International Honour, Relay Triumphs, and Grit on the Pennine Way

Junior Penistone athlete Graihagh Turner represented England in the Under18 age category at the Mountain Running Cup in Slovakia.  Held at altitude on spectacular alpine terrain, the event featured a brutal 5km course climbing 1,400 feet, starting at 900 metres above sea level.  Graihagh described the race as “the toughest thing she’s ever done” — a relentless climb of “up, up, up” — but was pleased with how she managed the ascent, running within herself to conserve strength. Though she admitted some disappointment with her finishing position (29th), she was still the third of the four-strong England team to cross the line, with the squad finishing closely together in 19th, 27th, 29th and 31st places. Reports from team managers praised the England contingent for their professionalism and camaraderie.

In form runner Jade Crosby set a new senior ladies club record at York, completing 5k in a time of 19-44.

The annual Barnsley Boundary relay took place in sunny conditions on Saturday.  Thirty five teams competed over 10 separate legs spread across 73 miles around the perimeter of Barnsley.  Penistone were successful in winning the following team categories: men's over60, men's over50, men's over40 and ladies over50.  They also picked up second places in the Ladies and Mixed categories.

On Thursday night George Parr won the second Higham Hurtle.  There were age category wins for Loida Lopez (over50 ladies) and Alan Knox (over70 man).  Harriet Drouin dug deep to finish the 108 mile Montane Summer Spine Challenger South race in just over 49 hours.  It is a non-stop, 108 mile race along the Pennine Way from Edale to Hardraw with a time limit of 60 hours. The race covers a beautiful section of the trail which features the iconic moorland of the Kinder Plateau, numerous National Parks, Malham Cove and Pen-y-Ghent to name a few.  No doubt Harriet will be taking it easy in the coming days and avoiding stairs!

Due to the Barnsley Boundary Relays numbers taking part in Parkruns was lower than usual.  There was a third gender place for Oliver France at Penistone.  Runners of the week based on age gradings were Alan Nutton (76.04%), Sue Hall (75.82%), Flynn Rogers (74.02%), James Fryers (72.82%) and Oliver France (69.50%).