Sunday 16th April
Busy weekend for all!
This month marks my one year membership of the SADRC Club and this weekend proved just what a great decision joining the club was.
There were so many great achievements across the board but the thing that stood out the most to me is how inclusive the club is.
Whether members are achieving PBs that rival the elites of the world, achieving their own PBs or just enjoying the experience of running in an event, SADRC is there to give you the determination to carry on and to help you celebrate when you finally cross that finish line.
This was a particularly busy weekend for the club with so many key events taking place. Locally there was the Boston full marathon, half marathon and 10k and in Lincoln the 10k. It seemed a shame that two such close events were on the same day but it was fantastic to see club members excelling at both. In Lincoln, Steve Dowse romped to a PB in 34;38 for the men and he was followed a few minutes later by Luke Hayes, who also managed a PB time of 36:06 knocking a huge 1min30 off his previous time and Paul Jackson. For the women, Becki Atkinson achieved another impressive PB at 50:27. Brilliant results were also recorded by Tracey Collins, Miranda Hill and Nathan Fisher.
Across the A17 in Boston, there were also many great performances. Whilst some might be deterred by the prospect of running across fields and fields of cabbages and on muddy, potholed roads, the marathon runners performed with aplomb. First across the line was Philip Weaver in a time of 3hrs, 12 with a new PB. He was closely followed by Matt West in 3hrs 14 and then James Willis in 3hrs 37. Dave Kenyon also recorded an impressive time after completing the London Landmarks 2 weeks ago!
The half marathon was equally well supported by the club with Philip Donner first man in at 1hr 23 and the first woman was Sarah Dowling in 1hr 41. Second and third for the men were Andrew Thompson and Derrick Carpenter (who managed to stick to the half marathon this time and not accidentally run a full marathon!) Second and third for the women were Lauren Johnson and Ruth Bullen. There were also fantastic times from the other SADRC members: Brian Darrington; Richard Burrows; Paul Wilson; Kate Carpenter; Louise Darrington; Kirsty Boulton; Ben Liversidge; Julia Rayson; Sarah Thomas; Shaun Thomas; Helena Skelton and Treena Atkin. Perhaps a highlight of the day was seeing Shaun cross the finish line with his adorable granddaughter!
Over in the 10k SADRC members were also pulling out all the stops. First home for the club was Mark Sands in 36:16, followed for the men by Andy Johnson and then Dean Edwards. The women were bought home by Amy Mitchell in 49:29, followed by Emmajean Hearn (an epic come back from breaking her back) and Lora Robinson. Fantastic performances were also recorded by Jason Green, Jimmy Hearn, Alan Fountain, Carrie Cropley, Tracey Edwards, Elaine Mitchell, Fearne Carpenters, Nicola Priestley and Alex Mitchell. This new distance for Boston proved to be very popular indeed.
Further afield in Manchester, there were also some incredible performances! Lee Mullen completed his first official marathon in 2h47 – incredible running! He was followed by Brian Hawkins in a sub 3hr time also and then Darren Fissende, Chris Hurst and Leanne Rickett. The super six were completed by Becca Grice who ran her first official marathon – an amazing achievement after coming back from injury.
The first thing I said after completing the half today was that I was never going to run a full marathon, but the grit and determination shown by all the Marathon runners today has been so inspirational that I have been googling marathons for next year! In short, a busy but absolutely fantastic weekend for the club!