! I just wish that I'd decided to do this ten years ago!'

Gav ran Sunday's race for Dementia UK & you can still sponsor him at uk.virginmoneygiving.com/gavsmarathon  So far he's raised over £200 & is hoping to clear £300 in the next few weeks.

Woodhall Spa 10k & Derby Half Marathon

Woodhall Spa 10k

The Woodhall Spa 10k is one of the largest races in the county attracting over a thousand runners to the main event, this fast course appeals to runners in good shape as it offers one of the summer’s top Personal Best Chances. The seven runners from Grantham Running Club were led home by Rob Howbrook slashing a full two minutes of his previous best and coming with 3 seconds of winning his age group medal. He was followed closely by Chris Armstrong who is showing signs of regaining his best form with his fastest time for 10k in several years. Scott Jones was not far behind recording a season’s best and his second fastest time ever. For Andrew MacAllister it was a case of another race and yet another PB as he lowered the time he set in May.  Janette Dunderdale made an impressive debut for GRC in her first road race with Super Vet Brendon Buckley taking an astounding 5½ minutes off his previous best! Full results below;

Pos.		Name	Chip Time	Cat. Pos.
52		ROBERT HOWBROOK	00:39:28	3	PB	81.73%
68		Christopher Armstrong	00:40:21	10		75.47%
113		Scott JONES	00:42:07	24		67.97%
274		ANDREW MACALLISTER	00:47:21	16	PB	68.12%
387		JANETTE DUNDERDALE	00:51:08	22	PB	60.82%
504		LUCY ROBERTS	00:54:42	19		62.02%
592		BRENDON BUCKLEY	00:57:01	31	PB	60.68%

Derby Half Marathon

A strong performance by GRC’s runners at Sunday’s half marathon from saw the ladies team finish in sixth place in a very strong field and despite the heat all three ladies and Super Vet Paul Durham smashed their PBs, in Paul’s case by just under 11 minutes.

			Chip Time		WMA
Penny	Hodges		1:39:39 PB		67.14%
Catherine	Davies		1:45:28 PB		62.97%
Ruth	Dunstan		1:47:47 PB		62.69%
Paul	Durham		1:48:38 PB		67.94%

Grunty Fen Half Marathon, Witchford, Cambridgeshire,

Matthew Kingston-Lee celebrated his fiftieth half marathon in style with a new Personal Best and a seventh place finish at the 25^th Grunty Fen Half Marathon on Sunday 13^th September 2015. His time of 1:14:46 betters his old best of 1:15:29 set at last year’s Robin Hood Half Marathon. It sets a new Grantham Running Club record and will be his final race before he embraces the dubious honour of becoming a veteran runner.

Conditions in Witchford, Cambridgeshire, could hardly have been better for the 13.1 mile race, with temperatures in the mid-teens and, mercifully, barely a breath of wind on a mostly flat fenland course, which is often compromised by strong winds.

Matthew, who is in a block of heavy training for the forthcoming Chester Half Marathon in early October and had finished third in a Lincolnshire Services 10K race just four days earlier, was further compromised with a bout of catarrh, which was thankfully not too serious, but bad enough just to take the edge off his peak performance.

With this in mind, Matthew ran a solid, but controlled, race, passing halfway in 37:10 and staying strong all the way to the finish, culminating in a sprint to the finish line to finally break the 1:15 barrier.

The race was won by Aaron Scott of Notts AC in a new course record of 1:08:04. The winning lady was Felicity Milton of Woodford Green Essex Ladies, who clocked 1:19:57. There were 455 finishers.

St Ives 10k

 

Grantham Running Club’s Catherine Payne won first prize for her age group at this year's St Ives 10k in Cambridgeshire on a an undulating course that climbed up to the exposed taxiways of RAF Wyton before looping back to the town itself. Although Catherine's time of 44:23 was well down on 2014 it was a pleasing return to this distance after a gap of 10 months concentrating on much longer races as well as her third win in the last five years at this event. Also running was team mate Robert McArdle also in his first 10k of the year who was delighted with a time of 47:33 as he returned from injury.

Keyworth Half Marathon

Keyworth Half Marathon

Seven members of Grantham Running Club took part in this year’s Keyworth Half Marathon including recently married Brendon Buckley making his debut at this distance. Despite only starting running with a 5k Parkrun at Newark earlier this year Brendon who is the super veteran category, has steadily built up his distance through the Lincoln 10k in April to the point where he was able to finish this tough hilly 13.1 mile race accompanied all the way round by his wife Yvonne who is an experienced runner having completed this event last year. They were joined by Ironman Jez page using the route to check his running speed for his next triathlon and several ladies from the successful GRC ladies X/C team exchanging their spikes for their road shoes. Full club results below;

Forename	Surname	Gender	Chip Time
Catherine	Payne	F	01:36:45
Robert	McArdle	M	01:40:10
Jez	Page	M	01:40:14
Sarah	High	F	01:46:53
Lucy	Roberts	F	01:59:21
Brendon	Buckley	M	02:30:27
Yvonne	Taylor	F	02:30:28

Great Eastern Run 2014

 

Great Eastern Run 2014

In this year's Peterborough Half Marathon sponsored by Perkins Abi Schofield led home over twenty members of Grantham Running Club in a club ladies record time of 1:25:21. The attached photograph shows Abi with a few metres to go at the finish. The large turnout from GRC to this popular local race produced a number of other performances with eleven other personal best's including Rob Howbrook taking almost ten minutes off his best time during the course of this year and Penny Hodges reducing hers by close to five.

Time	Position	Name
01:25:21	190	Abigail	Schofield		PB
01:25:50	206	Stuart	Sinclair
01:28:57	280	Ben	Hatherley		PB
01:31:16	369	Scott	Jones		PB
01:31:40	384	Robert	Howbrook		PB
01:33:55	475	Mark	Wilson		PB
01:34:54	523	Catherine	Payne		PB
01:35:39	543	Ben	Mason
01:36:14	577	Holly	Durham
01:36:58	619	Mark	Toms
01:40:26	823	Penny	Hodges		PB
01:44:19	1047	Robert	McArdle
01:48:02	1265	Sarah	High
01:48:14	1283	Marc	Tremain
01:50:40	1486	Jez	Page
01:54:29	1760	Louise	Hyde		PB
01:55:42	1853	Ruth	Dunstan		PB
01:56:01	1884	Rebecca	Jones
02:00:18	2226	Paul	Durham		PB
02:05:23	2518	Chris	England		PB
02:14:08	2931	Wendy	Tremain		PB

Plusnet Yorkshire Marathon

In her first ever marathon GRC runner Gwenda Williams successfully completed the Yorkshire Marathon round York in a time of four hours, fifty three minutes and two seconds

Parkrun Newark

Warren Stark led a trio of GRC runners home in this week's Newark Parkrun in a time of 21:58 with team mate Kevin Baker just 9 seconds behind him. First timer Laura Kettle finished in 26:14