Stilton 7 and Belvoir Challenge

With so many of the Club's runners taking part in the Belvoir Challenge on Saturday there was a disappointing turnout of only 6 for the first Club Championship race of 2017, the Stilton 7. However, what was missed in quantity was more than made up in quality with Alun-Lloyd Thomas following up his Club record breaking half marathon performance the previous weekend with another Club record setting run in this event. In the ever competitive Leicestershire Road Running Series Alun-Lloyd’s chip time of 39:55 was good enough for a superb 4th place finish overall. Giving valuable team support were Glenn Smith, Chris Gunstone and Andy Orme whose finishing positions of 73rd, 81st and 99th were achieved by competitive times of 46:41, 47:06 and 48:54 respectively. Peter Barsby made a good start to the Club Championship with a time of 56:22 before the Club’s only competitor in the women’s race, Pauline Cooper deserves immense credit for her 80:24 performance.
The increasingly popular Belvoir Challenge, with 26 mile and 15 mile options attracted over 1,000 participants, and this year’s routes provided the usual mix of challenging hills and muddy paths, as well as a few fallen trees following Storm Doris. The races are also renowned for their plentiful supplies of cake at the race checkpoints, and end of race food, which was well up to standard.
Four of the club’s runners opted for the longer route, with Mark Harriott continuing his excellent form to finish 18^th in a time of 3.51.40. He was closely followed by John Morgan, in 19^th in a time of 3.52.52, which augurs well for his Manchester Marathon later this year. Next back was Gary Price, who made light of the tough terrain to finish 72^nd in a time of 4.48.06. Completing the SDRR finisher’s list was Tony Phillips, who has now completed well over 80 marathons, coming home in a time of 5.22.15 which earned him 145^th position.
On the 15 mile route, Rob Eaton and Chris Pearson continued their recent excellent form, with Rob just pipping Chris in this race, finishing in a superb 4^th position in 1.46.38, just ahead of Chris in 5^th in 1.47.17. Shane Chapman continued his preparation for the London Marathon with another strong run, in 18^th position in a time of 1.57.41. Christian Glover is also running well this season, and finished in 27^th place in a time of 2.02.38. Steve Leafe was next back for SDRR, running steadily for a time of 2.10.50, which enabled him to finish in 35^th position.
After last year’s adventure when he took a wrong turning and ended up running the 26 mile route, Paul Glover ensured he paid close attention to the route signs this year, and ran well to finish in 113^th place in a time of 2.34.24, chased home by Lisa Wright who continued her good form in 118^th position in 2.34.46. Making a welcome return to racing for SDRR, Mark Nixon was next back for the club, in 141^st place in 2.42.40, with Nikki Reeves not far behind in 2.47.03 in 160^th position. Dave Lunn has another busy season of half marathons planned for 2017, and prepared for this with a solid 206^th place in 2.54.48.
It was good to see that Tracey Glover is recovering from a troublesome hamstring injury, as she and Hannah Wintrip ran together, Hannah in 296^th in 3.13.33 coming in just ahead of Tracey in 297^th in 3.13.35. Another runner coming back from injury, Stuart Halsey, ran the race with Maria Allen, with the two of them finishing in 397^th & 398^th in 3.40.09.