A busy weekend

From the short 5k distance to an incredible 92 mile race and everything inbetween, there is certainly plenty of variety for runners at LERC.

Before anyone had even woken up on Saturday for a packed weekend of running, Eddie Mathieson had been on the go since 8pm on Friday night, running along the Trent and Mersey Canal from Preston Brook to Shardlow. He ran an unbelievable 92 miles in 22 hours & 26 minutes - an amazing achievement, utter madness and sheer brilliance all rolled into one! Well Done Eddie and to Phil Walters, his support crew!

A somewhat shorter distance but equally challenging, Kevin Barry started Saturday morning with a PB at the Colwick parkrun with Paddy Fitzgerald and Pete Sturgess setting course bests.

Another 10 LERCers made there way to the Peak District for the Nine Edges fell race (Category BL), which comprised of 20 miles of endurance running. Led by Duncan Gedge, who highly rated this event, many club members had entered but some were unfortunately unable to run for a variety of reasons. The course started at Fairholmes and proceeded over yes, nine gritstone edges! These were Derwent Edge, Stanage, Burbage North, Burbage South, Froggat, Curbar, Baslow Edge, Gardems and Birchens, before the race moved on to the Robin Hood pub near Baslow for the finish. With the promise of a free pint at the end (included in the entry), it was a winner!

Everyone gathered near the start after checking in, and a donation cheque of £200 was presented to the Edale Mountain Rescue Team as a thank you from LERC as a thankyou for all their hard and continuing work, with the money coming from the club’s charity fundraising. It was a glorious sunny day with great scenery and panoramic views, which were perfect for Rod Harris to make a brilliant comeback after a period out with injury. He came 7th overall in a time of 2hrs 46, 11 minutes behind the lead man who was lost in the distance.

Rod, in coordinated new shorts and trainers purchased the night before, got dirty in a bog, sustained a few scrapes from a tumble in the last mile and also blisters from the new shoes. Not wearing in shoes appears to be a schoolboy error even the elites still make! Finishing, he was still in high spirits and swore that he would even do it again in the future! Mark Hudson came 2nd for LERC in a fast time of 3hrs 20.

Catherine Rowe and Bill Sheppard running together were caught up by Duncan’s group consisting of Damian Cowlishaw, Jane Newbold, Rachel Argent, Laura Froggatt and Clare Eardley in the last couple of miles.

Celebration and cheers were in order, firstly for Clare, who had not run further than a kilomathon at 17 miles, and then for Laura at mile 19, who recently completed the Belper 30k. As a coincidence, strangely enough Laura’s celebration took place just past Frogatt’s Edge! With the challenge of achieving the Nine Edges in under 5 hours, Jane Newbold led the chase to the finish with all 8 runners in the group finishing between 4 hrs 55 and 4hrs 58. It was a great achievement for everyone, but especially Clare and Laura, and everyone certainly enjoyed their pints at the end.

Sunday saw the iconic Great North Run half marathon take place and 3 runners for Long Eaton took part. There was a personal best and course best for Lee Carnelley of 1:39:27, while Lee Robb (1:41:42) and Christian Wingate (1:48:31) also ran. Mo Farah and other Olympic medallists sent the mass of runners over the start line for what looked like a windy wet race.

In Northamptonshire, another half marathon and 10k race took place at Cransley. Richard Ford deserves congratulations for completing the 13.1 miles in 14th place with a time of 1:26:27, while Sarah Lewis ran her 1st 10k race in a Long Eaton vest in 1:01:40 on a windy and hilly course. Closer to home in Leicestershire, the National forest 10k race saw Natalie Teece and Nathan Barnett make the start line and both achieved course bests that improved on last year. Natalie ran 40:39 and Nathan 51:11. Even more locally, Andy McNeill raced the Ashbourne half in an amazing time of 1hr 19 minutes winning the prize for first vet.

Well done to all who ran in an absolutely action packed weekend.


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